


Return to the Past, NOW

by TeenLyokoFan7777



Series: Return to the Past, NOW [1]
Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: A Series, Action/Adventure, Canon Divergence, F/M, First Kiss, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lyoko Warriors, Major Original Character(s), Mild Language, No Underage Sex, Romance, Shipper on Deck, Writer improvement, not too much deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-20
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-29 19:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 71
Words: 376,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5139743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenLyokoFan7777/pseuds/TeenLyokoFan7777
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A return in time reverses EVERYTHING in SIGHT. No one knows anything, but a certain girl knows everything. Death has been reversed. Pairings: JxA, OxSam, WxSissi, YxU, WxOC, OxOC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I made this from several years ago, and I am still working on this to this day.

Return to the Past, NOW!

Disclaimer: Don’t own Code Lyoko.

“Well,” said Yumi, smiling, “Good bye XANA, hello FREEDOM!”

Odd, after talking to Jim Morales, the Phys. Ed teacher, nodded.

Aelita smiled as she walked beside Jeremie, hand-in-hand.

Ulrich uncharacteristically did a jump in the air that ended with a well-timed flip.

“Well,” said Jeremie, “It’s over!”

“No more towers,” said Aelita.

“No more algorithms,” said Jeremie.

“No more monsters,” said Odd. “’Though I did miss the Kankrelats.”

“I remember when I was on Lyoko’s Ice sector that three of them were on my trail,” Aelita said.

“Remember when I accidentally shot a fan through the wall that Aelita created?” Yumi asked.

“Yeah,” said Ulrich, “And I told you that you ‘could do better than that!’”

Odd smiled.

“Remember when Kiwi reloaded my laser arrows?” he asked Jeremie.

“Yes, I do,” said Jeremie.

“I thought it was you who did it when I did a laser arrow at William,” said Odd.

“I misfired an energy field that day,” said Aelita.

“And directed it at me,” joked Odd.

Everyone laughed as the gang headed to Jeremie’s dorm to enter one last entry to his Lyoko diary.

“Everyone ready?” asked Jeremie.

BEEP!

BEEP!

BEEP!

“What?” Jeremie asked.

“The super-scan?” Aelita asked fearfully.

“Oh, God, NO!” shouted Yumi.

A timer showed up on the screen. Thirty minutes, counting down, flashed.

“It looks like a return to the past!” said Jeremie.

Everyone gulped. “Can’t you reverse it?” Ulrich asked.

Jeremie typed frantically on the keyboard, but all that came up were (!)’S.

“I-I can’t!” said Jeremie fearfully.

“It’s the end of the world as we know it!” shouted Odd.

“This is bad times three,” said Aelita.

“Quadruple that,” said Jeremie. “I can’t stop the return in time, a tower has just been activated, and I don’t know what to do.”

“The gods must be angry with our luck and are punishing us by having this happen,” shouted Ulrich.

“No! That can’t happen,” said Jeremie.

“We have to get to the factory,” said Yumi.

“Yumi’s right,” said Odd.

“Since _when_ do you take my line?” Ulrich asked.

“Since you weren’t _quick enough_ ,” shouted Odd.

“Everybody quiet,” said Jeremie. “Fighting on Earth doesn’t solve anything!”

“Except when you are in DANGER!” said Yumi.

Kiwi, who was with Odd after they shut down Lyoko, barked.

“We have to get to the factory,” Yumi repeated.

“You’ve said that already—” Jeremie was cut off by a white light that engulfed everything.

Aelita decided to try to beat the Return to the Past bubble. She ran out of Jeremie’s room and ran down the stairs. She passed Jim. “Aelita,” he yelled, “why are you running?”

“Sorry! Can’t explain; could but couldn’t, see you!” she yelled.

“Eh…?” Jim asked.

She ran passed her new friend Sissi. “Aelita, what’s going on?” Sissi asked.

“It’s complicated to understand!” Aelita said as she grabbed the raven-haired girl by the wrist, forcing her to run with Aelita.

“Is there something that I should know?” asked Sissi.

“No,” said Aelita.

“There must be—” Sissi was cut off, too.

Aelita stopped, but it was a costly mistake. The bubble engulfed all of Earth, to the time that Jeremie started the computer…


	2. XANA Reawakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> XANA has reawoken, but this time, there is a new member to fight him--a psychic girl.

**Disclaimer: Don’t own Code Lyoko.**

**Claimer: Cassidy is mine and so are some hints in the plot.**

**Okay, Cassidy knows all (that’s the certain girl in the summary) of the events of Code Lyoko. It’s a “What would happen if I were in Code Lyoko?” deal. Also, the characters (minus Cassidy) will have random flashbacks in the fan fiction, so hang loose on that.**

October 8th, 2004

A brown-haired girl stood at Kadic’s gates, nervous. This year she’ll be in Kadic and she didn’t know anybody at all. She did remember a show in which some teens go to a virtual world **(A/N: Remind you of anything? End A/N).** She hoped to have a wonderful time at Kadic.

October 9th, 2004 Morning

Jeremie Belpois looked around for some parts for his mini robots. He searched inside Mrs. Hertz’s room. “She must have some scrap around somewhere!”

Just when Jeremie was about to give up, a brown-haired girl, about 13, walked in the room, bespectacled in brown, bottom-melt-less glasses. “Hey, if you’re looking for some scrap for your robots, I suggest you go by the abandoned factory after classes at night.”

“Thanks! Who are you?” He crawled out from under the table.

“My name’s Cassidy McGuire,” she said. “I’m a bit new around these parts.”

“My name is Jeremie Belpois,” he nodded his greeting. “Welcome to Kadic.”

“Thanks. I also have something to add, too,” said Cassidy.

“Yeah, really,” he asked.

“Yep,” she hinted. “If you look at a somewhat screen in that factory and you say, ‘Artificial Intelligence, are you there?’ or something and she asks you for a different name, call her ‘Aelita!’ I’m sure she’ll be delighted!”

“How do you know that she’ll be a she?” Jeremie cocked a brow at the newcomer.

She shrugged. “I just do, I guess.”

“Thanks for the tip, by the way,” said Jeremie. “Who do you have for classes? Are you an eighth grader?”

“The principal said that I have the same classes with two boys named Jeremie Belpois—” Jeremie smirked as he heard her butcher his last name “—and Ulrich Stern. I am an eighth grader.”

“Well, you’ve just met Jeremie Belpois,” said Jeremie.

**-Later that night-**

Jeremie was up in his room, preparing for Mission: FSSITF (find some scraps in the factory). He took nothing with him. He went to the factory alone. He followed Cassidy’s advice.

He saw an elevator, and as he walked toward it, a flashback appeared out of nowhere.

  **FLASHBACK #1**

_He was standing at the elevator door with his Phys. Ed teacher, Jim, telling him the secrets of…something._

_“And that’s what we’re going to do today!” he said as he pressed a button on the elevator._

** END FLASHBACK **

“Where did that come from?” he said to no one in particular as he pressed the down button on the elevator.

What he didn’t know was that he’d been at the factory before, and that he was going in a second time. Round two was starting, but no matter how many times he tried to remember, he could not put a finger on whom or what said it.

There, he discovered the super computer for the second time. He grabbed the handle and said, “I hope I’m not going to regret this in a minute. Okay, go!” He turned on the computer.

A huge wind knocked his hair out of place, and, as he rode up in the elevator, straightened it.

Jeremie went up, sat in the, as another said, “Cushy chair”, and typed on the computer. “Now, let’s see what you’ve got under the hood, my friend!” he said as he pressed enter.

A girl showed up onscreen. “Wow,” he said. The pink-haired girl awoke. “What’s all this…a video game?”

“Who-who are you? Where-Where am I!” she asked. Jeremie’s glasses fell from his face.

FCFEFAF **(A/N: Piano sequence Credited to Timely)**

Oct. 10th, 2004

The science room was empty. Well, except for Cassidy and Ulrich, who was with Cassidy at the time, being there.

“Hey, Ulrich,” she said, giving a little yawn, “did you know that you are going to get a roommate soon?”

“No,” he said. “What’s his name?”

“His name is, get this, Odd Della Robbia!”

“McGuire, did you have some kind of crazy dream or something?” he looked to her with the impression that the new girl was hallucinating. “Odd is not a name.”

“I’m serious,” said Cassidy. “His name is Odd! If you don’t believe, wait until he says, ‘Are you Ulrich Stern?’ and then you say, ‘That depends! Who wants to know?’”

“Then we’ll just have to wait, then,” said Ulrich.

“It’s true!” said Cassidy, stressing the point.

“I’ll see this ‘Odd’ character when I see him!”

The bell rang, and other students, including Jeremie and Odd, came in.

“Uh, are you Ulrich Stern?” said the purple-clad boy.

Ulrich turned to him. “That depends!” he said. “Who wants to know?”

“Odd Della Robbia, his brand-new roommate,” said Odd.

That struck Ulrich in the heart as he looked back at Cassidy who gave him a playful wink.

 _Incredible_ , Ulrich thought, _McGuire knew what she was talking about! Maybe I should apologize after classes._

“What?” he said.

“I’m new to the academy and the principal told me to move in with you!” said Odd.

Ulrich looked like his dinner from last night would make itself known. “Hey,” said Odd. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” said Ulrich, “I just feel like my dinner from last night might make itself known!”

“Maybe you should go to the infirmary,” said Odd.

“Maybe,” he said.

A raven-haired girl with a pink shirt and dark maroon pants on walked up to the two boys. “Hi, there, Ulrich Sweetheart! I’ve got something very important to tell you!”

“Sissi,” Ulrich said. “Could you leave me alone for today, please. I’m not feeling well!”

“Aw…my Ulrich isn’t feeling well,” said Sissi consolingly. “I guess I could leave you alone for today!” She left to find her seat.

“Ulrich Sweetheart,” said Odd teasingly, “who’s the good-looking babe?”

“Sissi, she’s the principal’s daughter,” said Ulrich. “Guys flip over her, but she’s more flipped over me!”

“That’s really cool!” said Odd.

“Cool! She’s totally brain-dead and a leech as well,” said Ulrich, fist to head.

“In that case, it’s pretty linked,” said Odd.

**After Class**

“…and the waiter says, ‘I don’t have frogs’ legs! That’s just the way I walk!’” said Odd, chortling at his own joke. “Did you get it!”

“No,” said Ulrich.

Near the door, someone laughed. It was Cassidy McGuire. As she laughed, she said, “Good one, Odd!”

“Hey, Cassidy,” said Ulrich, “I want to apologize for not believing you! Odd has now became a name in my book!”

“Apology accepted, Ulrich,” smiled Cassidy.

“You’re apologizing to _her_ ,” said Odd. “Why?”

“I told her that Odd was not a name, but since I met you, I owed her an apology.”

Jeremie went back to the factory to the pink-haired girl in the computer. “Artificial Intelligence, can you hear me?” he asked.

“Yes, but do you mind calling me something else please?” said the girl.

Jeremie heard Cassidy’s words buzzing in his brain. _If she says that, call him/her/it ‘Aelita.’_

“Okay, how do you like the name ‘Aelita?’” he asked.

“Aelita? I like that! But what I really like is for you to tell me what I am doing here in this virtual universe!”

“That’s not so easy! But I’ve already got a couple of answers! You’re part of a virtual world called Lyoko and you’ve got to try to get out of there! Look around for a door or something like that!” Jeremie said.

Aelita stood up in Lyoko’s forest tower, walked to the entrance to the forest, and felt around for the said “door” as Jeremie called it. It wasn’t there.

“Jeremie, I can’t find anything. I—” Aelita said, and then saw some ripples in the tower when she touched it. She touched it twice and the same effect happened again. A third time and the tower sucked her out of there.

Instead of Earth and the scanners, she found a luscious green virtual forest. “Jeremie I—this is weird! You have to see this!” she said.

“I’d love to. Do you think you can give me a visual?” he asked.

“I’ll try,” Aelita said.

As Jeremie waited, he saw the exact same thing that Aelita saw. “Wow,” said he. The holomap arrived, causing Jeremie to turn his head. “Aelita, there isn’t just a forest out there! There’s an entire world. I count four sectors, each one is different!”

As Aelita looked around the forest, she spotted some cockroach-like creatures. “Uh, Jeremie, I’m not all alone out here! There are some animals!”

“That’s fantastic,” said Jeremie. “This virtual world has an entire ecosystem with virtual-living creatures! Can you get close enough—?”

When Aelita went too close to the cockroaches, they shot lasers, interrupting Jeremie’s unfinished question. “Jeremie, they’re attacking me!” she yelled while running.

“Run away, Aelita,” he commanded. “Get back to the tower!”

Aelita ran as fast as she could, but one blasted her in the back.

On Earth, Jeremie saw that Aelita’s life points went down. “Aelita,” he yelled as he patted the screen. “Hurry up!”

Aelita ran again, but one of them shot her as she tried to enter the tower. She entered just in time, but unconsciously.

The red that flashed vanished. Jeremie relaxed. “Whew, your-your life points are regenerating!”

Yumi ordered her drink. Unbeknownst, she really had friends but now she was friendless. She exited the vending machine area.

After she left Odd started a riveting conversation to Ulrich. Fortunately, Cassidy was there. “Hey Ulrich,” said she. “Odd is about to do a Sissi converse. Better, watch out!”

“You know what I was thinking, you know your girlfriend there, Sissi,” said Odd.

Ulrich was stupefied. How did she know all this? Was she like a dog with powerful ears instead of a nose?

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Ulrich said, regaining his composure quickly.

Odd crushed the cup that he had in his hands and threw it in the trash. “Cool,” said Odd. “That means she’s available.” Jeremie walked by.

“Jeremie,” said Cassidy. “I recommend that you press 7 instead of 6! It’s for a good cause, trust me.”

“If you say so!” said Jeremie as he did what Cassidy advised him to do.

“I’m telling you, she’s lame. And, no offense, but your not her type,” said Ulrich.

“Oh, yeah, I get that a lot,” said Odd.

Jeremie didn’t know that six was possessed, but he pressed seven as Cassidy said.

 “Hey, Odd,” said Cassidy. “Just to let you know, there are other fish in the Kadic Sea!”

“There are other girls, you mean!” asked Odd, moving toward Cassidy suggestively.

“Uh…yeah, Odd,” said Cassidy. She ran up to the same vending machine that Jeremie ordered his drink from and pressed the number six, hoping that the charge would help her. It did. “McGuire,” said Ulrich as he went under her arm and scooped her up, Jeremie joined the other side after picking up her far-sighted prescription and putting it on her face. “Hey, McGuire, you okay! We’ll take her to the infirmary,” said Ulrich to Odd. “Tell a teacher, OK!” Odd nodded and ran over to the closest teacher he could find. The vending machines flashed an eye-symbol. **(A/N: I end up saving lots of people’s lives by doing the dangerous stuff, i.e. touching XANAfied door handles.)**

At the infirmary, Yolanda Perraudin took Cassidy’s blood pressure and said, “Nothing too serious; just a minor electric shock and some superficial burns!”

“Well, you wanted some way to get out of the nightmare, now you had one!” Ulrich joked.

“Very funny Ulrich,” said Cassidy, “But thank you and Jeremie all the same!”

“Don’t mention it,” Ulrich said. “I’ll come by tonight to check up on you after my martial arts class!” And he shut the door.

“Ulrich,” said Cassidy.

“Yeah,” said Ulrich, reentering the infirmary.

“If you lose to a black-haired girl, it’s nothing to be ashamed about,” said Cassidy.

**At Ulrich and Yumi’s martial arts class**

“How are you all?” Jim Morales said. “I’m so happy to be seeing all of you here tonight. Karate, Judo, Jutsu **(A/N: I don’t know how to spell what Jim originally spoke, so I made the two up! End A/N)** ; No these aren’t the dishes of the golden bag of a Chinese restaurant.” He laughed nervously. “No offense, Miss Ishiyama!”

“None taken, sir,” Yumi said. “I’m Japanese!”

Jim took a minute to record what she said and then said, “Yeah, well, whatever. These are training techniques that can save your life, as they did for me when I was a forest ranger in Quebec!”

“Really, what happened?” asked Ulrich.

“That night, well, I was quietly enjoying a waffle with maple syrup by my campfire when I was attacked by a vicious beaver! Its razor-sharp teeth were going for my jugular, but I was able to save myself thanks to the perfect mastery of the Raging Hand of Lethal Chime!” Jim said in story.

Ulrich and Yumi laughed. “What? What’s so funny about that?” Jim asked.

“Excuse us, sir-r,” said Yumi, shaking the _r_ in sir.

“Honestly, I think you’d rather be better off not talking about it,” said Ulrich.

“Right,” said Jim, “Okay then, enough _laughing_. Let’s get into groups of two.”

Yumi and Ulrich came into the centre-circle/line and began to fight. Yumi started the first move, which was a high kick. Ulrich dodged. Yumi tried to kick him, but Ulrich tried to side-sweep the black-haired girl. Yumi flipped while Ulrich got back up on his feet. Yumi landed on hers and flipped a bit of hair from her face. Ulrich said, “Pretty good, for a _beginner._ ”

Yumi jumped up and kicked Ulrich in the face, knocking him down to the floor. Ulrich woke up quickly. Yumi grabbed his shoulders while Ulrich grabbed hers. They growled for a little bit before they realized one thing: They were _on top of each other_. They blushed.

“Not bad,” said Jim, “but you could both use a lot more work. That’ll do it for today, kids. Bow to each other now and get some beauty sleep.”

Yumi bowed to Ulrich. Ulrich remembered what a certain brown-haired girl said to him. _Don’t get sore when you lose,_ said she.

Ulrich bowed to Yumi. “Hey,” said Ulrich. “That was a great match.”

“Thanks,” said Yumi. “My name’s Yumi Ishiyama. I’m a day student.”

“My name’s Ulrich Stern,” said Ulrich. “I’m a boarder.”

“See you tomorrow,” said Yumi.

“See you, Yumi,” said Ulrich.

Ulrich and Yumi got dressed into their day clothes and went to where they were supposed to be. Ulrich went to the infirmary to check on Cassidy’s condition. She was knitting in bed. She looked up and said, “I got bored. I had Yolanda go up and get something for me to do. I can only knit patchwork squares and scarves.”

“Good thinking for keeping yourself busy,” said Ulrich. “Thanks for the advice earlier!”

“No problem,” said Cassidy. “You saved my life, I save yours. Also, a little more on your roommate, he has a pet, but you absolutely keep him secret. Also, on some far off events, you, Jeremie and I will go somewhere tonight after seven!”

“Come on,” said Ulrich. “Let’s go see Odd’s pet!”

“Okay,” said Cassidy, “as long as I’m discharged from the infirmary!”

“I see that you’re okay,” said Yolanda.

“Yep,” Cassidy said.

“You can go,” said Yolanda to Cassidy. “You are OK!”

“Okay,” said Cassidy. “And thank you for picking up my knitting!”

“No problem,” Yolanda said.

“Come on,” said Ulrich again.

“I’m a-coming,” said Cassidy.

“A-coming?” asked Ulrich.

“It’s the way I speak sometimes,” said Cassidy.

“Okay,” said Ulrich uncertainly.

Together they went up to find a dog as Odd’s pet. “Where did that mutt come from,” asked Ulrich.

“That’s Odd’s dog, Kiwi,” said Cassidy in a light whisper.

“That’s Kiwi, my dog,” said Odd. “He just had a little fit that’s all. You understand. The poor little thing’s not used to being cooped up!”

“I mean, look at this mess,” said Ulrich.

“What mess, Ulrich?” asked Cassidy innocently.

He looked around the room. It was immaculate, not a CD, book, or paper out of place. “Where did the mess go?” Ulrich said.

“I cleaned it up while you were looking at Odd,” said Cassidy split-secondly.

“It’s spotless. But look at my bed,” Ulrich screeched again.

Cassidy picked up the blanket and squeamishly put it in the school’s laundry bin **(A/N: I had to put something).** She then went to a blanket storage room and found a clean one.

“Here you go, Ulrich,” said Cassidy; “One fortified clean blanket.”

“Thank you, Cassidy,” said Ulrich.

A scream jolted the two brown-haired teens. “That sounds like Jeremie,” said Cassidy urgently.

They ran into Jeremie’s room and found his robots attacking him. “Jeremie,” said Cassidy, “I’m coming!” She pulled the robots off, but one of them attacked her leg.

She kicked, hit, and chopped, and as fast as it came, it stopped. The eye-like logo on Jeremie’s computer disappeared.

“Your little friends are kind of aggressive. Maybe you should check their settings,” said Ulrich.

“I had nothing to do with it. They just attacked me all of a sudden,” said Jeremie setting his chair upright while declaring his innocence.

“You’ve lost us! Do you mind explaining,” said Ulrich.

“No! Forget it!” said Jeremie.

“Come on! Tell us,” said Ulrich. “Maybe we could be of some help. What if you suddenly get attacked by a hairdryer and we aren’t around.”

“Ha, very funny,” said Jeremie.

“We aren’t leaving this room until we know what’s up!” said Ulrich sitting on Jeremie’s chair. Cassidy, having no chair to sit in, sat on Jeremie’s bed.  Ulrich spun around on Jeremie’s chair, until Jeremie put his hand on it. “OK,” said Jeremie, “what do I have to lose? I’m already in over my head, so I might as well tell you two. This is so crazy.” Jeremie walked over to the door and closed it. “First, tell me if you two can keep a secret!”

The trio went to the factory when all of a sudden Ulrich had a flashback.

** FLASHBACK #2 **

_He was sleeping by a raven-haired girl. He didn’t wake until she did! He yawned as he awoke. Another person explained something._

_“If we don’t make it by four,” said she. The rest was garbled hopelessly._

** END FLASHBACK **

“Where did that flashback come from?” he asked.

“I had a flashback the first time I came here!” said Jeremie. “I was explaining something to Jim!”

“Mine was waking up by a raven-haired girl! Then another person said, ‘If we don’t make it by four,’ and the rest was hopelessly garbled!” said Ulrich.

Jeremie slid down the rope. The two brown-haired teens’ hearts jumped into their stomachs. “What’s the matter,” Jeremie yelled, “scared of heights?”

“Uh…no,” said Ulrich as he slid down.

“I am,” Cassidy yelled.

“Just hold onto the rope,” said Jeremie.

“What? And commit suicide. Good luck trying to get me down there,” said Cassidy.

“Just hold on,” said Jeremie calmly. “I’ll come to get you down!”

Cassidy paced nervously around the entrance, looking down.

“Okay,” said Jeremie when he climbed back up. “I’m going to put you in the backpack hold and then I want you to hang on tight when you feel a rush of air. Keep your eyes closed!” **(A/N: This was Edward’s way of doing this to Bella, Twilight fans)**

“Okay,” said Cassidy.

Jeremie did what he said and Cassidy did as she was told. They were down in a heartbeat. Cassidy had her eyes squeezed shut. “It is okay, Cassidy,” said Jeremie, “We’re on the ground.”

Cassidy looked and said, “Thank you, Jeremie!”

“You’re welcome,” said Jeremie as he let her off.

“I’m sorry I caused some delay,” said Cassidy.

“No problem,” said Ulrich as they piled in the elevator. “Hey! Cassidy, I have to ask you something!”

“Yes,” said Cassidy.

“You seemed to know who my roommate is, who my roommate’s dog is, and when he was going to start a conversation about Sissi! How did you know?” He asked.

“I just do,” said she calmly.

“You also knew what number to avoid,” said Jeremie. “Remember the vending machine?”

“Yes I do,” said Cassidy. “I just know! The information comes to me! I’m thinking I’m part psychic.”

“That may be the point,” said Ulrich as the elevator opened.

“Here we are,” said Jeremie.

“Okay, so that’s the mega-computer you started up,” said Ulrich.

“Uh-huh,” said Jeremie, “It’s actually a Supercomputer! It’s ultra-powerful! And while I was examining it, I found out that it runs a virtual universe called Lyoko!”

“You know what, Belpois? This morning’s Cassidy-induced incident shocked your brain! This thing’s just the control center of the factory, that’s all!” said Ulrich as Jeremie typed on a program to talk to Aelita.

“Oh, yeah, well what would you call this, huh? A program for spray painting doors?” Jeremie retorted.

“Hello, Jeremie,” said Aelita.

“Who’s the girl with the pink hair,” asked Ulrich.

“That’s Aelita! A form of artificial intelligence that lives on Lyoko! I don’t know what she’s there for, yet!” replied Jeremie.

“Don’t mess with us! You’re the one who programmed her, right?” Ulrich said.

“No!” said Aelita, “I woke up the moment Jeremie turned on the Supercomputer. I don’t know who I am! My memory has been erased!”

“I think Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi’s have been erased too, Aelita, but don’t tell them yet,” whispered Cassidy to Aelita. “And the only crazy thing is that I know everything even after a program called the return to the past. Don’t tell them yet.”

“Aelita has to hide in some kind of a tower. As soon as she leaves it, she gets attacked by monsters! You’ve got to believe me, Stern and McGuire! This is an incredible discovery!” said Jeremie.

“Let’s say it is,” said Ulrich, sitting in the “cushy chair.” “What if—What if it’s just a giant video game!”

“Then it’s a very dangerous game,” said Jeremie. “My robots are programmed just to go and fetch a ball, and they just tried to kill me, don’t forget. You saw them. Once more, the moment they attacked, a kind of logo appeared on my computer screen. The same one the monsters had on Lyoko!”

Ulrich did a 360 around in the “cushy chair”. “Better and better,” said Ulrich. “Do you mean then, that that the virtual thing that attacked Aelita also wants to kill you?”

“That’s what it looks like!” said Jeremie.

“You know what? If that’s true, Belpois, if it’s that dangerous, I think you should shut it down and call the police!”

“What,” Cassidy yelled. “NO! Ulrich, I know I’m part psychic, but what about those days when you wanted to be a super hero! Think about it! Do you want to save the world?”

Ulrich thought on the subject for a little bit and then said, “OK, but first we have to have something to get into Lyoko! The question this time is: what do we have?”

“I saw something earlier that might help,” said Jeremie.

They went down into the scanner room. “What’s all this?” asked Ulrich.

“Scanners,” said Jeremie simply.

“Let me guess without opening my eyes,” said Cassidy excitedly, eyes shut. “They help get you to the virtual world right?”

“That’s right!” said Jeremie.

“Jeremie these things don’t exist yet,” said Ulrich. “There’s no way!”

“You still don’t want to believe me?” he asked.

“I do,” said Cassidy, stung.

“You do,” said Ulrich. “But virtualization is straight out of science fiction!”

Jeremie sat in the scanner that he walked into. “Why don’t we try it out? That way, you—” he indicated Ulrich—“can see for yourself! We’re going to need a guinea pig!”

Just then, Cassidy’s eyes lit up. “I have a nominee.”

“Who is he/she/it,” Jeremie asked.

“I’ll bring him in,” said Cassidy. “Get to the lab and ~~warn~~ tell Aelita of his arrival. I’ll be right back!”

“But, what am I supposed to do?” asked Ulrich.

Cassidy who was a foot at the elevator. “Just go with Jeremie and wait until I say, ‘Okay, shoot the moon,’ for the signal. I’ll come with your guinea pig, you’ll see!”

Cassidy then came out of the elevator and saw a ramp. She ran up the ramp, went into the sewers and back to the school. She ran toward Odd’s dorm. “Hey, Odd,” said she, panting like she’d ran a mile.

“Hey, what’s up!” said Odd.

“I have a surprise for you, but first I have to blindfold you,” she said.

“It better be good,” said Odd excitedly as he pulled out a purple handkerchief.

“It is,” said Cassidy, smiling evilly behind his back as she tied the knot in the blindfold. “Kiwi, you stay here!” she said calmly.

“Tell me what to do and I’ll do it!” said Odd.

“First, stand up on the floor,” she clarified, going to the door.

“Okay, I’m standing,” said Odd.

“Okay, wait until you hear a click then go out…if you can,” she said. “Then follow my voice!”

A click rang out and Odd, blindfolded, tried to find the door. He banged the wall with Ulrich’s poster on a few times before Cassidy changed his direction. “This way,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Jeremie were getting a bit…tedious. “I hope she’ll come,” said Jeremie.

“I’m sure she will, Jeremie,” said Aelita.

Odd followed Cassidy as if she were his guide dog. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“Oh…just a place,” she said.

“You’re not part of a gang are you?” he asked suspiciously.

“Nope,” said Cassidy walking toward the factory entrance. “Now I’ll swing a rope to you, and I want you to grab it!” She reached out, grabbed the rope without falling, and swung it to Odd. He grabbed it and said, “Okay, now what should I do?” he asked.

“Follow my voice, but keep hold of the rope,” she said.

Odd followed the instructions.

“Okay go over the edge,” said Cassidy. Odd gave her an “are you nuts” look.

“Just trust me,” she commanded. “The rope will act as a pole to help you slide down. I’ll meet you there.” She ran down the ramp she saw earlier. Odd slid down the rope, still blindfolded, and landed with both feet on the ground. They met up with each other and Cassidy said, “Follow me to this boxcar elevator!”

“Are we in a hotel?” said he.

“Not exactly,” she said. “Now come on or no surprise!”

“Okay, Ok,” he said as he followed her voice to the elevator.

“Stop!” she barked when they came inside.

“Okay, no need to be so barky,” said Odd.

She pressed a button, and they went down into the scanners. Odd then had a flashback…

** FLASHBACK #3 **

_He was with a lovely girl in an abandoned factory. She did something to make him stop her. She got a little angry, but she stopped what she was doing._

** END FLASHBACK **

“What happened?” he said.

“You must have had a flashback,” said Cassidy. “Ulrich and Jeremie had one. I accidently eavesdropped.”

“That happens from time to time.” Odd put a finger to his face.

“Don’t take off that blindfold,” she said urgently.

“Okay,” Odd said, putting his finger down.

She led Odd quietly into the scanners, and whispered, “Okay, Odd, take off the blindfold.”

He did and saw yellow and brown. “Where are we?” he asked.

Cassidy, however, didn’t hear it as she said, “Okay, shoot the moon!”

“Okay,” said Jeremie’s voice.

“Who or what did you pick,” shouted Ulrich’s voice.

“Someone that is recent!” said Cassidy. “Shoot the moon!”

“Okay, transfer, guinea pig,” said Jeremie, “scanner, guinea pig—” The doors to Odd’s scanner shut. “—hey, that is one _recent_ person!”

“That’s Odd Della Robbia,” said Ulrich. “McGuire, you said that this one was recent! I didn’t know you were talking about Odd!”

“He was the _un_ intentional guinea pig the first time around. You chose Kiwi,” said Cassidy, her eyes clouding as if she was seeing something.

“McGuire, what are you talking about,” said Ulrich. “I didn’t choose _Kiwi_!”

“You did, in a dream of mine,” said Cassidy. “Sissi was there, but I saved you from having Sissi coming.”

“Cassidy, I’m coming down to check on you,” said Ulrich. “Stay there!”

He came down to see that her eyes were white instead of the dark-brown luster he saw. “Jeremie,” said Ulrich, “I think Houston better come down here! Something’s wrong with Cassidy! Her eyes are white!”

Jeremie came down. “Cassidy,” he said, “What are you seeing?”

“I’m seeing Odd having to be a giant purple cat and with great distaste for a little bit, until he accepted it,” she said mystically. An earthquake shook the factory.

“Cassidy, snap out of it,” said Jeremie, shaking her shoulders, and giving her a backhanded slap on the face.

“What happened,” said Cassidy, her brown eyes penetrating the white.

“You had a psychic vision,” said Jeremie. “But it showed some disastrous results. An earthquake rocked the factory!”

“I’m sorry,” said Cassidy shamefully.

“Make sure that when you have them, you get to a safe location,” Ulrich said.

“Apology accepted, by the way,” Jeremie said.

“What about Odd?” Cassidy asked.

“He’s safe on Lyoko,” said Jeremie.

“He’s with cockroach-like monsters called Kankrelats isn’t he?” said Cassidy.

“Why do you say that?” said Jeremie.

“Scan me to Lyoko, now!” Cassidy commanded, jumping into a scanner. “Ulrich, your form awaits you!”

“What?” Ulrich asked.

“Come on,” said Cassidy.

“Okay, I’m coming,” said Ulrich, going into another.

“Transfer: Cassidy,” said Jeremie, “transfer: Ulrich, scanner: Cassidy, scanner: Ulrich, virtualization.”

Ulrich and Cassidy entered Lyoko. “Hey, Odd, are you there,” said Cassidy.

Ulrich started laughing. “What?” Cassidy asked.

“Look!”

Cassidy did. _She_ was the giant purple cat. “Ulrich, you—” she snickered—“you—” she couldn’t help it. She laughed, too.

Her hair was the same on earth. “I wonder what Odd received,” she said after recovery!

Ulrich, the samurai, shrugged.

“Hey, guys,” said Odd. He looked like a ninja with spiked-up hair. “I have laser arrows!”

“I know,” said Cassidy, trying to keep her eyes from whitening. “That’s your own weapon! I wonder what I have!”

“Hey,” said Odd, “What are you doing? You look like your eyes are going to pop out of their sockets!”

“She had a psychic vision that proved deadly in the factory,” said Ulrich, “at the time of your transfer.”

Cassidy found that her tail was holding something. It was a clear cylindrical tube. She grabbed it from her tail. “A tube, that’s it,” she asked. _I might as well ask for a gun,_ she thought. Like magic, the tube turned into an ultra-powerful .22 caliber.

“Hey, guys, I have a tube that turns into a weapon when I think about it!” said Cassidy.

They looked. She held the gun at them. It turned into a tube. _Turn into a gun_ , she thought. It turned into the .22.

“Wow,” said the two.

 _Turn into the tube,_ she thought. It turned back into the tube. _Turn into a bow/arrow combination,_ she ordered the tube. It turned into a perfect replica of Queen Susan’s bow and arrow.

“Oh, my,” said Odd.

“That’s cool,” said Ulrich.

“Let’s go find Aelita,” said Cassidy. “She’s that way.” She pointed behind the boys. “You took out the Kankrelats, right, Odd?” she asked.

“I ran away from them!” admitted Odd sheepishly.

The purple feline female groaned. “Next time,” said Cassidy, “use bravery instead of cowardice!”

“Okay,” said Odd.

“Let’s go,” said Cassidy.

They ran until they met the Kankrelats. Cassidy used the same arrow to get rid of the two. “Hey,” said Cassidy to the tower, “Aelita, are you in there?”

Aelita, the pink-haired elf came out. “I’m here, Cassidy. Are the monsters gone?”

“’Got rid of them,” said Cassidy. “There’s an activated tower in the Ice Sector! I can sense it!”

“How do we deactivate it,” asked Ulrich.

“Aelita has something inside that helps her deactivate towers,” said Cassidy accurately.

“Inside?” Ulrich panicked. “Like a stone or something?”

“No, listen!” she said, practically annoyed, “It’s nothing as serious as that! She has a power implanted in her that helps her deactivate towers!” She sighed in annoyance.

“Oh,” said Ulrich, relaxing.

“We’ll have some problems, obstacles, along the way though,” Cassidy said.

“Like what,” said Odd.

“Block-like creatures called Bloks,” said Cassidy, “and tall creatures called Krabes!”

“Wow,” said Ulrich.

“I can’t wait to use my powers against them!” said Odd excitedly.

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” said Aelita suddenly.

“Aelita’s right,” said Cassidy.

  
“I’m bushed,” said Ulrich.

“Okay,” said Cassidy. “Odd and Ulrich, stand in a tight, but not-to-tight, triangle with me.”

“What about me?” Aelita asked.

“You can’t devirtualize normally like we can yet, but Jeremie will look for a solution!” said Cassidy simply.

“Oh,” said Aelita.

“Odd, shoot me, but not yet,” said Cassidy. _Turn into a sword,_ she thought. The bow/arrow combo turned into a sword. “Ulrich, you get Odd, I’ll get you,” said Cassidy. “Ready? On the count of three! One…two…three,” said she.

They devirtualized out of Lyoko and into the scanner. Cassidy, being strong, stood up. They went up into the supercomputer room. Jeremie was being attacked by some vicious cords. Ulrich picked up a piece of metal and cut the cords. The attack stopped. Jeremie brought up Aelita. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Well, we’re a little shaken up, but it could’ve been worse,” said Jeremie.


	3. The Next Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is coming together in semi-unexpected ways.

**Disclaimer:  No ownership of Code Lyoko, Maximum Ride**

**Claimer:  William, before the return trip, activated the return with the help of our favorite comp virus. He deactivated the scanners, explaining the fact that no one has any memory of the return trip. Not even William himself has any memory of it. Cassidy is owned. She is one who remembers a lot of their history.**

The Next Day

Ulrich and Cassidy were in the cafeteria eating breakfast when Odd walked in. He was different. “Hey, Lovebirds! ’Sleep well?”

Cassidy, looking up from her croissant, saw the change. Odd’s hair, which was down the night before, was up and spiked.

“Cool ’do, Odd,” she said.

“Thanks,” said Odd cheerily.

“What’s with the hairdo?” Ulrich wondered.

“Lyoko style! It’s pretty trendy, huh? Meow,” said Odd with a smile as he sat down at the table.

All of a sudden, the purple ninja dived into his food. “Do you always eat that much?” asked Ulrich, half-concerned.

“No, I’m not that hungry, today, in fact! Has anyone seen Jeremie?” Odd asked with his mouth full.

“He spent all night in his room working on Lyoko after putting the computer back together!” said Ulrich.

“Man, that guy’s a real Einstein!” said Odd.

“He is,” said Cassidy in agreement, “I agree!”

“Unfortunately, Cassidy’s right, Aelita,” said Jeremie in his room. “You’re not like the three. You can’t be devirtualized when you lose all of your life points!”

“Too bad,” said Aelita. “Well, at least I know my power!”

“Yes. Cassidy seems to know all about you!”

“She told off the monsters really well! She seems strong!” said she.

“I agree,” said Jeremie. “And she knew the location of the tower you were in before I had a chance to relay the information to them!”

“She’s really bright, like you,” said Aelita.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Jeremie. “She might have just known.”

**Meanwhile on Lyoko’s Ice Sector…**

The tower Cassidy indicated last chapter pulsated into a dark-but-not-too-dark red.

**Outside Lyoko…**

“So,” said Cassidy, sitting on the bench, “You want us to go into Lyoko to materialize Aelita!”

“Hey,” said Jeremie, “how did you guess!”

“I read your eyes **(A/N: Don’t get any ideas! JxA forever! That came off an episode of CSI! End A/N)** ,” said Cassidy.

“Oh,” said Jeremie.

“It’s really dangerous,” said Odd.

“Odd’s right,” said Ulrich. “We’re better off shutting down the Supercomputer! Too bad for Aelita, but is still isn’t like she’s human!”

“You’re mad, Ulrich,” said Cassidy, pulling on her fake British accent and acting as if he sucker-punched her in the stomach.

“But she’s still a sort of intelligent being. She’s got e-emotions like we do,” said Jeremie.

“Jeremie’s right,” said Cassidy saluting as if he were her captain. “I am happy to help, Jeremie.”

“Thank you, Cassidy,” said Jeremie, smiling.

“We can’t even make it past the monsters!” said Odd. “We’ll probably get ourselves blown away in a heartbeat!”

“If only there were five of us, but I don’t know who would like to go,” said Ulrich.

“If you had your partner in martial arts class help, that may help,” said Cassidy.

“Hey, nice idea,” said Ulrich, running to the gymnasium. “Thanks!”

“No problem,” said Cassidy. “Now, go do a lovely rematch with him/her!”

“Bye!” said Ulrich.

“See you Ulrich, good luck,” Cassidy said cheerily.

“Okay,” said Ulrich.

“He’ll come with our fifth member!” Cassidy murmured, eyes turning white again. “I know he will!”

“Odd, we had better get Cassidy to a safe spot; this is too public!” said Jeremie, scooping her by the arms.

Odd scooped her by the legs and, with Jeremie, took her to the forest.

Jeremie tried shaking her, but her eyes were as white as snow. “Cassidy, snap out of it,” shouted Odd, snapping his fingers. An earthquake shook the park. Jeremie then slapped her backhandedly. She blinked and her eyes were dark brown again.

“What happened,” Cassidy said groggily.

“You had another vision,” said Odd quickly without thinking.

It was Odd’s turn to be slapped this time. “OW!” said he.

“That’s for speaking tactlessly,” said Jeremie angrily.

**In the gymnasium…**

Ulrich walked in. “Back for another thrashing?” said Yumi.

“I don’t like ending on a bad note,” said Ulrich.

“That’s good! I like a good challenge!”

“You’re going to get one!”

The two went near one of the free-throw lines and bowed to each other. Another non-verbal fight commenced. They circled a bit before Ulrich initiated the first move. Yumi backed up a bit then Ulrich tried again. Both seem to be evenly matched.

**Lyoko…**

The tower glowed red, and pulsations erupted from the ground to the Forest Sector where Aelita felt them as she meditated in her tower. She opened her eyes.

**Earth, with Sissi…**

“1, 2, 3, 4,” Sissi repeated as she marched around in her cheerleading uniform.

**Meanwhile…**

A blue ball of electric energy came out of the electric socket, determined to kill.

**Lyoko…**

“Jeremie? Jeremie, can you hear me? Jeremie!” said Aelita, looking around for him…kind of.

**Odd, Cassidy, and Jeremie…**

“It’s true that…”

“You found Sissi attractive, but she’s a squirrel **(A/N: Thank the animated film _Madagascar_! End A/N)**?” said Cassidy inquisitively.

“Nice work,” said Odd as the three went to the library.

 **Lyoko…**  
Aelita went over to the entrance of the tower, and facing her fears, exited from the tower and into the Forest Sector. She heard pulsations in her ears and throughout her body and she ran through the forest.

 **With Ulrich and Yumi…**  
Ulrich and Yumi were panting hard as Ulrich asked, “Have you been training for long?”

“Yeah, my parents think it is weird,” said Yumi.

“Not me,” said Ulrich.

**Lyoko…**

In the Mountain sector, Aelita exited from the tower that she changed sectors in. Then she saw a cockroach-like creature. _That must be a Kankrelat. Cassidy knows Lyoko well,_ she thought while hiding behind a rock.

**Sissi…**

“A baboon, huh, why not a red-tailed macaque while he’s at it,” said Sissi in anger. She had just been disqualified from the baton squad for throwing a baton to Jim’s head. Hervé and Nicholas followed behind. Sissi noticed them as they approached and she unlocked her door. “Hey, you two dumb dorks,” she said, “Are you planning on following me around all day!”

“Eh, yeah,” said Nicholas.

“We’re your biggest admirers in the whole school,” said Hervé. “We’ve even started a fan club called ‘Friends of Sissi.’”

“Oh! About how many of you are in the club?” asked Sissi.

“Well, two of us,” said Hervé, putting his index fingers together.

“Right, then come talk to me when there are at least _50_ of you. Meanwhile, if you don’t stay away from me, my father’s going to find out that you two clowns tried to break into my room!” said Sissi, slamming the door shut.

“She’s even _more_ beautiful when she’s angry, isn’t she?” asked Hervé. Nicholas nodded.

Sissi was deciding to change out of her cheerleading outfit and into some comfort clothes when all of a sudden, her closet railing started to spark. “Huh,” she asked, as the spark didn’t stop.

The ball from before electrocuted her. And she went unconscious. Hervé and Nicholas burst in from the door and found her.

**At the Library…**

Cassidy read a Maximum Ride book, Odd worked on his electrochemistry report, and Jeremie was typing on his laptop. “Aha, bingo,” said Jeremie excitedly but quietly. “A couple of days ago, I dug up…”

“Return to the Past program,” said Cassidy in a guess. She was ingesting her book’s info.  
“Hitting the nail over the head,” said Jeremie.

“That’s great, Einstein, but could you give me a hand with my electrochemistry report?” asked Odd.

“Hey, Odd, are you planning on calling me Einstein forever,” asked Jeremie.

“Uh, why not? So, what about my report?” Odd asked. Cassidy rolled her eyes. The American tiger-stripe-dressed girl **(A/N: Cloth-not-fur-not-even-fake-fur though! End A/N)** went back to her book.

 “Well, why don’t you say that electrochemistry is a science that deals with the relationship between electricity and chemistry? Then, you said that electrochemistry involves opposing polar systems composed, at its two extremes, of electrically conducted material!” said Jeremie.

“What? You mean all I have to do is say that?” asked Odd.

“No, of course not, you have to give examples,” said Jeremie.

“Don’t look now,” Cassidy said, “but Mathias is going to say something about Sissi.”

“Sissi was taken to the infirmary,” said Mathias walking with Christophe M’Balla.

“What she do? ’She pull a muscle on her brain trying to add two plus two,” said Christophe.

“No man, she got electrocuted,” said Mathias.

Both Odd and Cassidy looked to their pal, Jeremie, while he looked at both of them.

**Lyoko…**

“Jeremie,” said Aelita, “are you there? Answer me!” She looked around and saw another path. She ran off and jumped onto the path she saw. Unfortunately, the Kankrelat followed too. She ran until another Kankrelat blocked her path. She ran to the edge of the path and jumped off, hoping to land on a path.  And the Kankrelats followed with **(A/N: Typical Kankrelats! End A/N).**

She landed on, as she hoped, a path.  The monsters landed out of her way. Then some bee-like monsters came into view.

**Ulrich and Yumi…**

The two fought like heck. Just then, the switch crackled with electricity causing the light above the door to flash green. Ulrich tried to roundhouse, but Yumi caught his foot and he hopped backward until he grabbed her by the shoulders and the two tumbled until they were on top of each other again. This time Yumi was on the ground. Ulrich and Yumi blushed simultaneously then Ulrich climbed off her and lay down next to her. “Call it a tie,” said Yumi, getting up.

Ulrich, getting up next to her, said, “Okay. Anyway, I gotta go! My friends are going to start wondering where I am; same for you!”

“I don’t have any friends. Not that I remember,” said Yumi.

Just then, the Ball of Lightning came after them. “Whoa, what is that thing,” said Yumi.

“No time to explain, come on, we have to get out of here! Quick!” said Ulrich quickly and urgently, grabbing Yumi by the hand and Running to the boiler room.

**Sissi**

Principal Delmas came into the infirmary wing. He said, “You’re the one who brought Elisabeth here! What happened?”

“She was in her room and she was attacked by this electricity monster that jumped from a coat hanger,” said Nicholas.

“Would you try to be serious, Poliakoff?” said Delmas. “You’re the one who’s going to receive a shock in a moment!”

Jeremie, Cassidy, and Odd looked from the doorway.

**Ulrich and Yumi**

They ran into the boiler room. Ulrich shut the door. Panting, Yumi said, “It was as if that electrical thing was alive! What is going on?” Yumi asked.

Ulrich called Jeremie on his cell. “Yeah, Jeremie.”

“Ulrich, great, I really need you! Sissi got electrocuted by some kind of giant…” said Jeremie.

“Electric thing?” asked Ulrich.

“Huh,” asked Jeremie, “yeah, how did you know?”

“That same electric thing attacked me in the gymnasium. This is getting more and more dangerous—you and your Supercomputer,” said Ulrich.

“All the more reason to materialize Aelita A-S-A-P!” said Jeremie. “We have to get to Lyoko and bring her to the red tower! If it works, we can shut the computer down tonight. We’ll meet you in the sewer.”

 Ulrich and Jeremie hung up. “Sorry, Yumi, but I gotta go!” said Ulrich, walking into the pathway into the sewers.

“Hang on!” said Yumi. “You seem to know what’s going on here. What was this electrical thing that attacked us and what is this Supercomputer you’re talking about?”

“Look, I don’t have any time to explain,” said Ulrich.

“Okay,” said Yumi, walking toward him and grabbing him by the shoulder. “You have time for a third round then?”

“You’re as stubborn as a mule aren’t you?” asked the German- _named_ boy.

“That’s right,” Yumi asked. “And since I have no friends, I have lots of time!”

Ulrich let out a sigh. “Oh, come on, I’ll explain on the way!”

Ulrich and Yumi jumped over the piping when they met up with Odd, Cassidy, and Jeremie. “Hey, who’s that girl?” asked Jeremie.

“That’s Ulrich’s martial arts partner, apparently,” said Cassidy.

“This is Yumi! She was there when I attacked and she knows how to fight, so I thought…” Ulrich said.

“Okay, okay,” said Jeremie. “Later! Right now, we have to get to the factory! Let’s go!”

Yumi didn’t know what Jeremie was talking about but she followed after the four teens ran.

**Lyoko…**

Aelita exited from a cave that she hid in and found that the bee-like monsters were still chasing her. She ran to the way tower, only to be shot in the arm by the bee-like monsters. She made it inside and switched sectors to the Ice sector. There, some block-like creatures named Bloks. She ran. They tried to shoot.

**Factory…**

Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Cassidy, and Yumi ran to the factory. When she got to the entrance, Yumi had a flashback.

** FLASHBACK #4 **

_“Yumi,” said Ulrich. “Come here. I have something I need to tell you!”_

_“I do to,” said Yumi. “Emily’s in love with Jim!”_

_“What?” Ulrich asked._

_“Odd told me all_ about _it! Pretty crazy, huh,” she said._

** END FLASHBACK **

“Don’t tell me you’re scared!” she taunted Ulrich as she slid down on the rope.

Ulrich slid down behind her.

Meanwhile the blue ball of electricity was on their trail _in the sewers_.

The elevator opened up to show the five teens. “So who’s this Aelita?” asked Yumi raising an eyebrow.

Jeremie smiled as he said, “You’re going to be meeting her in just a minute! Get straight to the scanner room and get ready for the big plunge!”

“Big plunge? But I don’t have a bathing suit!” said Yumi nervously.

“Relax, you won’t be needing one,” said Odd optimistically.

Jeremie typed like a maniac on the keyboard and contacted Aelita. “Aelita, can you hear me? Aelita?”

“Jeremie, I-I’m being chased by monsters,” said Aelita, running from the Bloks.

“Why did you leave the tower before we got there? Are you crazy?” asked Jeremie worriedly.

“Jeremie, I heard some strange pulsations. I wanted to see what they were,” said Aelita.

“Okay, I’m sending you back-up! For now, just try and hide somewhere!” said Jeremie.

Aelita ran to find a hiding spot and ran inside a waterfall. She jumped on the stepping-stones laid out for her and went to the other side.

Yumi looked at the scanners. “This story of yours is pure science fiction!” said she.

“It’s real, Yumi,” said Cassidy.

“You guys ready,” said Jeremie. “I’m starting up the procedure.”

“I’ll go last,” said Cassidy.

“Transfer: Odd, Transfer: Ulrich!”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared,” said Ulrich to Yumi with a taunting smiling on his face.

“Wait!” said Yumi. “I’m coming too!”

“Okay, Transfer: Yumi! Scanner: Yumi, Scanner: Odd, Scanner: Ulrich, virtualization,” said Jeremie.

After all the scanners cleared, it was Cassidy’s turn to be virtualized. “Transfer: Cassidy, Scanner: Cassidy, virtualization.”

Cassidy landed on the ground a purple cat. “At least I have my weapon!” said Cassidy, brave. She pulled out her tube. _Turn into a gun,_ said Cassidy to the tube. It turned into a .22 caliber gun.

“That’s cool, Cassidy,” said Yumi, the geisha.

“Thanks,” said Cassidy. “On Earth and Lyoko, I possess some kind of vision thing. As a downside, it causes danger to me and my teammates.”

“That must be hard,” said Yumi.

“I’m so glad I’m a ninja,” said Odd.

“For reasons unknown, Odd’s cat costume switched with my card. Now he’s a ninja and I’m a cat!” said Cassidy. “We have to find Aelita. Come on!”

Cassidy ran to find a waterfall and ran inside. She shot the gun at the Bloks, and then went over to Aelita and said, “They’re gone!”

“Thank goodness,” said Aelita.

The both jumped out of the waterfall. They all make it to the tower but then some tall creatures come in.

“Krabes, right?” Ulrich asked Cassidy. Cassidy nodded a “yes”.

“Um, excuse me but I don’t have a weapon,” said Yumi.

Cassidy smiled. “What is that between the back and bow?” she asked in the “What’s that behind your ear” voice we know so well.

She reached in between the bow and Yumi’s back and found a tessen fan. “It is one fortified weapon of choice!” said Cassidy.

“But what should I do with that weapon?” asked Yumi.

Cassidy gave a forceful flick of her wrist and Yumi’s fan went whizzing through Lyoko’s air, on a Krabe, and back to her.

“Oh, my, gosh,” said Yumi, awed. “That was so neat.”

“It’s a keeper?” asked Cassidy eagerly, giving the fan back to Yumi.

“I think I’ll keep it!” said Yumi with an energetic spark in her eye.

 _Turn into a homing gun, but stay in the .22 range,_ said Cassidy to the .22 gun before her.

It did. “Those two Krabes are going _down_!” said Cassidy courageously, the word “down” sounding like a growly battle cry.

“Let’s fight,” said Odd.

They fought until the Krabes disappeared. Aelita then went into the tower. She rose onto another platform. An interface popped up, making her jump. She then walked tentatively to the interface and put her hand on it. It showed her name. “‘Aelita,’” she said. “Jeremie, your name you gave me is permanent.”

Then CODE came up.

She typed in the code.

Outside the tower, Cassidy turned to Odd. “Odd, shoot me,” said Cassidy.

“Why?” Odd asked.

“Just do it,” said Cassidy.

He did and Cassidy devirtualized. She came to Jeremie, who was fighting against the blue sphere the whole time, and carried him to the scanners. She placed him in, and scanned him. “There,” said Cassidy. She pressed the keys and said, for the first time in ten years, “Return to the Past, Now!”

A white bubble covered all of Earth and went back to the vending machine.

“What happened anyway? What are we doing here?” said Ulrich.

“But we were doing this yesterday,” said Yumi, now having friends.

“I can answer that,” said Cassidy. “I did a return to cover up the Sissi-being-electrified attack.”

“It worked,” said Jeremie. “I remember too. Who scanned me?”

“I did,” said Cassidy. “So now, you are immune to the returns to the past like we are!”

“That’s great!” said Jeremie.

Odd said, “I have to go to the bathroom. I don’t like my hair.”

“You’re excused, Odd,” said Cassidy.

Odd nodded his thanks and ran off.

“Also, ‘Aelita’ is permanent,” said Cassidy to Jeremie. “You caught horse with one rope on that guess!”

“How did you know what name to call her?” asked Jeremie.

“I just knew,” said Cassidy. “Are we a team?”

“Yep,” said Ulrich. “And we’ll save the world and protect Aelita at every corner!”

“Great!” said Cassidy.

**Later Oct. 10**

“Hi,” said Yumi, “did you find anything.”

“Yes, XANA,” said Jeremie.

“XANA, what’s that?” Odd asked.

“A super dangerous program. Like a virus that can control electricity, and can activate towers to gain access to your world,” said Aelita.

“So the red tower, the electricity monster, the weird symbol, and the monsters on Lyoko, all of that was XANA!” asked Yumi.

“Yes. Only Aelita can counter it by deactivating the tower that it—”

“ _He_ ,” said Cassidy.

—“he uses for attacks in the real world.”

“That’s great,” said Ulrich. “But what about materializing Aelita?”

“Jeremie will find a solution soon,” said Cassidy, smiling.

“It could get very dangerous you know. XANA could attack at moment,” said Jeremie.

“Be reasonable, Jeremie,” said Aelita, feeling a bit defiant. “We’d better just shut this thing down!”

“No, Aelita,” said Cassidy. “It’s _our_ job to help you counter XANA’s attacks.”

“Look, now that we know how to neutralize XANA, we just have to get Aelita to the activated the tower,” said Ulrich.

“We can find a way to counter the attacks, while Einstein figures out how to bring Aelita back to Earth, right?” said Odd. The two teen boys standing up looked to Yumi. Cassidy pulled on _Maximum Ride’s_ Angel’s Bambi Eyes.

“It’s risky, but I think we should,” said Yumi. “I mean we are Lyoko warriors, aren’t we!” Ulrich and Odd hit each other’s fists saying “YEAH!”

“You really think you can do it?” asked Aelita.

“They don’t call me ‘Einstein’ for nothing. In a few weeks, I’ll have this figured out,” said Jeremie. “Meanwhile, let’s keep this a secret.”

“Don’t worry, Einstein, I can be trusted,” said Cassidy.

“Hey, relax, we know how to keep a secret!” said Yumi.

**Flashback credit:**

**#4: Swarming Attack**


	4. The Routine's about to Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Return to the Past, NOW! continues with Routine.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Code Lyoko.**

**Claimer: do own Cassidy and this plot.**

**I am SO sorry for not updating this sooner, but I was in a HUGE block. Code Lyoko's first season is really a tangle, and it took me until I got a headache. So here, we are ROUTINE baby.**

"It's now or never!" said Jeremie Belpois, operating the super computer.

"Thanks for the tip Jeremie!" Cassidy called. She got her tube ready.

Ulrich started the signing. Cassidy's signal: Take out two Bloks and run back.

Cassidy nodded. She understood, being a little bit of a dangerous psychic.

Odd and Yumi's signal: follow each other, hide, and then take out the Megatanks by force.

Odd and Yumi hid behind the trees. Aelita's signal was next: after the path was clear, go to the tower and deactivate it.

Ulrich also signed the order: Cassidy was to go last, since she might get a vision before her time. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi would go respectively, third, second and first. Aelita would go after Cassidy and soon, the "You-who it's us" time would call it quits.

Yumi took out the first Megatank, Odd, the second, and, Ulrich, one of the Bloks. Cassidy, now determined, ran over and used her weapon to snipe the last Blok. "Aelita, it's your turn now!" Cassidy found her virtual vocal cords.

Aelita went into the tower as Jeremie complimented, "As usual guys, great job!"

"That's right, another XANA attack chopped up; another tower gone!" Cassidy smiled while Odd did a list of positive stuff.

"Hey Odd, you know that we are going to go back in time again." Cassidy patted the ninja on his back.

Odd pulled a coy "really, you sure" face. "You said it Cat-Girl!" Cassidy giggled.

"Return to the Past—" ("See you soon, Aelita," Cassidy said)—"Now!"

The white bubble went over earth.

Science class went by in a blur to Cassidy. "R-R-R-I-I-I-N-G," sang the bell.

"Class dismissed," Mrs. Hertz said. "And don't forget your chemistry exercise for tomorrow!"

Cassidy, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie went outside and over to the benches. Odd took the top of the bench; Cassidy took the seat; Ulrich sat in the opposite bench; and Jeremie still stood—Yumi waiting for all of them.

"Hey guys, so how was Science class with Mrs. Hertz today? Was it fun?"

"Same old, we had the same classes twice, and I found it cool!" Cassidy gave her report.

"Once, twice," Jeremie smiled as he sat beside Cassidy  **(A/N: No JxOC Pairing here! End A/N).** "And you never find it boring?"

"Never, unlike someone I know!" Ulrich flinched as Cassidy's eyes bored into his.

But Cassidy smiled. "Sissi is coming!" she said, eyes a now pale brown.

"'Hello, Ulrich Dear, can we talk for a minute?'" Odd imitated.

"You know that Ulrich may say no!" Cassidy's eyes were now a paler brown. But now, Cassidy was watching Odd.

"Hello, Ulrich Dear, can we talk for a minute?" Sissi came over, giving Odd a dirty look. The purple-clad boy giggled and smiled.

"First of All, I'm not your 'Ulrich Dear'! Second of all, I will not go to your room to explain Exercise B, page 52." Ulrich was tired of Sissi coming over and doing…God-knows-what to him. The gang was too. It got annoying after Sissi tried to blackmail him (thank God for Cassidy, who had told Yumi to get to the girls' bathroom and it was on top of the third stall's water tank). Even when she started bugging Jeremie about Lyoko, (Cassidy decided to help, by giving her prompts to do her homework), it added to the pile.

Sissi was flabbergasted. She raised an eyebrow. "But... how did you know that I...?"

Cassidy and Co. smiled like, you knew that this was coming.

She walked off angered and embarrassed. "A Sissi attack is almost as bad as a XANA attack, and ten times more boring." Yumi laid her hands in the back of her head.

"You bet," Cassidy's eyes came back to dark brown.

Later, the gang was walking to the gate. Ulrich was feeling a little…antsy. "So, anyone feel like sneaking out on the town for a while?"

"Count me out; I have a heavy date with my pillow!" Odd put his hands to his head as if imitating sleeping.

"And I have to work my program for materializing Aelita. One of these days, I'm going to do it." Jeremie smiled excitedly.

"Cassidy? Yumi?" Ulrich asked. "You two want to go out and get an ice cream?"

"No, but thanks Ulrich!" said Yumi. "I got to get caught up with my homework. I'm  _way_  behind due to all the XANA attacks, ciao!"

"See you later, Yumi!" Odd and Jeremie walked away.

"I feel a need to get out! Being in school is cool and all, but I need  _some_  fresh ciudad air!" Cassidy smiled.

"Ciudad air?" asked Ulrich.

"City air, Ulrich. I'm sorry about my Spanish speaking skills!" Cassidy blushed.

"Well, let's go then," Ulrich was happy that he had someone to go with.

Cassidy's eyes got a little light. "Hey, without someone with free time, you would have been super-sad in no time flat!"

"Really?" Ulrich asked.

"Do children ask where babies come from?" Cassidy teased.

"Yes," Ulrich said a tad awkward.

"Then yes."

Later, Ulrich was mulling things around while petting Kiwi. After awhile, he and Kiwi were the best of friends with Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, Jeremie, and Yumi.

 _Yumi,_  he sighed in his mind.  _It was months ago when we met, and yet I can't figure out my feelings for her. Does she want me as a friend, or as a boyfriend?_

"Ring," his phone sang.

_It must be Cassidy, Jeremie, or Yumi. Odd's still in the shower._

He answered it. "Hello!" He sighed.

"GOD!" Cassidy's voice screamed, distressed. "I'm THE WORLD'S Peeping Tina! I heard your thoughts from MY room!"

"W-what?" Ulrich's words were strangled.

"Come to my room! Bring Odd and Kiwi, and Jeremie. I called Yumi."

Ulrich, Odd, Kiwi, Jeremie (with his laptop), and Yumi came up to see Cassidy sweating and pacing around her room. Her fists were clenching so hard that her fingernails would pierce skin and cause her palms to bleed.

Cassidy started to tear up, panting as if reading minds was the end of the world.

"Cassidy, first of all, sit down." Jeremie took charge immediately.

She did. "Second of all, what did you read?"

"Well you were thinking of algorithms, codes, and Aelita. To tell you the truth, you are so in love—" Jeremie blushed. "Odd was thinking of sleeping—" Odd was swaying even his odd-balled hair did the same. "I couldn't hear Yumi's thoughts, because she's so far away! But Ulrich was thinking of—I'd rather not say it!" Cassidy tried to stand, but Yumi, who had come up behind her, held her down.

Jeremie invited Aelita in. "Hi, Jeremie, what's going on?" Aelita raised a virtual brow.  **(A/N: I don't feel comfortable with Aelita stuck on Lyoko in mostly the first season, but I have to work with it. Pobre me! End A/N)**

"Cassidy can read minds, and she's…panicking!" Jeremie said.

"Panicking?"

"Being in fear; no bravery; terror; foreboding!" Odd fell to the ground in his purple towel as Jeremie explained.

Yumi almost looked down and groaned in anger. "Odd if you don't get your clothes on right now, I will personally kick your butt all over school and over Lyoko tomorrow."

"They're in the boys' bathroom. But I'll get them." Odd grudgingly picked himself up, and left the room.

Later, when Cassidy was calmed down, Ulrich was back to petting Kiwi again. Odd opened the door and said, "Ah…Ulrich, you oughtta take a shower; it really relaxes you!" He lay down on his bed, totally relaxed.

"Tell me what your day was like!" Ulrich said.

Odd sat up on his bed. "Oh, nothing special, let's see, now: I had the embarrassment of my life today in gym class. My shorts tore, you can guess where. I had a Spanish lesson with Cassidy—she's fluent, but she comes from America. I lost my pencil case in the library, and, to finish the day, I got into a fight with Marcie. Then tonight's Cassidy-related incident happened!" Odd listed. "And that's what my day was like!" He lay down on his bed again.

"No, what I mean, Odd, is, don't you feel like you've had the exact kind of day?" Ulrich asked, continuing to pet Kiwi.

"Well yeah, but that's normal!" Odd yawned, sitting up. He was getting tired. "Don't forget we had the same French, English, and Physics class twice, we get a Spanish lesson every day, and on Lyoko, it was 'you-who it's us' for the seventh time." Odd put his hands between his legs.

"'You-who it's us?'"

"That's what I call our game plan; you know the one we use to help Aelita get to the tower safe and sound! Why all these questions, hmm?" Odd folded his arms against his chest loosely.

"No reason I—I'm fed up with all this: School, Spanish lessons with Cassidy, Lyoko, back to School, new Spanish lessons with Cassidy, back to Lyoko, and, this is XANA's fifth attack in a week." Kiwi licked Ulrich's cheek. "And I'm also fed up with what's happening between Yumi and me! Once in a while, I get the feeling that—" Ulrich sighed—"that she doesn't really like me. That she doesn't have any feelings for me." He sighed again, almost as if lonesome.

Odd meanwhile, fell asleep in Ulrich's speech. Poor Odd didn't hear the ends of the sentences. He just lay there, snoring with his white towel  **(A/N: Odd switched towels. Ulrich interrupted Odd in the middle of his shower.)**

Ulrich put Kiwi off his lap, looking forlorn. All the talk about Yumi made his heart, note: not rise with joy, but slip into what seemed like an eternity of melancholy. He decided to go and take a shower, so he gathered up the essentials to a nice shower and went into the showers.

The warm water calmed him…

**-A few moments later-**

A pair of blue slippers walked down to the right of the hall…

A pair of green slippers walked down to the left of the hall…

The blue slippers belonged to Emily Le Duc, a student and boarder at Kadic.

The green slippers belonged to Ulrich.

And they both walked past each other, Ulrich saying a nice "hi" to Emily.

"Hello, Ulrich, I'm looking for Jim. Have you seen him?" Emily asked, stopping Ulrich.

"No, I'm sorry," said Ulrich, making Emily frown a little, then give a little smile.

"It is okay; good night!" She walked past Ulrich as he turned around.

Ulrich walked three steps, then stopped, turning around to see her a little bit farther than he was.

He sighed a little, then turned back around, blushing. Emily gave Ulrich a sort of look.

"I don't believe it! Does she have a thing for me, huh?" Ulrich looked around again as a sound snapped to his attention.

The double-doors were getting back to normal.

Ulrich shrugged. Probably nothing unusual, he guessed, then turned around to walk to his dorm when he bumped into Jim.

"Ulrich, if you're going to sleepwalk, do it in your room," Jim commanded.

"Oh, hi, Jim, by the way, Emily's looking for you." Ulrich walked around Jim.

Jim was confused.

**-Supercomputer and super-calculator room-**

**The super-calculator got infected.**

**-The next Morning-**

It was a great morning as Yumi walked down the schoolyard. The weather was lukewarm—not too cold, not too hot.

She saw Ulrich with Emily.  _Ulrich_? She held onto the straps of her bag.  _What's he doing with Emily?_

Ulrich and Emily laughed, incognizant of the faraway glance of Yumi.  _They sure don't look bored._

She shrugged and moved to the trio sitting on the bench. "Hello," she said pleasantly…

"Ulrich was having some down time, emphasis on the word down," Cassidy said, her brown hair almost getting in the way. "Just think of Emily as a break from you. And we all know that she's a year older than him and that you are too."

Yumi was dazed from the dangerous psychic's accuracy. Odd and Jeremie were too. "But how come Ulrich was so sad? Tell me that, Cassidy."

"He was thinking of you…a  _lot_  last night after you left my dorm," Cassidy sighed after she said that.

"About what?" Yumi raised both eyebrows.

"He seems to care for you; his feelings for you…are…"

"I get the picture, but what was he thinking about me?"

"He was wondering if you like him, and if you have—or had—any feelings for him." Cassidy was starting to feel forlorn as well.

Yumi started to tear up. As Jeremie and Odd left to go see Aelita for a bit, Feeling a bit uncomfortable. Cassidy stayed behind to keep her friend, Yumi, company.

**-Meanwhile-**

POUND

-Grunt-

POUND

"Oh, this machine's going to drive me bananas." A boy with strawberry blonde hair kicked the machine, but the soda dispenser would not comply with his order.

Looking over, another boy with black hair, glasses, and a little acne saw the scene unfold. "Hey that's double big news: Ulrich without Yumi and Ulrich  _with_  Emily."

Sissi, the raven-haired girl, looked with disdain, then screeched, "EMILY? HOW DARE SHE? The nerve of her going after him! If Yumi's out of the picture, then  _I'm_  next on the list! Speaking of Yumi, she's not taking it too well!"

"Neither are you, Sissi," Hervé, the black haired boy, said.

"Shut up!" Sissi's mind was formulating an evil plan. "I've got a plan that's just bound to make Ulrich all mine."

Before Sissi could take a step, Cassidy's stomach twisted. "Yumi, Sissi's coming."

"Where?" Yumi asked.

"High noon," Cassidy freaked out.

Sissi walked. Cassidy hastened, "If she says that Ulrich and Emily have been going out for two months, she's lying. She's just bound to get a response, and wants to get Ulrich all to herself."

"Okay, but what should I say?"

"Just say, 'Really, that long?' It'll work, trust me," Cassidy muttered.

"Quite a romance going on there," Sissi's words were soft.

Cassidy clenched her fists. She could surf by and find what anyone wanted.

Ulrich and Emily were laughing, incognizant to the world.

"Two months already, that's not that bad," Sissi asked.

"Really, that long?" Yumi surprised Sissi.

"You knew?" Sissi raised a black eyebrow.

"Yeah, we knew," Cassidy nodded.

"We're okay," Yumi said.

Yumi and Cassidy walked off.

Hervé snickered. "Looks like that plan backfired."

"If you know what is good for you, SHUT UP!" Sissi shouted.

**-At the Park-**

Aelita popped up onscreen. "Jeremie!"

**-On Lyoko-**

The pulsations grew stronger and stronger as it hit near where Aelita was. "XANA's launched another attack."

**-Back to the Park-**

"Are you feeling pulsations?" Jeremie's voice was curious and concerned.

"Yes," Aelita said. "In the Desert region. They're really strong."

"I've never seen him so active as he is now." Jeremie kept his eyes on the screen. "Sorry guys, you'll have to go back. And right away too."

Odd was unfazed by this. He loved, as one said, "Cracking heads" on Lyoko. Cassidy smiled too. She always found some way to make Lyoko fun.

"Well, as they say, when you gotta go, you gotta go."

Jeremie picked up his cell phone to call Ulrich. Then he frowned. "Ulrich has shut off his cell phone!"

"Yeah, maybe he was busy with Emily," Cassidy smiled, eyes a tad light. "Yumi, you and I will go get him."

"Why do you want to come?" Yumi asked.

"Just so you two don't end up fighting and then Jeremie would say to Aelita when we are all down in the scanner room, 'Aelita, help is on the way. I better warn you, Yumi and Ulrich are a bit, well you might say... buggy.' Then Aelita would say, 'You mean to say that they've been fighting, don't you?'" Cassidy smiled more, eyes a little whiter than planned.

"Where do you get this info?" Yumi frowned a bit.

"It comes to me each day. If it weren't for my meager skills, Ulrich would have ended up blackmailed with his diary—which contains stuff about Lyoko—and Jeremie would have been bugged left and right—both by Sissi." Cassidy's eyes turned brown again.

"Gotcha," Yumi said.

**-With Ulrich-**

Ulrich came out of the cafeteria, feeling very refreshed. Laughing with Emily cooled him down a lot. His new refreshing feeling rocked.

"Want to go for a walk, Ulrich?" Emily asked him.

"Mhm," Ulrich nodded as he walked beside her past Yumi and Cassidy.

His spirit felt a heck of a lot lighter. "It's nice to relax and not think of—"

"Hey, Ulrich," Yumi said pleasantly, "come here with us for a second."

"Hi Yumi; hi Cassidy," Ulrich was now feeling panicky inside. "I'll be right back okay?"

Emily nodded as Cassidy and Yumi took Ulrich a little farther from Emily.

Cassidy took charge, "Ulrich, XANA's woken up, and Jeremie has been trying to reach you. We need to get to the factory. And Yumi and I know that there's nothing going on with you and Emily."

"Cassidy, you keep talking to us and this would be one adventure that would rock the house," Yumi said, shocked as Cassidy splashed the info.

Ulrich nodded.

Soon they were at the factory with no problem.

Jeremie then had another flashback.

**FLASHBACK 5**

_Jeremie and his friends were congratulating Jim. (But for what?)_

**END OF FLASHBACK**

Jeremie shook his head and frowned.

"Another flashback?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, this time we were congratulating Jim, but we don't know what we were congratulating him for," Jeremie said, then pulled up the communication-to-Aelita window.

"Any attacks in the real world," was Aelita's main concern.

"No! Everything's quiet here. No short circuits, no giant bug invasion, no earthquakes...how about you?"

"Well, I'm almost at the activated tower, but none XANA's monsters have appeared yet. Aside from the pulsations, there's no other sign that XANA's woken up!" Aelita said.

"I wonder if this is a new tactic of his," Jeremie said.

"Odd, I don't think your suggestion would be useful right about now." Cassidy smirked a little. "How about we all go to Lyoko and figure the attack out?"

Jeremie looked at the brown-haired girl. "You're the psychic!"

"Oh, alright, fine. Jeez," Cassidy growled a little. "It's a devirtualization bug. If we get hit then game over. Here are some rubber gloves for the Super-calculator room. Use them wisely." She handed Jeremie what looked like a pair of fire-gloves. "Now can we get to Lyoko, deactivate the tower, save our skins and Return to the Past NOW?"

"Okay," Jeremie smiled.

"Hey, are you going to do that every time?" Cassidy frowned.  
"Do what every time?" Jeremie asked.

"Are you going to make me spit out the attack every time I don't feel like it?"

"Sometimes," Jeremie answered.

As soon as they were on Lyoko, Jeremie spotted four windows of his friends with red (!)'s on them.

"Everyone's here, don't worry, the devirtualization bug is the key. We'll deactivate the Torre in no time."

"Torre?" Everyone looked to Cassidy confused.

"Again, I'm sorry for my Spanish skills,  _tower!_ " Cassidy was exasperated.

"You know the language well," Ulrich cracked.

"Let's get to the tower por favor."

"Fine."

Everyone was almost near the tower when all of a sudden, some Krabes, Bloks and Megatanks materialized into view.

Everyone gained up and took them down. Yumi nearly fell into the digital sea, but Ulrich caught her.

As soon as Aelita was close to the tower, Cassidy noticed a moment. "Aelita, wait. Just six seconds."

As soon as it was safe, Cassidy nodded her head and Aelita went in.

Aelita rose to the top and put in the Lyoko Code.

Yumi and Ulrich really _ _ _ _ _ _.

**(A/N: Ulrich/Yumi fans, guess the word)**

**-Returning to the past now-**

"Not that bad huh," Sissi smiled.

"Really, that long," Yumi surprised Sissi again.

This time Cassidy went with Jeremie and Odd to say Hi to Aelita.

"There's Yumi," said Ulrich to Emily. "So long, now, Emily."

"So long," Emily said, and then hinted, "Ain't love grand?"

Ulrich walked over to Yumi. "Hi, I was waiting for you."

"So was I. Two months is a really long time, but Sissi was here to keep me company." Yumi smiled.

"Thanks," Ulrich smiled back.

Sissi was deeply confused. "Buncha creeps."

"Yumi, you know about what happened on Lyoko," Ulrich blushed. "I mean, really happened."

"Now that you mentioned it, um…" Yumi blushed as well. "I'd rather you'd not talk about it to Odd, Jeremie, and Cassidy. At least, not right away."

"Yeah, I agree, not a word."

The bell rang and—speak of the devil—the trio came. "Come on Ulrich; don't forget that we've got Mrs. Hertz's classes to go to one more time." Jeremie smiled.

"Well, it wasn't all that boring on Lyoko, was it Ulrich?" Odd asked.

"You're right, Odd," Ulrich said as they sat down together as friends in Mrs. Hertz's class. "And I learned something too. Something super important."

"And I know what it is!" Cassidy giggled mischievously.


	5. The Cruel Dilemma is Cassidy Fell For It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremie gets faced with a new Dilemma.

**DISCLAIMER: I DON’T OWN CODE LYOKO!**

**CLAIMER: I OWN CASSIDY RENE’ MCGUIRE AS IT IS MY NAME TOO.**

It was a normal day at Kadic Academy. Several students were outside, listening, both bored and interested, to the Principal’s drawling speech.

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich were amongst the students.

“Dear Students, this magnificent stadium is being built in close cooperation with the Board of Education. Soon, you will enjoy the latest in sports equipment and I, personally, am delighted since it is my duty to provide you with the finest working conditions possible in all areas, both intellectual and athletic. Since Juvenal said, ‘A sound mind, and a sound body.’”

“Wow, can he talk; do we really have to listen to all this,” whispered Odd.

Ulrich answered him. “Not really. You could have stayed with Jeremie and Cassidy if you wanted to.”

“What are Einstein and Danger Psychic up to, anyway?” Yumi asked. “Danger Psychic” was Cassidy’s nickname. They came up with it a few weeks ago. Cassidy never heard of the nickname as they have kept it secret.

“The usual, Jeremie’s glued to his computer screen in a big cyber-conversation with his darling Aelita. Cassidy had joined him.”

Yumi smiled. The three in the room were up to something.

Jeremie and Cassidy were sharing notes as he typed on his computer in his room. “Just a few more calculations to go and my devirtualization program would be completed.”

 _“And, do you two think it’ll work, Jeremie and Cassidy. Do you think I’ll finally have a chance to be materialized into your world and becoming somebody…somebody like you?”_ Aelita asked as Jeremie grabbed one of his pieces of candy to eat.

“I sure hope so. Anyway…there’s one thing I’m sure of. I’ve never been as close to the answer as I am now.” Jeremie had his heart high with hope.

 _“Oh…honestly, it’s so hard to imagine. We could be face-to-face in the same room together—”_ Aelita was excited. Jeremie blushed— _“We could touch each other…even_ kiss. _”_

Cassidy held back a snicker. Jeremie’s blushing and Aelita mentioning that was pure gold.

“Uh…Yeah…that’ll be…uh…interesting…uh…I guess.” Cassidy started shaking with hidden laughter threatening to burst out of her mouth. When Jeremie finally got his composure in check, he had his serious look back. He turned to see Cassidy with the widest smile that he had ever seen. “What’s so funny?”

“Na—thing,” She bleated. She loved Jeff Foxworthy’s comedy so much.

Jeremie nearly cracked a grin, but he turned back to Aelita. “Now, get ready. I’m starting the test program.”

He pressed the enter key and waited for a minute, Cassidy now in a whole hanging-off-the-edge-of-her-seat mode.

It failed. Jeremie banged his fist on the table beside the keyboard. Cassidy rubbed Jeremie’s shoulder consolingly. He always tried his hardest when it came to the materialization program. He tried this, and he tried that, but he kept being showed he failed.

Cassidy sometimes was by his side when he failed. However, when it came to bedtime, she went up to her two-bed dorm. She had this strange idea that soon she will have a roommate, too. Ulrich, Jeremie, Yumi, and Odd had tried talking her into changing into a one-bed dorm, but this didn’t move her.

“I don’t get it!” Jeremie said a tad devastated.

 _“It’s not the end of the world,”_ Aelita said. _“I’m sure, Jeremie, that one day you’ll succeed.”_

“Aelita, I—I’m beginning to wonder if I’m up to the job. If I’m good enough for such a complicated program. I’m sorry, I’m just…tired and jumpy that’s all. I better go and stretch my legs. See ya later.”

Cassidy stayed behind to get a chat in with Aelita. “Any monsters pursuing, lately?”

 _“No, but thank you,”_ Aelita answered.

“Odd’s coming. You and I better hide.” Cassidy panicked as she dove for the side of Jeremie’s closet.

Aelita disappeared off-screen at the same time as Cassidy’s dive.

“Cassidy, Jeremie?” Odd poked his head in as Cassidy calmed down, hidden in the shadows.

Odd looked at the computer screen. “What’s this? Another one of Jeremie’s materialization programs.” Spying Jeremie’s candy, he reached inside the bag. “Oh, wow, candy!”

Popping a piece into his mouth, Odd smiled.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. If there was supposed to be one, Odd was the glutton and comedian in their little group.

“ODD!” Jeremie’s voice made both boy and girl jump. Odd accidentally spilled candy on the keyboard.

As the genius walked in, Cassidy threw a thought to Jeremie. _Thanks for that,_ Genius! _You made me jump. The one out of many reasons I wanted to go here was to get a little more cognizant 360 style—_ DUH!

Jeremie ignored it. “How many times have I told you _not_ to touch my computer when I’m not here? There are months of work in there!”

Odd put up his hands in an “okay, okay, you got me” fashion. “Relax, Max! I didn’t hurt your little toy!”

Looking at the keyboard as Odd got out of Jeremie’s chair, Jeremie was _not_ happy. “Oh, no, you’re such a cosmic creep. Now look what you’ve done. Those keys are incredibly sensitive.”

“Okay, okay, a little piece of candy’s not going to wreck your keyboard.” Odd was using defiance Cassidy could sense it.

Cassidy crawled out of the shadows. “Ever heard of a vacuum? The underside’s got more cobwebs than cat hair there.”

Jeremie only had his intentions of cleaning the keyboard. He did, but then turned his attention to the screen. “That’s crazy. This is really mega-insane!”

He started typing on his keyboard, Cassidy and Odd eager on either side of him. It showed that…

“YES! It works. Odd you’re a genius, you know that?” Jeremie was excited.

“You’re a creepy genius, Odd,” Cassidy smiled, seeing the joking expression on the Purple-spotted haired boy. Turning to Jeremie, she nodded. “I know that we have one shot at this.”

“Who’s the smart guy now? Are you going to materialize Aelita?” Odd asked.

“Well—yeah! But Cassidy’s right, since I didn’t see the type of programming the candy typed in!” Jeremie nodded.

“Yeah…so? There’s only one Aelita,” Odd smiled.

Cassidy fought the urge to Gibbs-slap him. “Odd, that’s not funny!” To Jeremie she added, “We’ll tell Ulrich and Yumi. Don’t worry.” Her eyes were clouded white with another vision. She ran out of the room to the park, Odd close at her heels.

“What are you seeing?” Odd waved his hand over her eyes.

“Something…horrible.” She didn’t pronounce the word “horrible” in English. It was in Spanish.

“What?” Odd asked. Kind of like “What is it” what.

“I…can’t tell you!” Another Earthquake spooked the park. Odd backhand-slapped her.

Cassidy’s eyes turned brown. “Thanks Odd!” She smiled a little.

**-A few minutes later…-**

Yumi shook her head. “Mm-mnh.”

“Yumi, it is now or never; we may not get a second chance! What if there’s some kind of bug. I’ll never be able to set up the program again.” Jeremie paced around his room.

“Listen, you can’t just materialize Aelita like that without making a lot of preparations.”

“I’ve boosted the scans; I’ve got everything going! Everything’s ready!” Jeremie protested.

“What about birth certificates, school records, parent records,” Cassidy came onto agreement with Yumi. “All of the above things mean that she doesn’t even exist here!”

“Imagine, ‘Hello, I’m Aelita, I just got here from a virtual reality.’ That's a one-way ticket to the nuthouse!” Odd said.

 _“You know, Jeremie, it doesn’t have to be today. I can wait!”_ Aelita’s voice came in.

Jeremie surrendered. “Well, what do we do now?”

“I could put her up at my house, my folks wouldn’t mind,” Yumi pointed to herself non-conceited-like.

“And then after a while, we could get her a room with me!” Cassidy nodded, smiling. “I would love to get that bed I have on the left of me an owner. Plus, if Aelita needs anything and Yumi’s not around, she’ll have me to talk to.”

Yumi and Aelita smiled.

“And you could plug into the city hall computers,” Ulrich suggested. “And create a phony identity for her. Find her a new name, all the stuff she needs.”

“Then,” Odd came in, “you’ll just have to enroll her at our school. And try to put her in our class, that’d be really cool, huh?”

Jeremie thought it over and then nodded. “Okay, we’ll get started first thing tomorrow.”

**-Later that night-**

Jeremie couldn’t sleep. He was so excited that the adrenaline pumped through him. He looked to his inspirational Albert Einstein poster, then to his computer. Repeating the pattern two or three times, he had enough. He went over to the computer and typed in the connections to Lyoko to contact Aelita.

“Aelita are you asleep?”

Aelita popped up onscreen. _“‘Am I asleep?’ Come on, Jeremie, you know virtual beings never sleep.”_

“I can’t sleep a wink. I can’t stop thinking about your materialization. That’s keeping me up! You can't imagine all the things you’re gonna discover in our world!”

 _“You mean like sleeping,”_ Aelita teased.

There was a click and a sleepy Cassidy walked in, fully clothed in a Mickey Mouse shirt and pink shorts, glasses on. “Yup.” Cassidy yawned.

“Cassidy, what are you doing here?” Jeremie turned to her.

“’Can’t sleep because of Sissi, she’s been giving her hair a really long brushing. And it really got annoying. She’s like London Tipton on the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Ugh!”

“Ignore her,” Jeremie soothed to both Cassidy and Aelita.

“’Mind if I bunk down here for awhile? Jim’s asleep. He won’t notice me here when he wakes up.”

“Yeah.” Jeremie smiled.

“And if I catch you—” she whispered the two words as super low to Jeremie so that Aelita wouldn’t hear—“I’ll hit you with a pillow and then brag about it to the others minus Aelita.”

Jeremie understood. “Don’t worry Aelita, a pillow is soft.”

 _“Tell me more,”_ Aelita understood.

**-Meanwhile, at the new stadium-**

**XANA’s ghosts covered the bulldozers and disappeared. Then the two came to life.**

**-Back with Cassidy, Aelita and Jeremie-**

“When you touch an object with your fingers, you have a sort of sensation. It could be a feeling of softness or of heat. It could be cold!” Jeremie explained.

  _“Oh, I see,”_ Aelita nodded. _“I thought you only sensed things with your brain.”_

“That’s right, but it’s a little more complicated. Here on Earth everyone has five senses, but you Aelita, you only have two of them: hearing and seeing. You can only see and hear.”

  **-On Lyoko-**

Aelita stood up on the first platform, hearing something, “Speaking of hearing.”

 Jeremie still was into the explanation. _“Soon you will be able to touch and t—”_

 “Jeremie, I think I just heard XANA. He’s up to something!”

  **-Back to Earth-**

“What is all that noise about I wonder,” Jeremie wondered. He was hearing something of a motor.

 _“Jeremie, Cassidy, XANA’s launched an attack,”_ Aelita told the two.

“Okay! Listen Aelita, go and hide in a deactivated tower. I’ll contact you from the factory.” He was clicking off his windows.

He turned to Cassidy, already clad in her tiger stripes shirt-and-pants combo. “I got dressed behind your back. Don’t worry, Aelita didn’t see.” Cassidy smiled.

They went to Odd and Ulrich’s dorm. “Odd, Wake up, XANA’s attacking. ODD, WAKE UP!” Jeremie yelled.

“What was say? What did you say about carpet tacking?” Odd got up tiredly.

Jeremie turned to Ulrich. “Ulrich, get up!” when Ulrich didn’t respond, he shook the former’s shoulders. “IT’S A XANA ALERT!”

Ulrich got up in shock and pulled out his earplugs. “What did ya say?”

“I SAID IT’S A XANA ALERT! XANA’S ATTACKING!” Jeremie erupted.

“Hey, do you always sleep with those things in your ears?” Odd was getting up a little slow, but not too slow.

“Yeah, Odd, always. And one of these days, I’ll tell you why!” Ulrich was a little disheveled.

Odd was confused.

After everyone, minus Cassidy and Jeremie, got dressed, they ran to see what befell them.

“No need to look any further, guys. This time, he picked a real winner. He’s attacking us with bulldozers.” Odd looked onward. “Nice going, XANA, how subtle can you get!”

“Jeremie,” Ulrich said, “rush over to the lab and call Yumi. Odd and I are going to try and stop these monsters.”

Cassidy said, “And what am I supposed to do? Dress in drag and do the hula in front of those vehicles?”

“Go with Jeremie,” Odd said.

The brown-haired, bespectacled girl nodded.

“I’ll take the front one,” Ulrich shouted to Odd.

They split up and Jeremie and Cassidy got to the factory. Cassidy then called Yumi.

“Come on, Yumi, we have a huge problem.”

“Do you guys realize what time it is?” Yumi said tiredly. “Bulldozers? What bulldozers?” Then she woke out of exhaustion. “WHAT?”

**-Meanwhile…-**

Ulrich and Odd were doing their best with the bulldozers but they were unsuccessful.

Odd got out and got to Ulrich. “Hey, XANA’s controlling the thing! I don’t know what to do Ulrich!”

“That makes two of us! You go and meet Jeremie, Cassidy and Yumi at the lab. If I can find out what XANA wants to do with these monsters that sure can help!”

“Okay, just be careful,” Odd said.

Ulrich gave Odd a thumbs-up.

Odd then ran to the factory.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita was running the fastest she could run.

**-Factory-**

“Keep your eyes open, Aelita. You never know where XANA’s monsters are hiding.” Jeremie told her.

Aelita checked. _“Don’t worry, Jeremie. No enemy in sight at the moment. But the pulse-beats are getting stronger. The activated tower can’t be too far away.”_

“How about I go to Lyoko as her bodyguard. I’ve done it about a million times over!” Cassidy said.

“Okay, but be careful,” Jeremie said. “You may not know when your visions may hit.”

Soon Cassidy was on Lyoko.

Odd made it to the factory on time. “Aelita and Cassidy don’t worry. Odd should be there soon. And now let’s hope that Yumi and Ulrich are on their way.”

“Rain check, Jeremie: Ulrich’s trying to find out what XANA wants to do with the bulldozers. I know the answer. He’s going to destroy the factory to make sure Aelita doesn’t leave.”

“Cassidy, even though you are a purple cat and are a dangerous psychic, you are the greatest.” Jeremie half-beamed.

Cassidy’s tube-holding tail flicked in contentment. “Thanks!”

“No problem. I’m sending Odd to Lyoko’s Forest Sector now.” Jeremie typed on the keys.

“Thanks, Jeremie,” Cassidy smiled.

Odd appeared near Cassidy. “Hot stuff, Cat-Girl.” Odd smiled.

“If you are flirting with me, forget it! We have a tower to deactivate, remember?”

“Okay, okay,” Odd defended his own.

“If you two are finished fighting, please let me know.” Aelita walked up to them.

“We weren’t fighting,” Cassidy said. “We were _discussing_!”

“Oh, I see.”

Soon they were on their way to the activated tower. When they hit a path that went three ways, the pulsations lead in one direction.

“That way,” Aelita pointed.

Then the Kankrelats came. “Talk about a reception committee.” Odd was a little unhappy.

“Usually Roachsters move in groups of 5,” Aelita remarked.

“Wow, looks like the committee’s at full strength,” Odd said.

“Well, we’re surrounded, but we can fight,” Cassidy pulled her tube out of her tail. _Turn into an Opus Magnum please, maestro_.

It did. “LET’S FIGHT!” Cassidy roared into the air, shocking Jeremie out of his chair.

 _“Cassidy, you nearly destroyed my eardrum.”_ Jeremie nearly complained.

“No time for that.”

Odd took out three on his own; Cassidy took out one.

“Odd, leave the other Kankrelat. We should save that one for Yumi.”

“Why?” Odd cocked his arm.

“Because, in about a few seconds, she’ll be joining us.”

 _“How’re Odd and Cassidy doing?”_ Yumi asked.

“We’ll need another piece of back up!” Cassidy called out.

 _“That answer your question?”_ Jeremie’s voice came in.

 _“Gotcha!”_ Yumi smiled.

_“Okay, Odd and Cassidy, Yumi’s on her way. As for Ulrich, let’s just say he’s fast asleep.”_

Cassidy giggled a little.

“Calm down, Giggle-Box,” Odd elbowed Cassidy.

Cassidy was too busy laughing to notice. When Odd elbowed her, she was half-way up a tree.

Odd laughed this time. “Helpless as a—” Odd then had a vision.

**-Odd’s Anticipation-**

**Cassidy was thrown into the digital void while Yumi survived.**

**-End Anticipation-**

“Cassidy,” Odd then was caught within firing range of the Kankrelat. He devirtualized.

“NO!” Yumi then came over and killed the last one.

Cassidy dropped to the floor. “Thanks for THAT, ODD!” she yelled a tad angry. “Hoped that was karma for ya!”

“Hey, Jeremie, I didn’t make it in time…It is game over for Odd.” Yumi was feeling remorse for this. “We’ll back up Aelita in case she needs help.”

 _“I don’t want to stress you out or anything, ladies, but if the scans are destroyed, you two are on a one way trip, Yumi and Cassidy.”_ Jeremie sounded apprehensive.

“No problem, we’ll hurry,” Yumi nodded. “I wouldn’t mind a little nap before class.”

“I would,” Cassidy’s virtual stomach tied up into a knot.

 _“Jeremie, it isn’t the scanners they need to worry about!”_ Odd said. _“I just had a vision. I saw Cassidy falling into the digital void and Yumi surviving.”_

 _“Virtualized forever?”_ Jeremie shook with fright. _“Yumi, Cassidy!”_

“We heard,” said Cassidy and Yumi together.

“I’ll go help them!” Ulrich said, waking up.

“Come on, Ulrich, take a look at yourself. The shape you’re in, it’d be crazy!” Jeremie tried to reason.

Ulrich wasn’t moved. “Odd, help me!”

Odd did.

Aelita was only several yards from the tower when the Megatank came.

It was in front of her.

“Jeremie…”

 _“I saw it; Yumi and Cassidy are on their way to help you! Give me a visual.”_ Jeremie wanted to know it.

Just as the visual came up, Odd said, “There it is. That’s exactly where I saw Cassidy fall, but Yumi survive!”

Soon Ulrich was on Lyoko as well.

Aelita ran, and the Megatank seemed to pinpoint. It fired, but Aelita dodged.

Yumi and Cassidy wasted no time. The girls didn’t stop to chat or rest, they just kept running.

As the third female was hiding behind a tree, the Megatank rolled around to the other side and found its target. It was about to fire when Aelita got to the next hiding place.

Soon there was the chance to get to the red tower, she ran as it fired again. Yumi and Cassidy bashed into it, the bespectacled girl first. Soon Cassidy grabbed the ledge and Yumi at the same time. The Megatank was gone in the sea. “Okay, I’m going to say this, CRAP!” Cassidy screamed. She gulped in fear.

“Yumi, I’m going to have to throw you up, and hopefully on land. Two ladies in the soup is really…” Cassidy held back a shudder. If she shook, she would slip off. “If Ulrich catches you, it will be good. I won’t be able to hold on for much longer.”

“What?” Yumi said from below Cassidy.

“It’s better you than me.” Cassidy nodded. “Listen—Odd and Jeremie, you two, too—the vision I had was of you—Yumi—falling. I couldn’t sleep that night; it wasn’t Sissi’s long hair brushing. I could sleep through that. The more I thought on it, the more I got scared.”

Aelita walked over to the edge. “Do you need any help?”

“Yeah, I want you to grab Yumi when I throw her,” Cassidy panted. She was right; she won’t be able to hold out, especially with a girl that was one and a half years older than she was. “Ready? I’m going to count to three, and you catch her, Aelita. Time’s running out. _¿Tú lista?_ One…two…Three!”

Soon Yumi was up on land. Cassidy was now trying to hold on her own. She was slipping. “Aelita, get to the tower. It’s going to be too late for me. 

Aelita showed a mournful look, but ran across the tree bridge.

“Yumi, tell Jeremie, when he has to choose me or Aelita, tell him to choose me,” Cassidy was losing strength. “I’m part of Earth already. In addition to this, I have to be the sibling to my sister too. Otherwise, no one will be.”

Ulrich arrived, but it was too late. Cassidy had taken the fall—literally. There was no scream, just a brave warrior falling into the sea.

Aelita entered the Lyoko Code.

**-Return to the Past (sob) NOW!-**

Cassidy hadn’t returned with them. Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita were mourning a little. Actually…scratch that…they were mourning a LOT!

“I never thought this was possible,” Jeremie said, in a little despair, “for one of us to become…”

“This was all our fault,” Ulrich pointed to him and Yumi. “If we were able to help, she would still be here.”

 _“But there is a solution, and Jeremie knows what it is,”_ Aelita came in.

“The materialization program. It’s operational, but Aelita has to give up her place to Cassidy.” Jeremie was sitting in the hot seat.

“Can you bring Cassidy back here,” Ulrich asked.

“Yes, but I can only materialize _one_ person—one and only one.” Jeremie scratched his chin.

“Cassidy told me to tell you to choose Cassidy,” Yumi said, tears in her eyes. “Since she is both part of Earth and has a sibling to look after when she isn’t at Kadic.”

Aelita nodded. _“It’s okay; I can wait a little longer.”_

“Okay Aelita!” Jeremie nodded, and then typed on the keyboard. “But first of all, I have to find Cassidy in the digital void.”

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich went down to the scanner room. Soon, Cassidy came out of the scanner they were standing in front of. She fell, eyes rolling almost to the back of her head, but she had support.

“It’s alright, Cassidy. You’re going to be okay,” Ulrich said.

“Welcome home, Cat-Girl!” Odd smiled.

Cassidy felt sick.

**-back at the lab-**

“I’m happy, but at the same time, I’m sad,” Jeremie said.

 _“Why? At least you know the program works. You just have to set it back up again.”_ Aelita was being supportive.

“Yeah, nothing to it!” Jeremie said.

 _“I have faith in you Jeremie.”_ That caused Jeremie to smile. _“One day you’ll be able to get me there, I’m sure!”_ Aelita jumped off the screen.

Soon, Jeremie was using his scooter, a little sad and a little happy. Then Yumi and Ulrich walked beside him. Cassidy, now feeling back to her original self, joined too.

Odd, who had run up ahead, stopped the quartet in their tracks. “Hey Jeremie, want some candy?”

Jeremie looked at it and got a little angry. “Hey, what are you doing with that? It’s mine.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess it is. Okay, no problemo, here you go.”

Jeremie showed a look. “Come on, have one. Candy can fix anything…even a broken heart,” Yumi patted him on the back, displacing his glasses, but she got them back on the appropriate place.

“For me, I like either Parmesan Steak and shrimp, or Shrimp Scampi, but for you, if it’s candy, it’s that okay?” Cassidy said.

“If you say so,” Jeremie smirked a little. Then he opened his mouth. Odd threw the candy. Jeremie caught it and ate it. He did feel better now.


	6. The Frontier's All There Is

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko**

**Claimer: I own Cassidy as it is my name in this story and the plot.**

"It's fine up to now." Jeremie was typing the coordinates for the materialization program late at night in his dorm room. "I'll test this part here again." He pressed a key.

The computer had the materialization up onscreen. It had been a week ago, when Odd's magnificent jitters spilled candy on the keyboard. Cassidy was a due witness to this, as she hid underneath the table near the closet when it happened.

That was where Cassidy made the ultimate sacrifice. Cassidy sometimes had nightmares of the event, but she was getting better.

Yumi felt somewhat grateful for the event. She lived while Cassidy took the fall for her. Cassidy often called Yumi over for a little sleepover. Tonight was one of those nights. The reason was because, the former was in shock over the, as she called it, "Incident."

She couldn't just run over to Mr. Klotz and tell him what happened. Then he would tell the other teachers. The teachers would go to the principal. The principal would call the police and—to put the icing on the trouble cake—they would shut Lyoko down and  _kill_  Aelita.

Yumi and the others were Cassidy's rock for a long time. On the first day, Cassidy didn't want anything to do with Lyoko until she got over the shock. On the Second day, Cassidy "dipped the toe in the water" (The water being scanner) then ran back to the elevator, and took it to the lab. Third, she allowed herself to be virtualized by Jeremie, but then committed virtual suicide whenever she saw a hole. Fourth, she got used to it, but the nightmares made her a bit skittish. Finally fifth, She was still getting nightmares, but wasn't skittish anymore.

The computer screen showed a smaller form of Aelita on screen. The feet seemed to disappear and reappear on the screen.

"Come on!" Jeremie stressed.  _Aelita can't stay on Lyoko forever. She wants to come to Earth, and I want that to come true._

Three drops of sweat ran down the side of his face.

The computer tried but then a red exclamation point in a red circle showed up. Jeremie, who was sweating bullets, was a bit frustrated.

"What do you mean 'eh'? I don't believe this! What does it always happen just then? Aelita, did you deactivate the external sinusoidal modules like I told you to?" Jeremie was getting increasingly upset.

"Of course," for anybody's relief, Aelita was calm. "And I even defragmented the internal matrix."

Jeremie stood up, losing his cool before he could hold it in.  _Jeremie,_  Cassidy had said the afternoon before he shut himself into his room,  _don't let it get to you! You and Aelita did defragment the internal matrix, but calm down. Or, you might have to spend almost an entire day in Limbo._

 _Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero,_  Jeremie took in a deep breath.

"Cassidy giving you advice again," Aelita asked. Aelita helped Cassidy get back to Lyoko and fighting monsters. She used a load of persuasion and calm cajoling to help the in-shock girl out of the shadows. Aelita helped Cassidy get used to the many holes on Lyoko, in the end.

Jeremie sat down and nodded until his frustrations got the best of him. "But I already did that. The system's bound to screw up if keeps getting the same data twice. If we keep working against each other, we're never going to succeed. Never."

"I'm sorry," Aelita was shamefaced.

Jeremie realized what he'd done. "No, I'm the one who's sorry, Aelita, forgive me. I shouldn't have gotten so angry."

"It's alright, but I think we should stop for tonight. I'll see you tomorrow," Aelita felt a little downhearted.

Jeremie tried to stop her from disconnecting. "No. Wait, Aelita!"

"Good night," Aelita went off-screen.

 _What have I done?_ Jeremie asked himself.

**-The Next Morning-**

Yumi and Cassidy walked up to the vending machines. "Hi, guys."

"Thanks for sleeping over again. I'm sorry," Cassidy smiled. She felt  _really_ back to normal.

"No problem." Then turning to the three boys, Yumi smiled, "Well, it looks like I'm not the one who brought her stuff late. What were you guys doing? Studying, huh?"

"Not really, Tetrix Annihilator…til three in the morning," Ulrich pulled on his shirt and the Game Boy that was on his tank top was the evidence he had.

"I should've guessed it was something like that, nice going," Yumi said, holding back a laugh.

Cassidy laughed a little.

"Thanks, how'd ya know I'd won?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi turned to Jeremie. "How are you doing, Jeremie?"

Then Cassidy said, "He was up nearly half the night. I could sense it. Then something happened and the whole materialization program was put on hold. And he couldn't sleep a wink."

"I have an awful lot on my mind." Jeremie was holding a cup of hot chocolate, but he didn't feel like sipping it.

"Oh, yeah, the usual worries about materializing Aelita?"

"No, no, well, uh, yes, but actually, there is a lot more to it than that!" Jeremie said.

Ulrich looked at Cassidy. She was back to normal, all right. "Are you sure you don't get crazy dreams to study from?"

"Yes, but I had a different nightmare last night. Something about pink and purple. I didn't understand it, but I'm not going to let it hold me back," Cassidy's smile flickered a little, but came back to a good one.

"That's good, if it was a sign, then you would have avoided Odd and Aelita forever." Yumi patted her on the back.

"Thank goodness that I didn't spook from Odd this morning," Cassidy said.

**R-I-I-I-N-G**

"I'm off," Jeremie said, "Nothing like a little math class to wake me up!" He dropped his drink and ran from his friends.

Ulrich and Yumi shared confused looks. Cassidy knew but she didn't want to spoil it.

Soon, Ulrich, Cassidy, and Odd were in math class with Jeremie, while Yumi went to Science Class.

Mrs. Mayer, the math teacher, wrote a problem as bell work on the board, then asked the students what the answer was. Cassidy eagerly raised her hand. "Yes, Cassidy."

"The answer is  **(A/N: Making it up as usual!)**  25 to the 5th power or 9, 765, 625," Cassidy said.

"That's correct," Mrs. Mayer said.

Then she went on with the next lesson that they were supposed to do. She explained it then erased it. She re-wrote what she written before.

"I'll begin again since it's a bit complicated, now I want everyone…" Mrs. Mayer explained.

"Jeremie," Ulrich whispered to Jeremie.

The genius looked to Ulrich. "What is it?"

"What's going on with Aelita?"

"Well, last night we—we got into a bit of a fight," Jeremie said.

"Yeah, about what?" Ulrich asked.

"M…nothing, it's on the account of me I yelled at her and…I think she got mad. Ulrich, I really have to go!" Jeremie had a determined-yet-angry look on his face.

"Where to? The boys' room?" Ulrich was curious.

"No, ning-nong," Cassidy whispered. "He wants to go to Lyoko!"

"WHAT?" Ulrich half-yelled.

"Ulrich," Mrs. Mayer said. "Repeat what I just said!"

Ulrich hadn't a clue. "Uh…"

Cassidy was of no help. She was future flashing.

"Odd, go on, help him!" Mrs. Mayer turned to Odd.

Just like that, Odd was asleep on the table.

"Ha, ha! He's asleep," Commented one student.

Cassidy snapped out of it, laughing a little on the inside.

**-After Classes-**

"What?" Yumi said after Jeremie explained about  _half_  of the plan. "No way!"

"Not for very long, just for an hour. I could go at Lunch time," Jeremie said.

"But, that's not the problem, Jeremie! The problem is the Super-calculator. You're the only one who can use it." Yumi had her arms crossed.

"But once you get the idea, it's not complicated. I could launch a simple by-transfer program, and explain the procedures to you!" Jeremie was getting a little…desperate.

"It doesn't feel right, I'm sorry Jeremie!" Yumi almost about had it.

"Yumi, listen, I had an argument with Aelita and I want to ask her to forgive me in person."

Cassidy then got a little upset. "Jeremie, she will forgive you. Don't worry. Right now, she thinks that you are mad at her. The same with you but it's the other way around."

Spying a plane up ahead, Yumi got a little more worried, "What if XANA attacks while you're there?"

"Then we just have to bring him back immediately and take his place on Lyoko. Anyways, XANA's been really quiet lately."

Yumi didn't like this plan as she had a bad feeling take place in the pit of her stomach.

**-After Lunch, now in the factory-**

"Now, I've already calculated the variable virtual mass so you don't have to worry. Since I won't be fighting, I used the default option exponential Memory Transfer, okay. As for the fractal encoding for the blocks, piece of cake." Jeremie was confident.

Yumi was shocked. " _Piece of cake?_  Hey, this might be easy for you, but it sure isn't for us. You do this all the time?"

"Well, yeah, what do you think? That I take a nap while you're on Lyoko," Jeremie asked as he got out of the chair and grabbed his notes. "Anyway, we'll stay in contact, and if you have any trouble, just check my notes."

Jeremie's book looked to be almost ALL of the Chronicles of Narnia books put together, but it had post-it sticky notes of many colors sticking out of it. Yumi was sure the notes would be like in a small-organized notebook, but she was wrong.

She winced.

Soon Jeremie hit the scanner room. He was half-nervous, and Cassidy tried talking him out of it. Jeremie ignored her.

Odd smiled awkwardly and said in a British accent, "Your scanner is waiting, sir."

Ulrich and Odd fanned out to allow Jeremie some room. Cassidy quickly climbed up the steps and said, "You gotta call this off. Jeremie will be in grave danger."

"Why can't you do it?" Yumi said.

"Do you  _think_  I tried," Cassidy hissed. "GOD, I tried everything from sweet-talking to bribery! I even threatened to Gibbs slap him!"

"He still won't be moved?" Yumi looked to her friend.

"If I tried  _everything_ ," Cassidy growled.

**-In the Scanner Room-**

Jeremie looked up at the scanner. "Okay, be brave Jeremie."

"Hmm?" Odd asked.

Jeremie walked in.

Cassidy took the mike from Yumi. "Jeremie! There's still time to turn back!" She yelled.

That didn't move Jeremie, either. He stepped into the scanner.

"Have a good trip," Ulrich smiled.

Cassidy rolled her eyes.

Yumi, who had gotten the mike back, typed in the coordinates. The other night Cassidy sleep-taught her how NOT to make a capture error. That proved helpful. But, Yumi forgot it already.

Cassidy bit her nails nervously.

Yumi said to Jeremie, "I'm starting the transfer now."

Cassidy's stomach swirled nervously.  _Please, change your mind Jeremie, before it's too late!_

Yumi looked to Cassidy, who was frowning and nervous. "Jeremie might be okay," she whispered.

Turning back to the screen, she pressed the enter key. "Go!"

Cassidy didn't feel any better.

Jeremie's body was scanned for the second time in his life. But something went wrong.

Alarms went off, Cassidy covered her ears, and when the scanner opened, she passed out.

**-A few minutes later-**

Odd was trying to wake Cassidy up. This was something they didn't expect.

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Yumi were waiting with baited breath for the scan results from Aelita.

Aelita came onscreen with the results. "I just scanned the data chain. Yumi made a data capture error that blocked the system."

Yumi gasped.

"Which means that the memory used for transfers was deactivated at the worst time," Aelita said.

Cassidy began to stir.

"Any idea why Cassidy passed out?" Odd asked.

"She was feeling sick," Ulrich said quickly.

"But—where is he?" Yumi was worried for the sake of Jeremie.

"He wasn't transferred to Lyoko, and he didn't come back to you, and so he's—he's out there and—locked somewhere between us," Aelita said.

Cassidy then opened her eyes. "Limbo."

"Don't worry; he's okay!" Aelita seemed to smirk a little.

"Aelita," Jeremie's voice sounded, "you have to retrieve memory!"

"Are you in contact with him?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, well, let's say that I think what he thinks. It's as if he were a part of my mind," Aelita was sitting on ice in the Ice Sector.

"And—can we get him back?" Yumi asked.

"We will!" Cassidy pulled herself to her feet, but she got an equilibrium attack, and then fell to her knees.

"Cassidy!" Odd got to Cassidy, but Cassidy put a finger up and soon she had full control again.

"If I have an attack like that,  _please_  don't worry about me," Cassidy said. "It's normal."

Odd nodded.

"Yes, Jeremie says we have to recover the memory in the four passage towers," Aelita nodded. "And redirect it to the three scanners to complete the transfer. But it's going to take time."

"Well that's a hopeful sign, how much time?" Ulrich was worried on the inside now.

"Well, the time it takes to go each one of the regions, and do all the necessary manipulations and reinitialize the systems, according to Jeremie, one of your afternoons," Aelita said.

"I'll go and help you—I brought Jeremie's laptop—" Cassidy began.

"Why?" Yumi asked.

"So NO ONE gets in trouble. Then, if someone did get in trouble, Ulrich would have to do an act that he would rather wrestle a bear than do it," Cassidy smiled.

"What about classes," Odd asked.

Cassidy gave him an extremely strange look. "My excuse that never EVER fails: I'm sulking and I'd rather be alone! Jeremie's excuse could be the same. I'll come for science class, but after that, I'm defending Aelita."

"That means there's no time to lose," Ulrich said.

"Okay, I'm off!"

Aelita got up and ran off to the passage tower.

Yumi was watching from the computer screen. "Thank you, Aelita!"

"Look, Yumi, it wasn't your fault. Jeremie is the only one who can run the computer without it breaking down." Ulrich tried for comfort.

"Yes I know. The big problem is as long as Jeremie is in Limbo we can't go to Lyoko, and if XANA attacks—"

"I said that I have Jeremie's laptop and, I haven't told you that Odd brought Ulrich's Game Boy, so we have plenty of memory to operate just ONE scanner!" Cassidy got up again. This time she didn't fall.

"Okay," Odd looked at her strangely. Then he turned to Yumi. "Don't sweat it, Yumi. Aelita's going to get Jeremie home soon, I'm positive. XANA won't have time to do anything!"

"You'd better go back to school, Cassidy only for science. If we're all absent, they'll get suspicious. I'll stay here, just in case," Yumi said.

* * *

"Cassidy," Mrs. Hertz said.

"Here," Cassidy said eagerly.

"Hervé," Mrs. Hertz said.

"Present!"

"Valerie," Mrs. Hertz asked.

"Here!"

"Jeremie? Jeremie isn't here?" Mrs. Hertz asked.

"He went out to sulk in the forest, and doesn't wish to be disturbed," Cassidy said.

"Well, I hope he snaps out of it soon," Mrs. Hertz said softly. "Now for chemistry…"

Beforehand, Cassidy had an idea.

"I have something we could rehearse in case Sissi gets suspicious, boys. Let's huddle up!" Cassidy smiled as the three younger students piled into the elevator. "Okay, this is a cinch." She was shaking excitedly. "When she says, 'Oh, with that kind of answer, now I'm sure you're up to no good!' Odd, you say, 'Careful you, Sissi. Well actually, Jeremie's working on a new project to make worms intelligent,' and when she's all confused, Odd you continue with, 'That's right! And he would like to test it on you!'" Cassidy smiled excitedly. "Then I will come in and ask, 'Which game show would they go head to head with: The  _Weakest_  Link or Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' Ulrich, you voice your choice and you say your reason—" Cassidy giggled with utter excitement.

**-Back to the Present-**

Sissi then said, "Hey what are you three dorks up to anyway."

"None of your business," Ulrich hissed.

"Oh, with that kind of answer, now I'm sure you're up to no good," Sissi got suspicious.

Odd smiled. "Careful you, Sissi. Well actually, Jeremie's working on a new project to make worms intelligent."

Sissi looked confused.

Odd continued, "That's right! And he would like to test it on you!"

"I wonder what game the two would be most likely to go on: Who Wants to be a Millionaire or the  _Weakest_ Link," Cassidy snickered.

"Weakest Link," Ulrich smiled. "It would be funny to see that worm kick Sissi off."

"WHAT?" Sissi was outraged.

"Sissi, what is the meaning of this?" Mrs. Hertz said.

"These three—they were insinuating…"

"Who, us?" Cassidy said sweetly. "We would never insinuate a thing."

"That's right," Odd smiled.

Mrs. Hertz grabbed Sissi by the arm and dragged her out the door.

**-After Science Class-**

Cassidy went over to the factory. "How's Aelita doing, Yumi?"

"Yumi, I'm at the second tower!" Aelita said.

"That's halfway done," Cassidy said, impressed. "We'll be done before we know it."

"Great, Aelita, memory recovered," Yumi sweated. "Two down, two to go."

"Then Jeremie can come back home!" Cassidy sniffed in emotional pride. "This will be excellent."

Soon, Ulrich and Odd came in the room. "How are you doing, Yumi? Let me see!"

"How's it going?" Odd asked.

"Aelita just left the second tower. Two to go. Things are going almost too well." Yumi sat in the chair, worried.

"I'm heading to the Forest," Aelita said.

Aelita switched Sectors.

"Hey, you oughtta relax a little bit," Ulrich was concerned for Yumi. "Aelita will be finished soon. Why don't ya go back to school; it'll take your mind off it!"

"Yeah, we'll take over for you. We're not missing class; we're supposed to be in the library." Odd was optimistic.

Yumi handed the controls to Ulrich. "Okay!" She went over and grabbed her bag. Then she went over to the elevator. "I'll see you guys later."

"Yumi will be okay. She'll just doodle, but it'll be okay. Drawing will help her as well." Cassidy sighed.

"Aelita, I'm replacing Yumi," Ulrich said. "Do you read me?"

Aelita nodded. "Yes, loud and clear, Ulrich. I'm almost at the third tower."

She went into the forest and started for the next tower. Along the way, some Kankrelats came.

"Is Jeremie okay?" Ulrich asked, a little forcefully than he wanted to.

"A little worried, but yeah, he's okay," Aelita kept running. Then the first Kankrelat came. "Uh, oh, trouble!"

The Kankrelat fired. It missed as Aelita jumped out of the way and behind a tree.

"Odd, Cassidy, we got a problem over here!" Ulrich said.

Odd put down his game and ran over to Ulrich. Cassidy was still watching. "I'm over here Ulrich." Cassidy winked.

"Aelita, I get the feeling that you're not alone out there," Ulrich was getting worried.

"You're right, Ulrich, I'm not!" Aelita said.

Three more Kankrelats came. "Better watch it, Aelita, ya gotta run! Three more monsters coming. Hurry up!" Ulrich was now fully worried.

Aelita kept running through the forest, the Kankrelats not far behind.

"Careful, in front of you," Ulrich said.

Aelita was surrounded on the path. But there was no time to play the ingénue.

Ulrich found something. "Aelita, on your left, there's a platform."

Aelita found it and jumped for it. Along with a laser show, but she never got hit. She got over there just in time and she ran to the passage tower. "Well done, Jeremie would be  _proud_  of you." Ulrich sounded relieved.

"Of course he would, Ulrich. He's always proud of her." Cassidy smiled.

"I'll get you connected." Aelita got in the tower.

Memory was now 75%. They only needed the last tower, which was in the Mountain sector now.

"I've heard this come out from a comedian's mouth once, but, uh, HOOCHIE MAMA'S COMING HOME!" Cassidy smiled. "Only instead of Hoochie Mama, we have Jeremie. So the frase here is…JEREMIE'S COMING HOME!"

"That's three down, what should we do now? Should we call Yumi?"

"We haven't needed her up til now, but we'll call at the slightest hint of trouble." Cassidy smiled.

Meanwhile, Yumi was learning about communications around the world. TVs and radios were first after relays. Then computers entered.

Yumi also was drawing a picture of Jeremie. She couldn't stop getting him off her mind, so seeing the picture really calmed her down a few notches.

Aelita ran out of the tower. "I'm in the mountain region. Just one more tower to go."

"Aelita will stop soon," Cassidy's eyes were getting a little light.

Cassidy was right. "Why is she stopping?" Odd asked.

"Bloks, Odd," Cassidy said.

"Oh," Odd and Ulrich said together.

"Ulrich, I'm at the tower, but it's being guarded by two Bloks. XANA's gotten the message." Aelita hid behind a rock formation.

"There's no way you can get through," Ulrich asked.

"No, none," Aelita said. "And if I don't transfer the memory from the tower, we'll lose Jeremie for good."

"There's gotta be a way, Aelita," Ulrich said.

"Wait! Jeremie says that there may be a way of retrieving memory elsewhere."

"But where? In another tower, another computer?"

"Another tower is impossible, and Jeremie's convinced that an external computer's power wouldn't be enough to operate the three scanners," Aelita said.

Cassidy came in while on the left side. "There may be a way for just ONE scanner Aelita."

"Just one scanner, I'll check with him," Aelita said.

"But why only one? To bring Jeremie back all THREE scanners are needed," Odd was worried.

"Think it over, Odd, if one of us could succeed in getting transferred to Lyoko, Aelita would be able to get into the tower," Ulrich said.

"I volunteer to go to Lyoko and pop those Bloks faster than you can say, 'Track meet isn't today!'" Cassidy said.

"Ulrich, Cassidy, Odd," Aelita said, "I've got a problem. It's becoming harder and harder to contact Jeremie. I'm afraid he's starting to delete himself!"

"Like Dobby said, 'Now that history is to repeat itself.' I don't know why that popped into my mind, but it did," Cassidy said.  **(A/N: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came out in 2002, so this is correct)**

"What do you mean Aelita?" Ulrich asked.

"He's disappearing. The computer is confusing him with an outdated file. You've gotta bring him back as soon as possible." Aelita was worried, as was the rest of the gang, minus Yumi.

"Okay we have no choice," Ulrich said.

"I'll call Yumi," Cassidy said.

"You called her last week," Ulrich shouted.

Cassidy shrunk into the shadows, shamefaced. Saying "last week" made her, to say it obviously, feel weak.

"Cassidy had been under pressure from the 'incident'. You really need to yell at her?" Odd said.

"Sorry, Cassidy, I couldn't control myself," Ulrich comforted. "You can call Yumi if you like."

"Thanks," Cassidy said, pulling out her Motorola T725 and dialing.

Soon Yumi came to the factory. "And thank you for bringing the laptop," Yumi said to Cassidy.

"No problem," Cassidy was in the shadows still.

"Did Ulrich yell at you?" Yumi asked.

Cassidy nodded as she crawled out of the shadows, shaking like an underfed stray dog. She got up and got into the elevator. She wanted to help.

She got into the scanner as Yumi connected the laptop. "Okay now all we can do is hope."

Then she got to the monitor and keyboard. "Aelita, Cassidy's going and try to reach you. The computer's connected what should I do now?"

"You've got to configure the auxiliary port to transfer the memory. Here's how you do it," Aelita explained.

Yumi typed in the instructions. "Okay, Aelita, I did it. I've just entered all the data."

"Good, Yumi. You can transfer Cassidy now," Aelita said.

"Transfer, Cassidy," Yumi looked at the enter key.

"Well, go on, hurry up!" Odd pushed.

"Cassidy," she said.

"I'll be okay, Yumi, this time I won't fall into the—" Cassidy shuddered.

"Don't need to finish," Yumi said, a tad brokenly. "GO!"

The thing wasn't enough. "Not enough memory. We came so close, but it's just not enough." Yumi almost panicked. "We need another ten bytes."

"Yumi," Cassidy called, "use the Game Boy! It has some bytes, go for it."

Yumi did it and Cassidy was transferred to Lyoko. "Hey, Aelita, time for those Bloks to go."

Cassidy got her tube, turned it into a gun, and shot the Bloks. "JEREMIE IS COMING HOME!"

Aelita ran into the tower and transferred the last bit of memory. "We did it. We retrieved the scanners' memories."

Jeremie was floating around in the Limbo asleep. "Jeremie," Aelita said. "Jeremie, can you hear me? Jeremie…wake up."

Jeremie did and floated around...then saw a familiar person. "Jeremie," she said.

"OH…Aelita!" They went towards each other, determined to touch each other's fingertips. They did. It was a pleasant moment, sweet too.

Then Jeremie came out of the scanners. Everyone, including Cassidy, was excited and scared at the same time.

They took him to Jeremie's room. The rehearsed excuse was that he passed out from the sulking and the heat, but they never used it.

Jeremie then awoke. "How are you feeling," Ulrich asked.

"It—It was—FANTASTIC!" Jeremie said.

Cassidy let out an exciting whoop. The other's joined in. Then the brown-haired female laughed. "We rehearsed a funny joke with Sissi. Ulrich, Odd, and I." she was still laughing.

"Your crazy idea of going to Lyoko gave us a real scare." Yumi hung on one side of Jeremie.

"Now I'm bushed," said Ulrich.

"Who are you? Sleeping Beauty?" Odd asked. "With what we did today I think we should celebrate."

"How about tomorrow?" Cassidy said. "It is Sunday tomorrow after all."

"Sounds good." Yumi then turned to Cassidy and said, "You feel like coming to my house tonight?"

"Sure, just allow me to grab the essentials: Toiletries…" Yumi grabbed Cassidy and dragged her to her room.

Ulrich and Odd went to bed.

"I thought that you were mad at me," Aelita said.

"That's what Cassidy said before lunch," Jeremie said. "I thought that you were mad, Aelita, but I understood how you felt about me when—when you came to get me." Jeremie blushed.

"Jeremie when you're really in love, does it mean we fight all the time," Aelita asked.

"No, not all the time," Jeremie said, "but it can happen."

"At least that didn't happen with Ulrich and Yumi," Aelita smiled.

"That's true. Cassidy knows when two teammates are going to fight, but she prevents it." Jeremie knew what he was talking about, but he was glad that it didn't happen between his friends.

Aelita nodded. "We'll find that materialization program soon. I'm positive."


	7. Aelita's coming to Earth At Last

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but I do own Cassidy.**

**FINALLY, The season finales at last. Aelita’s coming to Earth.**

Jeremie was up late at night. “I’m sure it’s going to work this time. Time for Plan Alpha!” He smiled.

The green plus on the screen was a tremendously great sign. The genius minimized the window then called Yumi.

“Yumi! Yumi it’s me; Okay I just launched Plan Alpha. My five dry runs have all worked.”

Yumi came in from the other line. “Okay, tomorrow, I’ll talk to my parents.”

“That’s great,” Jeremie said. “I’ll tell Odd, Cassidy, and Ulrich.”

“See you tomorrow,” Yumi said.

After they hung up, Jeremie went to bed and dreamt of the time that he and Aelita touched fingers. It was a sweet, passionate memory that only he, Aelita, and Cassidy shared.

It made the boy feel all a flutter.

The next morning, at the Ishiyama household, Yumi’s parents were finishing off breakfast when she walked into the kitchen. “Uh…Mom and Dad, can I talk to you for a second? It’s about my pen pal—uh—you haven’t changed your minds about her living here for a while.”

“No, but tell us a little bit about her, Yumi. We—we don’t even know her name,” Yumi’s dad came in.

“Aelita!” Yumi said.

“Aelita what?” her mom pushed a little.

“It’s Aelita—” Yumi heard Cassidy’s advice, _Stones._ “Uh-um Stones.”

“Is she Japanese?” her father tapped his fingers on the table a little.

“Well—um—yeah, she is!” Yumi was lying like a pro…make that a pro times 100.

“And what do her parents do, dear?” Yumi’s mother asked.

“They—uh—they work with computers,” Yumi lied.

Yumi’s mom and dad shared an approving look, and then the latter stood up. “Well, alright, she’s welcome to stay with us.”

“That’s FANTASTIC; I _ADORE_ YOU!” Yumi was excited, both for the fact that lying worked, and that Aelita could stay with them. She kissed her dad, and hugged her mom. “You won’t regret it. She’s really _so_ nice. Bye, now, see you tonight!” and she ran out the door.

**-Principal-**

“Very well then, and what is your cousin’s name, Odd,” the Principal asked.

“Aelita.” Odd was smiling.

“Hm…Aelita…and uh where does she come from?” Mr. Delmas asked.

“She’s from Canada,” Odd said confidently.

The principal looked a hint suspicious, but ignored that feeling. “Well, her papers are in order and your parents have recommended her highly so I see no reason why she can’t attend school here. Let me know when she arrives.”

When Odd and Ulrich got outside they high-fived each other, excited. “YES!” Ulrich shouted.

They laughed with a tone of victory. “FANTASTIC!” Odd smiled.

They walked until they were stopped by Jim.

“Okay, what are you two up to, huh?” he asked.

Odd showed a smile.

“You know this building is off-limits to students, especially at 8:00 in the morning!” Jim growled.

“We had an appointment with the principal, Jim, about Odd’s cousin attending school!” Ulrich said.

“Oho, what a lame excuse. What do you think I am, huh, an idiot?” Jim asked.

“Well…” Odd began.

“Quiet,” Jim demanded. “Yeah and you’ll bet that I’m not onto your pranks with Jeremie, Cassidy, and Yumi. You disappear in the park like some sort of magic, you plot in you rooms.”

“Hey, it’s not a crime!” Odd smiled innocently.

“Maybe not. Now you listen up, one of these days I’m going to find out what the five of you are hiding. And now, to the cafeteria, hurry up.”

When Odd and Ulrich were outside, they walked in silence before Ulrich spoke. “Ya know what I think? We gotta be careful about Jim. If he keeps playing detective, he’s gonna find our secret passage.”

“Hey! Hey, guys.” Yumi caught up to Odd and Ulrich. “Great news: My parents said okay.”

“So did the principal. Odd that was a pretty good letter you faked from your parents.” Ulrich smiled to Odd.

“I can’t say I’m proud of what I did, but it was for a good cause,” Odd said innocently, even though he felt guilty.

Yumi’s phone rang. “Cassidy?” a pause then…“On our way.”

The trio ran around the cafeteria and up to Jeremie’s dorm room.

Jeremie was typing, and Cassidy was excited and nervous when the three came.

“How are you doing, Cassidy?” Ulrich asked.

“I’m giddy. Absolutely giddy,” Cassidy smiled. “I’m excited and nervous at the same time; it feels like I’m on a sugar high right now.”

“Okay,” Ulrich said uncertainly.

Jeremie typed in code after code in the computer with the others waiting with bated breath.

Cassidy paced around, looking at the screen while doing so. She knew but wasn’t sure herself if she was right.

Then after the codes and configurations were typed in the computer, it was the computer’s turn to process the verdict: Would Aelita stay on Lyoko (Alternatively, would Jeremie fail) or is today’s the day (Alternatively, did Jeremie succeed)?

Then the computer said…

A.

Big.

Gorgeously. 

Green.

PLUS!

“That’s it; we’ve got it this time! It works! It works!” Jeremie was excited. “I can hardly believe it.”

Cassidy stopped in her pacing, ran up to Jeremie and hugged him. “Jeremie, you are the GREATEST! WE DID IT! TOGETHER!” she squealed.

She was able to pull Jeremie out of his chair and off the ground. Then, she put him down, let out a happy whoop, then said, “YE—HAW! WE DONE FOUND A GOLD NUGGET IN THE GOLD MINE! YEAH—HOO!” She jumped up and down.

“Yay!” The others cheered then hugged Jeremie.

“Get Aelita up. She’s going to LOVE this!” Cassidy buzzed with excitement.

“On it!” Jeremie smiled happily.

Soon Aelita was up on the computer screen. “Hi, guys!”

“Aelita: WE FOUND THE KEY TO—” Cassidy shouted until Odd covered her mouth.

“Quiet, SHOUTER. You’re going to give it away.”

Cassidy pulled his hand from her mouth. “Give what away? She’s going to know anyway.” Turning to Aelita, she started again, “WE FOUND THE KEY TO MATERIALIZATION! AND WE’RE WAITING FOR YOU HERE!” She then danced a happy acting-on-the-spot jig. “I’m just so excited. Today’s the day!”

Jeremie was BLOWN AWAY by the dangerous psychic’s excited yells. “I…it works.” He was shaken a little.

“Oh, Jeremie, that’s so great. I can’t believe it’s true!” Aelita smiled.

“Better get used to it fast because it’s time to take the big jump. And then it’s, bye-bye XANA!” Odd came in.

“Hold on!” Jeremie placed the materialization disc inside a blank CD case and set it down. “It’s not that simple. First, I’ve got to set up the program in the super-calculator. Then Aelita will have to get to the passage tower in Lyoko’s Forest region. That’s where she’s going to get devirtualized, before she appears in the flesh for the first time _inside one of the scanners_.”

“In that case, I’m off to the forest right now!” Aelita smiled.

“Okay and _we’ll_ go to class in the meantime, and afterwards the factory.” Jeremie gave the battle plan…if it was a battle plan.

“I’ll see you later my friends.” Aelita saluted.

“We’ll be six for dinner tonight.”

“Cassidy, do you always dance when you are excited?” Ulrich was confused.

“Yeah! I love it! It’s great!”

Aelita switched sectors.

Jeremie grabbed the wrong CD case, but Cassidy picked the right one. ( _Just in case,_ something inside her told her).

Soon they were off and running to classes…until Jim got in the way.

Jeremie stopped. Cassidy tripped on her shoelace and fell. Yumi tripped and fell over Cassidy. Ulrich collided with Yumi, joining the tangle. And Odd tumbled onto the unintentional dog pile.

“Cassidy, why did you have to fall,” Yumi asked.

“I didn’t mean to,” Cassidy panted. She couldn’t get up, nor could she wiggle out of the pile.  “If it weren’t for the BFC, then we wouldn’t be in this confounded mess.”

“What’s wrong, up to no good again, aren’t you?” Jim said.

“What, no ‘can I get you out of this mess’ or ‘are you guys okay?’” Cassidy groaned.

“Don’t strike that tone with me, young lady,” Jim yelled.

“Jim!” Mr. Delmas came.

“Our hero,” Yumi managed to smile.

“What is going on here,” Mr. Delmas said.

“Oh, I’m glad you’re here, sir. I don’t know what’s going on, but eh, these little devils are up to no good and I intend to find out what it is,” Jim said.

“Yes, another one of your absurd stories about secret plots and passages?” Mr. Delmas shot Jim a disapproving look.

“What do you mean ‘absurd?’” Jim asked.

“You heard what I said, absurd, Jim,” Mr. Delmas said.

“But, I um…”

“Now listen. Your paranoid behavior and your one-track mind concerning these children are getting on my nerves. You’re a physical education teacher, not a detective, Jim,” Mr. Delmas sighed then looked to the pile behind Jeremie. It looked like a blizzard messed the four others up.

“And you could have at least helped them! Ms. McGuire was right. You should have asked if they were okay instead of acting like they were up to no good.”

Cassidy smiled, even though the weight of her friends was almost enough to kill her.

“Thank you, sir,” Her chin rested on the floor.

As soon as the four teens were back up on their feet, Cassidy bent over to tie her shoe. Double knotting it, she muttered, “Bet that was a floor burn and a half.”

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita went over to the barrel of paths, and found that the tower was close by. “There it is.”

The tower also was guarded by Bloks. “Jeremie, I’m going to need help!” 

**-Back to Earth-**

Soon Yumi was in Italian class and the others were in Biology. “Animals live in all land, air, and sea regions,” Mrs. Hertz began.

Cassidy began to fidget in her seat. She was having difficulty sitting still so much that she sat on the floor beside her seat. She was able to sit still there.

Jeremie looked to her. “Cassidy, you don’t see the other students sitting on the floor, do you.”

“I’m having a hard time sitting in my seat. Sitting here, I feel better.”

Jeremie left the psychic alone after that.

“It won’t be long now!” Odd smiled to Jeremie.

Jeremie nodded in agreement.

**-In Yumi’s Italian Class-**

“So in Italian, the word città, which of course means city, is invariable. Who can give me another example?” Mr. Fumet asked.

**-Back to science-**

Jeremie’s laptop beeped. He opened it up underneath the table and saw a red exclamation point.

Odd looked too, as did Cassidy. “Aelita’s in danger,” Cassidy whispered.

“Obviously, this phenomenon depends on certain factors. Who can tell us which ones? Jeremie? Go ahead; we’re listening.” Mrs. Hertz kind of favored Jeremie and Cassidy.

Cassidy whispered Jeremie the right answer super low that Mrs. Hertz couldn’t hear. Then Jeremie said the right answer. **(A/N: To which I don’t know)**

“That’s correct.”

The bell rang and Cassidy, Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich dashed out of the room.

“Ulrich, it’s your turn!” Cassidy said.

“For what?”

“Calling Yumi, ning-nong!” Cassidy creased a brow.

Ulrich called Yumi and soon, she was in the running as well. “’Mind telling me what’s going on?”

“XANA’s at it again,” Jeremie and Cassidy said together.

“He knows the end is near, and he’s not going down without a fight,” Odd said.

Soon they were in the factory. Cassidy checked her pockets. The CD was still there. “Whew!” she panted.

“What’s ‘whew?!’ XANA’s still putting Aelita in danger,” Jeremie was mad.

“I salvaged another CD for you,” The brown-haired, bespectacled girl smiled.

“Never mind, head for the scanners,” Jeremie was nervous. If Aelita was killed, then his research for the materialization program was for naught.

Jeremie pulled up Aelita. “Help is on the way!”

“Better hurry up,” Aelita was getting worried.

“Once the coast is clear, go to the center of the tower, and I’ll launch the program,” Jeremie said.

Cassidy placed the CD case on the chair arm. “Here, in case you picked up Odd’s—” she whispered the word as super low to Jeremie so Odd wouldn’t hear—“video. Something inside me said, ‘Just in case.’ Cross your fingers, we need the utmost hope.”

Jeremie nodded.

Soon everyone was on Lyoko except Jeremie. He was a supervisor.

“Okay, Jeremie, we’re here,” Ulrich announced.

“That’s great! Get ready, guys, I’m launching the materialization program immediately.”

After he let the CD go in, the worst music ever heard was heard.

“Oh, no, what have I done?” Jeremie lamented.

“Let me guess:  you put in Odd’s video in there?” Cassidy sighed. “Take it out and put in the CD that I gave you.”

“At least your intentions were correct!” snorted Ulrich.

Jeremie took out Odd’s CD and put in the correct one. “Okay, thanks, Cassidy.”

“I not only helped you. I also kept Jim from finding out. I could sense him following us when we were running through the park, but he didn’t find our secret passage, thank goodness,” Cassidy was filled with relief.

They took the Bloks down. But then the MegaTanks were coming.

 _Turn into a sword like Ulrich’s,_ Cassidy told her tube. It did.

She took to Ulrich’s side, but then a…sensation went over her. She held her sword right, but she felt different. _For Aelita’s sake,_ said another voice, _like this._

Cassidy inwardly nodded.

Ulrich saw this. “Cassidy, are you okay.”

She could not talk or move, but was okay.

“Jeremie! Cassidy isn’t moving, she’s just standing there.”

“Is she having a vision?”

“I don’t feel or see any signs…wait! Here’s one,” Ulrich said.

She moved toward the ’Tank. “Leave them. Alone…NOW!” The voice wasn’t hers.

The ’Tank was moving strangely as well. Instead of moving forward, it was involuntarily making strange movements backwards. Bumping into a tree, it exploded.

“Oh, my, goodness, CASSIDY!” Yumi yelled. She moved toward the psychic brunette.

“NO!” Cassidy said. Her eyes were the same color at first sight. “Get Aelita to the tower! I’ll take the Megatank.”

As the next Megatank moved forward, Cassidy placed a hand in front of her. “STOP! Leave, now!”

Aelita got to the center of the platform.

“Are you ready,” Jeremie asked.

“Ready!” Aelita said.

“Okay, Code: Earth!” Jeremie said.

Aelita was lifted up into the center of the first and second platforms. The screens whirled around and round her and she disappeared.

Cassidy soon lost the sensation. “What just happened?” she asked.

“Something amazing.” Ulrich pulled her in. Soon they met up with Odd and Yumi and soon, they were on Earth.

Everyone was facing the only scanner left. Jeremie included.

The scanner worked hard and the doors opened. The smoke was obscuring the silhouette in the scanner. As the smoke cleared, Jeremie was excited and proud.

“She’s here at last!” Jeremie said.

A pink-haired girl was curled up in the scanner. She looked like a normal human being (Curved ears, and regular clothes). She wore a dark pink jacket over a yellow shirt. Her skirt looked to be maroon. Her shoes were pink.

She opened her green eyes and smiled. “Welcome to Earth,” Jeremie whispered in a normal tone.

“YAY!” Cassidy yelled.

Ulrich shouted, “YEAH!”

Everyone joined the two cheerers. “Aelita’s here!” Shouted Cassidy. She danced another acting-on-the-spot jig.


	8. Oops! Aelita has a link

**I own Cassidy and the plot. So sorry for the lateness. I had minor surgery a few days ago. If you want to get the details, PM me.**

**-FROM WHERE WE LEFT OFF-**

 

“Welcome to Earth.” Jeremie was in awe of what happened. Aelita had come to Earth.

 

Soon, Cassidy led the charge and everyone cheered. Even Cassidy did a little excited dance.

 

**-Back in the Present-**

 

Aelita tried standing up, but her legs shook and she sat back down. Cassidy noticed this and stopped dancing. “Do you need any help, Aelita?” she said consolingly.

 

Ironically, Aelita asked, “Do you need any help?” to Cassidy and Yumi before the “incident” occurred. She helped Yumi get back up on land, and Cassidy had made the willing sacrifice.

 

Back in the present, Aelita nodded. “I would like that!”

 

With Jeremie’s help, the two pulled their pink-haired friend up onto her feet. Cassidy hugged her excitedly-but-gently. “We’re so glad that you are finally able to join us on Earth.” She smiled.

 

Everyone nodded.

  
Then Cassidy pulled back, put up a hand as if she was holding a drink and said, “First a toast to Jeremie, who always tried his hardest, even in his failures. Good job Jeremie.”

 

Everyone, minus Aelita (who was confused), Jeremie (who was blushing), and Cassidy (who was holding her pose), clapped their hands.

 

“Dos, to Odd, whose candy spill not only saved my life, but gave Jeremie hope to keep going.”

 

Jeremie, Yumi, Ulrich, and this time, Aelita applauded. Odd glowed in pride.

 

“Thirdly, to Aelita, whose consoling manner had been the…” she cleared her throat, “…best in the months of research and tests.”

 

Aelita blushed for the first time. Everyone, minus Cassidy (who had tears of pride in her eyes), clapped.

 

“Cuatro to Yumi, because…who could ever have a fan-throwing helper and friend like her?” Cassidy choked on her own words. The pride was growing. “Without her…I think we’d be missing someone who is mature to this adventure!”

 

Everyone clapped.

 

“Fifth to Ulrich, who is a master with the sword. Without him…who would give some of the sarcasm in his words?”

 

Everyone clapped.

 

“Lastly, but not _least_ , me. I don’t have a word of pride to myself, I just want to do it.”

 

“There are reasons,” Ulrich smiled. “You are quick and clever, you can keep one of us from fighting with the other, and you are psychic.”

 

“Plus you do the dangerous stuff for us sometimes,” Odd added. “You kept Yumi from falling into the digital sea.”

 

“And you kept me from pressing the wrong number on the vending machine,” Jeremie smiled.

 

It was as if they all had rehearsed it. “And…” Yumi added. “You are a great friend.”

 

Cassidy glowed in the same pride that her purple-clad friend had. “Here’s to Code: Earth. Without it…Aelita wouldn’t have breathed her first breath here or come out of the scanner today.”

 

Everyone nodded. The speech touched everyone in the heart.

 

“Truer words have never been better spoken.” Jeremie was welled up with pride by her speech.

 

“This day has me wound up tighter than ever. We just made—” she whispered “ _secret_ —” she got up to normal ranges—“history!”

 

“Uh-oh, speaking of history,” Ulrich panicked, “We need to hurry up and get there.”

 

“And I have literature,” Yumi said.

 

They compiled into the elevator and took it up to the main entrance. Aelita was in awe of this. “Your world is so beautiful!” She exclaimed.

 

“Oh, but it gets better, Aelita,” Jeremie placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

They got out into the solar light. To them the light was even brighter.

 

Soon they got to school, and Aelita had jitters. “Hey, relax, Aelita, don’t worry; it’s just a history class.”

 

“I’d feel a lot better if it were a class in computers. I don’t know anything about history,” Aelita said.

 

“Don’t worry. One cool thing about school is that you are here to learn!” Cassidy was confident.

 

“If this were a computer class, you could be the teacher,” Ulrich said.

 

Soon they were in their seats. Sissi took half-notice at Aelita. Nicolas nearly fell in love **(A/N: LOL Nicolas in love! LOL)**. “Just who does that new girl think she is? All she cares about is having boys and a weird girl around her.”

 

“Actually, I think she looks worried.” Nicholas had his head in his hand.

 

“Obviously, Nicholas, you don’t know the first thing about girls--hmph. Acting frail and helpless will work every time. Boys love that. It’s the best way to attract them,” Sissi lectured Nicholas. It also perked Hervé’s interest.

 

After everyone was calm Mr. Fumet happily announced, “We have a new student in our class. I’ll let her introduce herself.”

 

Aelita got some “stage fright”. “My—uh—I—uh…” she was nervous.

 

Cassidy stood up. She used dramatic gestures, but not a dramatic voice. “I’ll introduce her because she isn’t used to introducing herself. I introduce Aelita Stones. She’s Odd’s cousin from Canada, and she’s a little nervous at the moment.” The brown-haired, tiger-striped girl then sat down.

 

“Hm…Well, Aelita, let me welcome you to Kadic Junior High. We all hope that you’re going to like it here very much,” Mr. Fumet said.

 

**-After Class-**

Aelita and the others got to the bench. “Thanks for covering for me.” She smiled at Cassidy.

 

“You’re welcome. The first day I got here, I ended up saying my last name and first name **(A/N: I’m not _that_ nervous in real life! End A/N) ** in that order. But as the months went by I got a little braver,” Cassidy winked.

 

“Ya see,” Jeremie sat next to the two girls; “everything’s cool. There was no reason to worry.”

 

“But Jeremie, did you see Aelita when she tried to introduce herself?” Cassidy asked half-concerned. “She was trying to get her name out.”

 

“I guess not,” Aelita said, smiling, “and besides, I really like history. But you’ve got to admit: you fight a lot here; there are wars all the time.”

 

The three boys showed uneasy looks. Cassidy smiled a little sympathetically. “But sometimes there were reasons for the wars. The Civil War, for instance, was to free slaves and save America from being chopped right in two.”

 

Jeremie smirked.

 

“The American Revolution, which was years _before_ the Civil War, was to declare America a free nation,” Cassidy added. This piqued Aelita’s interest.

 

Yumi came right up. “Hey, guys! Well how’s our new earthling doing?” she lightly teased.

 

“Oh,” the pink haired girl smiled. “I’m fine. I’m trying to adapt to so many new sensations. Like the air that you breathe here, all the colors and the sounds, but I’m fine.”

 

Jeremie smiled deviously. “It’s about time that we deactivated the supercomputer, don’t you think?”

 

Cassidy then felt a twisting feeling in her gut. Something was about to go wrong.

 

“Oh, I wouldn’t wait for XANA to send us an invitation,” Ulrich was all for it.

 

“And who feels like going to Lyoko now that Aelita’s here with us?” Odd smiled with that fact.

 

Yumi, Jeremie and Ulrich agreed. Cassidy bit back a psychic thought. Aelita was nervous.

 

“You’ll think this is silly, but it scares me a little. Lyoko, after all, was my home. And I’m not really sure what affect destroying it might have for me,” The pink haired girl was just as scared as the psychic beside her was.

 

Everyone, minus Cassidy and Aelita, raised a brow, showed concerned looks, or both.

 

“There’s nothing to worry about, I’m sure,” Jeremie said consolingly. Holding her hand, he added, “Come on!”

 

When they got to the factory, Cassidy’s twisted-gut feeling got worse.

 

They went down to the super calculator room and the calculator (which looked like an upside-down T) came up, cylinder first, base second.

 

Aelita backed up. That was what the super calculator looked like.

 

Jeremie and Cassidy looked to her. “Are you okay, Aelita? If you want to wait a day or two…” Jeremie put a hand on her shoulder.

 

“No,” the pink-haired girl tried to feel brave. “The sooner, the better.”

 

Jeremie was feeling better. “Okay, I think you should have the honor.”

 

“No,” Aelita said. The others looked to her. “I—I’d rather you do it!”

 

Jeremie smiled. “Sure, Aelita.” His words were soft.

 

He walked up to the power switch. Aelita sweated. “XANA, you gave us a lot of grief. But thanks to you, we met Aelita, so good bye and good riddance!”

 

Before Jeremie could pull down the switch, Cassidy yelled, “STOP!” and time froze. It actually froze.

 

Cassidy looked at herself. She did that? Was this normal? She panicked. “J-ju-just go!” she nearly sobbed. **(A/N: This time-freezing thing will happen only in this chapter)**

 

Time resumed. Jeremie pulled down the switch and Aelita fainted. “AELITA!” Cassidy screamed.

 

She grabbed her friend. Ulrich did too. “Turn the power back on,” Yumi said. “Aelita’s not well. Hurry up!”

 

Jeremie turned on the power and ran back to the others. “What’s wrong with her?”

 

“A link from XANA to Aelita!” Cassidy said. “So if XANA dies, so does Aelita.”

 

“Well, let’s hope XANA doesn’t rear his ugly head,” Odd was worried.

 

Cassidy kicked Odd in the shin. “XANA always does boofhead.”

 

“Oh…”

 

**-A few hours later-**

Cassidy took Aelita’s pulse, but since she didn’t have a watch, Jeremie provided his for her. **(A/N: She’s using the correct fingers, unlike Jim)**

 

“Her pulse is getting to a ninety,” she observed.

 

Aelita opened her eyes. “I don’t know. What happened? I—”

 

“You fainted, Aelita. It’s a little like sleeping. A really _deep_ sleep!” Jeremie explained.

 

“I like the way it felt,” Aelita sat up a little.

 

“I knew that you would faint, and I—accidently stopped time.” Cassidy was shy and shamefaced.

 

“How?” Jeremie asked.

 

“I just yelled stop, and time, obviously, stopped,” Cassidy said.

 

“How did it resume?” Jeremie was a little concerned, both for his girlfriend, and for his good friend.

 

“I sobbed go, and it resumed!”

 

Turning to Aelita, Jeremie continued, “Well, Cassidy said that it was a link, or virus, between you and XANA that caused you to faint. I scanned my program, and it was true. My computer is programmed right now to find the breaker, or antivirus.”

 

“It’s getting late, Princess and Einstein; soon Aelita has to go to Yumi’s!” Cassidy teased.

 

“How soon?” Jeremie looked to her.

 

“Like half-hour soon,” Cassidy said. “That way, you get to spend some time with Aelita,” she whispered.

 

Jeremie blushed.

 

Soon, Cassidy was going back to school, while Jeremie and Aelita walked.

 

“What a strange sensation,” Aelita was shivering, and yet, she didn’t know the feeling.

 

“You shivered, that’s all. It’s a reaction you get on account of the cold,” Jeremie explained.

 

“I like the feeling of being a little chilly. And the sounds and the smells are a lot different at night!”

 

“Yeah, it’s quiet and peaceful, and the plants, they breathe differently.” Picking a flower from a box, Jeremie gave it to her. “Here, smell this!”

 

She did, stopping as she did so, and smiled. “Wow, it’s wonderful to be alive.” The moon seeming to smile too, Aelita added, “And it’s thanks to you that I’m here!”

 

“Well—I uh…I didn’t…eh…do it alone!” Jeremie blushed.

 

Aelita giggled, and then pulled Jeremie along.

 

As they walked side by side, Aelita spotted a photo booth but didn’t know what it was.

 

“What’s that? A scanner?”

 

“No. Not exactly, follow me!” Jeremie and Aelita ran inside and out popped four brilliant photos.

 

They laughed at three of them.

 

The two got to Yumi’s house. “Well, your castle awaits you, Princess!”

 

“Thanks for walking me back,” Aelita said. “In spite of the virus, I still had the most wonderful night of my life. Good night.” She gave Jeremie a kiss.

 

She ran up the stairs and said, “See you tomorrow.” And she closed the door.

 

Jeremie sighed, smiling. Then he got all excited, “Aelita’s—WOW!” Then he walked back to Kadic, whistling.

 

**-The next day-**

 

“So, do you have any idea on how to get rid of this miserable virus,” Ulrich asked, sitting on the step.

  
Odd was leaning against the pillar. Cassidy was sitting on the ground, flashing again.

 

“No, not yet. I hope the calculations my computer made will help me!” Jeremie was a tad edgy.

 

“Here come the girls,” Odd looked.

 

Yumi and Aelita ran up. “Well, how was your first night on Earth?” Ulrich asked.

 

Aelita stretched. “Sleeping is really wonderful.”

 

“She would have slept _all day_ if I hadn’t shaken her a little!” The usually black-clad girl smiled.

 

Everyone laughed.

 

“Stick with me, Aelita, and you’ll see, sleeping in class isn’t so bad either,” Odd said.

 

Cassidy felt a little curious. “Odd, may I check your leg?”

 

“What, so you can hit it with a fist?”

 

“No, just so I could see how you are healing!” Cassidy retorted.

 

Lifting the pant leg, the bruise was there, but it was diminishing a little.

 

“Did you put ice on it?” Cassidy asked, albeit curious.

 

“Yeah!”

 

“Good!”

 

**-Math class-**

“Who can give us the definition of a pair of prime numbers,” Mr. Yeltzy asked. “Sissi?”

 

“Well, mm, well…uh…a pair of prime numbers is…uh…two numbers that are about the same!” Sissi said. She obviously didn’t pay attention.

 

Everyone got a good laugh out of this.

 

“Thank you, Sissi. Well, can one of you give us a less harebrained answer? Aelita.”

 

“A pair of prime numbers occurs when their highest common denominator is one!” Aelita was a little more confident.

 

“Very good,” Mr. Yeltzy said. “Although…”

 

“In a principle rating, it’s equivalent to the fact that their direct sun is equal to one but of course with a non-principle factorial rate, that is not the case!”

 

Everyone was either amazed or confused at what Aelita had said. Aelita’s friends were not.

 

The teacher dragged the chalk down in a straight line (|).

 

“That is, according to the theory of Bijou you see!” Aelita half defended.

 

Mr. Yeltzy raised an eyebrow then heard a scream.

 

Some of the students got up. Cassidy turned to Jeremie. “Kankrelats are on Earth.”

 

“How could he have managed that?” Jeremie said.

 

“Who cares,” Odd yelled at him. “The problem is: how do you suggest getting rid of them?”

 

“Odd, we always fought them when we all go you-know-where and here it’s a little different, but not that different.” Cassidy crossed her arms.

 

“You four go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower. Yumi and I will stay here and defend the home front!” Ulrich said, dialing his phone.

 

“Oh, no…that’s crazy, Cassidy and Ulrich!” Aelita tried to reason.

 

“You know very well that if there’s a victim, then going back in time won’t bring them back to life!” Ulrich said, and then Yumi got on the phone. “Yumi…yeah, we already know…we’ve gotta find weapons. Okay, I’ll meet you outside of the math class.” He hung up.

 

“Well, let’s go, guys,” Jeremie said.

 

Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie walked out of the classroom to find another boy screaming and running across the hall.

  
They looked to their immediate right and saw a Kankrelat. It walked on its claw-like legs then turned its head towards them, its laser on its mouth menacing.

 

Ulrich took to the front. “I’ll handle him. Get GOING!”

 

Aelita, Odd, Cassidy, and Jeremie ran out of harms way.

 

“Let’s see how good you are,” Ulrich challenged. Then he jumped over the monster as it fired.

 

He ran to the staircase, but then a burst of pain got to him. He cried out then spider-legged his way from his pursuer.

 

**-With Jeremie, Cassidy, Aelita, and Odd-**

 

“Just a few more seconds and the coast’ll be clear,” Odd said.

 

“Just like Operation: THEO!” Cassidy marveled.

 

Operation: THEO was a plan to prevent Hervé and Nicholas from expelling a student. Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy dressed Kiwi in a pillow sheet, got the little gray dog howling; then in Kiwi ran, scaring the bejeebers out of the two boys.

 

They had to evade Jim though that time.

 

Odd gave the signal and Aelita, Jeremie, and Cassidy followed the leader, Cassidy a little nervously though.

 

**-Back to Ulrich-**

The Kankrelat was nearing him. Ulrich nearly was running out of steam.

 

It aimed. Ulrich feared the worst. Then out of nowhere a javelin was headed in his direction. He ducked, avoiding possible injury and the Kankrelat was destroyed.

 

Ulrich looked to find two black combat boots then looked up to find Yumi.

 

“What would you do without me?” she panted.

Ulrich showed a weak smile—mainly because of the pain.

 

Yumi looked behind him. Then she pulled on his arm. “Oh, hurry up!”

 

Ulrich looked back, and yelped as Yumi pulled him out of the math class.

 

The Kankrelats were everywhere. Yumi and Ulrich went to the garden shed and got a chainsaw and an ax.

 

Jeremie, Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy made it to the factory. “It looks like Swiss Cheese!” Cassidy cracked.

 

Picking up a nail gun and handing it to Odd, she smiled. “There’s a Kankrelat in the scanner room.”

 

They got there and, what do ya know, there was a lone Kankrelat skittering in the middle of the room. Odd shot and won.

 

“Jeremie, you have to transfer me to Lyoko,” Aelita said.

 

“What? Have you forgotten XANA’s virus, Aelita,” Jeremie was worried. “What if XANA stops you from deactivating the tower, or returning to Earth?”

 

“That’s a risk we’ve got to take; the priority is to stop XANA!” Aelita said. “You know as well as I do. We have no choice, Jeremie. Think of all the other monsters XANA could materialize.”

 

Aelita’s logic bit Jeremie in the heart.

 

“Okay, get into the scanner; I’ll send you to Lyoko!” Jeremie sounded downhearted.

 

Aelita, Cassidy and, after the last Kankrelat was destroyed, Odd got into the scanners and soon they were on Lyoko’s Ice Region. “It’s strange being virtualized!”

 

“I know the feeling, and I know you miss Earth, but, I secretly wrote a little code so that if a return in time occurs, you will be with us, _on Earth_! The return this time won’t go back a total of two days. It will go back just _one_ day!” Cassidy smiled.

 

 _“WHAT?”_ Jeremie’s yell was filled in amazement. _“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!”_

 

“It was simple really,” Cassidy said slyly. “You typed it. One of the notes you had had my code on it. Not my genetic computer code, but you get my meaning right?”

 

_“Yeah.”_

 

“You approve?”

 

_“Yes!”_

 

Soon they got to the tower and deactivated it before it got worse.

 

**-Returning to the past now (This time the morning of the link discovery)-**

 

“It’s amazing what you did, Cassidy,” Jeremie was prideful.

 

“’Twas nothing!” Cassidy was modest.

 

“Nothing?!” Ulrich asked.

 

“It was the least I could do!” Cassidy blushed.

 

Aelita and Yumi ran up. “Cassidy, you are incredible!” Yumi hugged her dangerous-psychic friend.

 

“It was nothing, really!” Cassidy blushed deeper.

 

The bell rang and the others went to class as usual.


	9. The New Order is Aelita's Staying here

**From this day forth, I will only own Cassidy and the plot. Code Lyoko shan’t be mine unless I get the legalities straight.**

**-Three days later-**

It seemed to be peaceful in the Desert Region. Its orange plateaus felt calm…

Then two boys on two vehicles arrived. One of them—a spiked-up ninja—whooped with joy on a vehicle that was almost like a skateboard without wheels. The other—a sword-wielding samurai—was in the lead on a vehicle that looked like a one-wheeled motorcycle.

Odd—the ninja—was as happy as if he won a lifetime supply of croissants. “You really did a great job, Jeremie. XANA better behave himself now that we’ve got these things.”

Jeremie, who wasn’t on Lyoko, expressed his concern.

Ulrich—the samurai—was determined.

As they went in between a sort of canyon, and Odd coming into the lead, another face was watching. She was a giant purple cat, but she loved the thrill of virtual adrenalin in her virtual veins.

She lay herself down into her vehicle—a sort of go-kart that allows you to lie down—and revved up her engine. She got off the canyon-thing and into the lead.

Ulrich and Odd raised virtual brows.

The girl looked back. “Hey, boys!” she smiled.

“Cassidy, why—?” Ulrich half-choked.

“What? You think I’m just going to wait until Odd scrapes himself?” Cassidy smiled.

She pressed a button and ended up on the next plateau.

“And the girl gets in after a late entry!” She jumped out of her vehicle.

A geisha came up with their friend—Aelita. “Good job, Cassidy!” Yumi smiled.

“Thanks, oh, hold on,” Cassidy pulled her tube from her tail. _Turn into a gun._

It did, and she shot at a rock formation the top fell to the side.

“Cassidy, can I ask you something?” Yumi asked. 

“Go for it. You don’t have to ask me to ask me! Just do it.”

“Okay, how did you get so good in shooting?”

“My dad taught me. At the tender age of eleven,” Cassidy smiled.

“That’s incredible!” Aelita said.

“It’s part of me,” Cassidy looked and saw Odd and Ulrich coming.

As soon as they were all together, Cassidy’s eyes whitened. “A tarantula is coming!”

As soon as a laser arrow fired, Cassidy got back, turned her tube into an Invisibility Cloak, slipped it on, and hid.

“Cassidy, where are you?” Odd asked.

Cassidy stayed silent. It was a plan she had. She just needed to initiate it.

“Hey, what’s that?” Yumi asked.

“Cassidy said that it was some sorta spider,” Ulrich said. “It looks like trouble. Big Time!”

“I’ve never seen a monster like that one before. XANA must have just created it,” Aelita said.

“In any case, it says here that it has more life points than the others,” Jeremie said.

A metallic leg stomped onto the ground. Everyone, minus Cassidy, turned around and gasped.

It half-looked like a gorilla/spider combo. It readied its legs.

“Jeremie, how about reprogramming our vehicles?” Yumi asked.

“I’m on it already,” Jeremie was proud, “but it’s going to take time.”

Aelita ran.

“On my signal,” Ulrich commanded.

“I’ll go first,” Yumi came in.

“And I’m gonna keep it busy,” Odd said.

Ulrich pulled out his sword. “NOW!”

The tarantula fired. But Ulrich blocked some of the fire with his own sword.

Odd catapulted himself in front of the Tarantula, arm poised to fire arrows. Meanwhile, Yumi cartwheeled to the other side of the Tarantula while the distraction went into action.

Odd fired at the grotesque monster, occasionally yelled out a little bit of “Take this!” or “How about that?”

The monster, with its long, thin attack-resistant legs, just parried away the arrows. Odd continued anyway.  
  
“Guys, be careful. I have no information on its attacks or abilities!” Jeremy budded in, reminding his friends of the dilemma.  
  
“Hai-yah!” Yumi threw her fans, with enough force to move the continents, at the tarantula.  
  
Its blind face, all except for the blatant X.A.N.A. symbol, showed no sign of caring. It simply ducked and the fans sailed over its outstretched body.  
  
In the meantime, Odd had put most of his focus on berating Jeremy on his negative thinking and didn’t seem to realize the threat looming over him. Yumi’s fans had been thrown so hard that they showed no sign of slowing down and returning to their owner. They sliced through the air and, unfortunately, through the unaware bystander. Odd was devirtualized on impact.  
  
Upon this Ulrich snapped into action, deciding that waiting behind to protect Aelita is now a useless idea. “Triplicate!” He yelled while two copies sprung from his body; they ran towards the tarantula to slice it to pieces.  
  
Unfortunately, even though it didn’t look like it, XANA’s newest creation had a mind and a very smart one at that. It knew just what to do. With a mechanical roar that seemed just as menacing and mocking as laughter, it unloaded a vast array of lasers at the defenseless Yumi. It had done so just in time; the young geisha had just started to attempt to move a rock with her telekinesis. She was devirtualized before the boulder could reach its target.  
  
Cassidy had barely dodged the boulder. Oh, the price of being invisible. Yumi had unfortunately not realized that she was there. However, thankfully, she had a plan. She knew it would work; it just had to if Aelita was going to get to the tower. She decided to creep towards the monster as soon as she saw Ulrich super sprinting across the sector. She paused. Make that three Ulrichs.  
  
Ulrich was steaming by the time he stopped with his clones. He silently planned his attack, a big frown on his face.  
  
“Ulrich, watch out. The lasers take away 20 life-points a hit.” Jeremy warned.  
  
“Yeah, thanks Einstein.”  
  
The creature wasted no time in shooting at him. By the time he got his mind together one of the clones were already gone. He lunged at it, his clone closely following pursuit. The tarantula put up both arms, ultimately stopping the blade in mid-strike. Ulrich pushed with all his might, but his new enemy was far too strong. It growled that mechanical growl and got in his face. He reluctantly jumped away.  
  
He was too slow for the tarantula because it had already taken the opportunity to shoot at the hero. It blasted away at Ulrich before he could even regain his footing. “Fast,” he managed to get out before his entire frame faded away.  
  
It was at that moment that the creature roared in victory, looking over at the startled and defenseless pink-haired guardian a distance off. It started to clunk towards her, but it stopped.  
  
Just then, Cassidy appeared. Her invisibility cloak had now formed into a katana similar to Ulrich’s sword. With a smirk, she drove it into the tarantula’s eye. Just to make sure she tugged it out and with a grunt stabbed at the eye again.  
  
The monster shrieked and cried as it combusted. XANA’s greatest creation to date had been defeated. Aelita was now safe. Cassidy smiled and gave Aelita a thumbs-up, her katana turning back into a tube. **(A/N: Thanks to a reliable user, this action piece is dedicated to linkmasta13)**

**-Later, in the factory-**

“If XANA’s going to start programming new monsters, it means our troubles, guys, have only just begun,” Jeremie was filled with worry.

“Anyway, Einstein, one thing’s for sure: You’re gonna have to program our vehicles faster. Otherwise we don’t stand a chance against, what Cassidy called, Tarantulas!”

“Your aunt what?” Yumi asked.

“Tarantulas; the new monsters. I like to give my enemies a name,” Odd said, then ducked a swing from Cassidy. “What was that for?”

“I said tarantula _first_ on _Lyoko_!” she seethed.

“Okay, okay,” Odd said. “Don’t get your sports bra into a—”

“ODD!” Cassidy screeched. “You just pricked my nerves boy.”

“Uh-oh!” Odd was running up the ladder and Cassidy was right on his heels. **(A/N: My OC (Not me the author) is on her girl problems right now, and right now, she’s mood swinging and Odd’s not making matters better)**

“What worries me is our friend XANA has obviously found a way to increase his power,” Jeremie went on concerned.

“You think he’s still evolving?” Ulrich asked.

“Maybe so,” Jeremie said. “In any case, from now on, we have to be ready for anything and everything!”

 _“That doesn’t even make sense, Jeremie!”_ Cassidy screeched. There was an “ouch” from Odd then a given “UNCLE, UNCLE!” from the source.

“Maybe I better be getting back to Lyoko. If XANA activates a tower, I’d better be there,” Aelita said. In a day, Aelita went shopping for new clothes with Cassidy and Yumi. They wanted her to choose, but didn’t know what to choose. Therefore, she had bought a pink hooded Jumper, maroon overalls, and dark pink boots.

Aelita didn’t mind, and neither did the other two girls.

Cassidy climbed down the ladder with an exhausted Odd in a firefighter hold. “What’s the lesson _here_ , Odd?”

“Never prick Cassidy’s nerves while she’s having girl problems?” Odd whimpered.

“Yes,” Cassidy’s words softened then put Odd down.

“Uh—should we tell her?” Jeremie asked, perking Aelita’s interest.

“Well, of course we should tell her!” Yumi smiled.

“It’s not like we are keeping this a secret!” Cassidy lightly Gibbs-smacked him.

“Keeping what a secret?” Aelita wondered. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?”

Cassidy smiled.

“Over the past three days, I spent all my time developing the vehicles and a breaker/antivirus to free you from XANA! And I’ve also perfected a whole new program for detecting activated towers,” Jeremie said.

Odd picked himself up and said, “A super-scanner, much more accurate than the old one.”

“With instant detection,” Jeremie continued. “Meaning, you don’t have to stay on Lyoko all the time!” He loved hearing the words. Aelita’s _staying_ on Earth unless XANA attacks.

“So I’m going to live,” Aelita marveled and smiled.

“Here with us,” Ulrich said. “We’ve already enrolled you as a boarder at the school!”

“AND, you will ROOM with me!” Cassidy smiled.

The news was so much for Aelita to take. Yumi and Cassidy put arms around the third female’s shoulders.

“Everything’s all set up; we wanted to surprise you!” Yumi said.

Aelita stood, stunned, then she spoke. “This is so wonderful!” She smiled again. “I can’t believe it.”

“Let’s go to my—well, you’re my roommate now— _our_ room. I spent last week getting our room ready,” Cassidy smiled.

**-A few minutes later-**

Jim opened the door. “And this is your roommate’s room. You’ll like it here Miss—uh—”

“Stones,” Aelita said proudly, briefcase in hand. “Aelita Stones. Like the rock group. I’m Odd’s cousin from Canada.”

“Ah…So, Aelita, breakfast starts at 7:00 am and dinner’s at 7:00 pm. It’s against the rules to be in your room between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm. You can ask your friends, Della Robbia, Stern, and Belpois, and your roommate, McGuire, to fill you in on the rest of the rules… _that is_ if _they can_ remember _them.”_ Jim then left the room.

Cassidy, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie smiled. “YEAH!” Jeremie yelled.

**-Get excited-**

“I don’t want to hear another word about the school newspaper. This excursion is for eighth and ninth graders only. Is that clear?” Mrs. Hertz snapped.

Tamiya shut off her camera. This was the worst put-down. “Oh…”

Milly walked off with a boom mike hanging over her mouth. “Oh, rats.”

Kiwi squirmed in Odd’s backpack. _“Kiwi_ , stop wiggling around. Five more minutes and you can run around all you want to.” Odd was talking to the bag.

“Hey, is everything okay, ladies. Are you all settled in, Aelita,” Jeremie asked.

“Yes, I am, and I love my room and roommate,” Aelita then turned her attention to another thing. “Hey, what is this field trip everybody’s talking about?”

“We’re going to make a biodiversity scrapbook,” Jeremie said.

“Drawing plants and flowers,” Cassidy said. “I have to go get to my partner. He’s the new guy.”

**(A/N: *Singsong* William!)**

“You and I have been paired up to work together,” Jeremie said to Aelita.

“Great,” Aelita said.

“Anyone seen Ulrich?” Odd asked.

“He’s under the arches,” Aelita said. “I think he’s waiting for Yumi.”

**-With Ulrich-**

“Okay, Yumi…there’s something I have to tell you,” Ulrich said. “No. That doesn’t sound right. Yumi, there’s something serious you and I have to talk about. No—she’ll freak out if I say that.”

Yumi walked up then. Ulrich was trying his hardest.

“Yumi, you and I have to—” Ulrich saw Yumi. “Oh, Yumi! I—I have something to tell you!”

“I do to,” Yumi said. “There’s a new kid named William, and Cassidy has a crush on him!”

“Really?” Ulrich said.

“She’s paired up with him for this trip,” Yumi put an arm around Ulrich.

“Wow, I hope she doesn’t act like Sissi around him,” Ulrich smiled. “I love it as I love—” Ulrich stopped himself just in time. “So…you have a partner?”

“I chose you!” She said.

Odd came running up. “Hey, what are you lovebirds doing? Everyone’s leaving. We have to be back by 6:00.”

“Okay, Odd,” Ulrich said. He was smiling. “Who is your partner?”

“Wouldn’t you believe it? Everyone else has landed a partner but me! But I landed myself lucky. Mrs. Hertz said that I could be with you two.” Odd smiled deviously.

“Great,” Ulrich’s smile faltered, but then came back.

**-Outside the Forest-**

“Did you know that trees grow new branches from one year to the next according to an exponential ratio of 1.6?” Jeremie asked.

“1.61 _8,_ to be exact. It’s the Golden Ratio!” Aelita stated proudly. “Say, do you think Nature obeys nonlinear equation systems?”

Sissi and her cronies followed behind them. “Can you believe those two? What do they think they are anyway? Mr. and Mrs. Einstein.” Sissi was outraged inside.

“Uh…who?” Nicholas asked. But the black-haired girl moved in a different direction.

“Hey, Sissi,” Hervé said. “Where are you going? The woods are this way!”

“Yes, but the stores are that way,” Sissi proclaimed.

“But, we’re supposed to draw plants,” Hervé said.

“There’s a florist in the shopping center,” She turned to look back.

Nicholas and Hervé followed.

**-Jeremie and Aelita-**

“Nah, there aren’t any monsters in these woods. That only happens in fairy tales or in silly horror pictures, the kind that Odd and Cassidy like,” Jeremie said.

_Ring_

“Hello,” Jeremie said. 

“I only like Van Helsing, Jeremie; I don’t like any other horror films, okay?” Cassidy’s voice came.

“Okay,” Jeremie said.

They both hung up.

“You don’t like horror films,” Aelita said, sounding bored.

“I find it inaccurate, scientifically speaking. Anyway, I don’t have time to go to the movies. I’ve got my work cut out for me with XANA,” Jeremie felt at his bag then realized. “Huh? Oh, no I don’t believe it! I left my laptop in my room! What if XANA attacks?”

“Well, run back and get it. I’ll just keep working by myself. Anyway with the drawings we’ve already done, I’m sure we’ll get the highest grade,” Aelita smiled.

“Yeah, be right back.” Jeremie ran back.

“Bye,” Aelita waved.

**-Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd-**

The three were getting their photos and drawings done on the nose. They smiled. They’ll get a great grade.

And Kiwi was playing with the butterflies.

**-Cassidy and William-**

“I wouldn’t really call myself a rebel. I’m just a little…rebellious,” William said.

 

“But you did get kicked out for posting love letters all over your old school,” Cassidy lifted a pencil.

 

“You know about my love addiction?” William asked.

 

“Actually, I was…just paying attention,” Cassidy said.

 

“You have a boyfriend?” That struck Cassidy hard in the heart.

 

“To tell you the truth, no. My first crush turned out a few years later a male prostitute and my second crush turned out to already have a girlfriend,” Cassidy was downhearted.

 

“Sorry to hear that,” William blinked.

 

“Do you want to be?” Cassidy cheered up three notches.

 

“Yeah,” William smiled.

 

Cassidy cheered up. “Thanks.”

 

**-Aelita-**

 

Aelita walked around the crossway when she heard a fluttering in the distance. She gasped, feeling fearful. A rustling sound caught her attention. “Monsters only exist in fairy tales… Monsters only exist in fairy tales…,” she whispered as she walked along.

 

Then a distant howl, similar to a wolf howl, made her run. She burst through the underbrush and then she stopped. Dropping her sketchbook, she grabbed her head, seeing visions of a great orange-eyed dark gray wolf before her eyes.

 

Regaining her senses, the pink-haired girl ran. And she kept on running.

 

**-Lyoko’s Ice Sector-**

A tower turned red. And its guests were tarantulas only.

 

**-Jeremie-**

 

The boy got to his room and put down his bag. The laptop beeped, catching Jeremie’s attention. “Just what I was afraid of. XANA’s attacking!”

 

A small tower shown on his computer.

 

**-Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich-**

The three were resting their fingers. They were drawing and taking pictures for half an hour. “Wow!” Yumi smiled. “We’ll get some good grades here, huh, guys.”

 

Odd and Ulrich nodded, satisfied. “We’ll have it in the bag!” Odd smiled, petting Kiwi.

 

Ulrich’s phone rang. “Jeremie?”

 

Jeremie’s voice came in from the other line. “I’m at school. XANA’s attacking. I’ll head for the factory, but you guys have to pick up Aelita on the way.”

 

“No problem,” Ulrich nodded. “We’ll go and get her.”

 

Just then, Cassidy swooped in from the right. “I have a boyfriend! And XANA is going to love us cracking our enemies’ heads!”

 

“Or not!” Yumi cracked.

 

Cassidy and Yumi laughed.

 

“Now, let’s get Aelita, before we get lost ourselves,” Cassidy smiled.

 

“Okay!”

 

“I left her on the red trail,” Jeremie said. “Is Yumi with you?”

 

“Yeah,” Ulrich smiled.

 

**-Aelita-**

 

Aelita panted. Running made her tired. Finally catching her breath, she turned around to find an old house.

 

When she got to the gates, she stood on her tiptoes to look over.

 

There was a sign on the gates. “The Hermitage,” she read.

 

Aelita grabbed her head again. The Hermitage’s images were flickering from old to new and back again.

 

Walking to the front steps, Aelita’s curiosity grew more and more. Did someone live in this house? Was there some security? She had many other questions.

 

“Is—is anybody home?” Aelita asked.

 

A camera followed her as she walked inside. Little did she know was that XANA was plotting a trap.

 

**-Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, Cassidy, and Kiwi-**

 

“Are you sure this is the place?” Odd asked.

 

Kiwi circled Aelita’s sketchbook, catching her scent.

 

“That’s what Jeremie told me,” Ulrich said.

 

Cassidy looked down at the little gray dog. “Follow the scent, Kiwi.”

 

Kiwi barked in response. The brown-haired girl smiled. The dog sniffed and walked.

 

The four humans followed the small gray dog. “Go Kiwi!” Cassidy whispered.

 

“He may be a little dumb, but he does have a good nose,” Odd told Yumi and Ulrich.

 

They followed.

 

**-Aelita-**

 

Opening the door and walking inside, Aelita was getting more curious. She felt at a table and dust kicked up as she passed. XANA’s ghost followed from the study and into the living room where Aelita sat to rest her legs awhile.

 

Standing up, Aelita felt a little dizzy. She caught herself on the fireplace. Another vision hit. A gray-haired man was playing piano. The house looked new _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_ was the song.

 

The pink-haired girl watched with fear and curiosity as the man stopped and looked at her with heavy round glasses. The lenses flashed white.

 

Aelita woke up looked behind her then screamed as XANA’s ghost engulfed her.

 

**-Lab, then Hermitage-**

“Don’t tell me you haven’t found her yet! What have you guys been doing? She may be in big danger!” Jeremie was getting increasingly scared and upset.

 

“Chill, Jeremie, okay! We’re doing everything we can,” Odd said. “Who knows? Maybe Aelita just went back to school. Kiwi led us to an old house in the woods. We’re going to take a look inside. We’re gonna call you back if we got any news.”

 

“I think Aelita’s inside,” Cassidy sparked a flash, but it was just a spark.

 

“What are you the human tracker?” Odd asked.

 

“I can feel a presence,” said Cassidy.

 

“Lead the way,” Yumi said.

 

Cassidy walked, feeling Aelita’s presence getting stronger. The others followed. She walked until she spotted a pink-haired girl. “Aelita.” She helped Aelita up single handedly.

 

Aelita looked at Cassidy, “Cassidy, it’s a trap! XANA…he’s going to…”

 

The door nearly swiped shut until Odd put a foot on it. “Get Aelita OUT!” He sounded strangled.

 

Aelita got out. Cassidy was next…until…

 

SLAM!

 

Cassidy got shut in.

 

“You’ll be cooked alive if we don’t get you out of there!” Odd shouted.

 

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita tried on the side Cassidy wasn’t. And Cassidy tried where she was. None prevailed.

 

“Just get to Lyoko!” Cassidy said. “There’s just nothing for me to do right now!”

 

Odd and Aelita nearly shared shocked looks.

 

“Just GO!” Cassidy commanded. “I know I wanted to do this mission, but this is a mission that I have to stay behind on.”

 

With just a hint of luck, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita got out of the Hermitage. Kiwi happened to greet them.

 

“Kiwi!” Odd smiled.

 

Aelita then had another vision. It was of her and the man. They were going in a passage near the stairs. And she saw the passage itself.

 

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were about to go to the sewer the old-fashioned way when… “Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, there’s a passage over there. I think it leads to the sewers,” Aelita said.

 

“This is no time for jokes Aelita!” Odd said.

 

“I’m not joking, Odd. I’m sure!” Aelita was adamant.

 

Everyone followed Aelita into the sewers and Odd was amazed, “Wow! Incredible! How did you know about this?”

 

**-Back with Cassidy-**

 

The heat was stifling, but Cassidy was tough. She went through heat before.

 

Feeling around her pockets, she found her pocketknife pack. She also found a non-whittled stick. And so, she flipped out the knife and whittled, whistling _If I Had Words._

 

**-Back with Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and Kiwi-**

 

They compiled into the elevator and took it to the lab, where Jeremie was waiting. Aelita smiled.

 

Jeremie looked. “Aelita, I was really worried.”

 

“No time to lose, Einstein; otherwise Cassidy’ll wind up as dim sum.” Odd waved Jeremie off.

 

“Okay, head for the scanners; I’ll start the process,” Jeremie said.

 

Soon, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita were all on Lyoko.

 

The vehicles materialized. “Aelita and Yumi, the OverWing’s for you!”

 

Everyone got to a little ways to the tower. There were tarantulas. “I miss Cassidy!” Odd said. “She would have warned us of this before Jeremie could.”

 

**-Cassidy-**

 

Stick whittled, she sheathed the knife and put it away. “This could have been worse,” she muttered, bored.

 

The heat had increased. Cassidy sat down. “Aelita will deactivate the tower soon. I will be saved.” She yawned.

 

**-Lyoko-**

 

Yumi and Aelita took out one tarantula on their own—Aelita providing the distraction while Yumi threw her fan.

 

Odd and Ulrich was trying to take care of the tarantula at hand. It was a tough case.

 

**-Cassidy-**

 

Cassidy yawned. The heat was getting to her now very much.

 

**-Lyoko-**

 

As soon as the tarantula was out of the way, Aelita was free to enter the tower.

 

She rose onto another platform. An interface popped up. She then walked confidently to the interface and put her hand on it. It showed her name.

Then CODE came up.

She typed in the code.

“Tower deactivated!”

**-Cassidy-**

Cassidy had succumbed to the heat and passed out.

**-Return to the Past, Now-**

Cassidy was in the best of moods. “William agreed to go out with me.”

“And you still remember what happened in the sweat pen?” Odd said.

“It’s okay, Odd,” Cassidy waved him off, “I whittled a stick there.”

“And we all got good grades!” Jeremie smiled. “I went to check out that house the Hermitage. Nothing to report. It’s gone back to being a normal house. Abandoned but normal.”

“What about the visions?” Cassidy said.

“A new mystery to solve for us!” Yumi agreed.

“And,” Cassidy smiled. “Jeremie, the honors.”

Jeremie handed Aelita a pink wrapper-covered box.

“Jeremie thought pink would suit you!” Cassidy said.

It turned out to be a pink cell phone.

“I love it!” Aelita smiled.


	10. The Territory's Unchartered

**Code Lyoko © Moonscoop/Toowam/Antefilms/Taffy**

**Cassidy McGuire © Me. NO STEALING unless I give permission. Right now, the answer is NO!**

At five o’clock in the morning, Cassidy was up with her things for the shower.

“Come on,” Cassidy whispered to Aelita, her red Amigos shirt she was wearing was wrinkled.

Aelita let out a scream and woke up.

“You okay?” Cassidy asked her eyes filled with sympathy.

The pink-haired girl recited her dream. A pack of wolves was chasing an elf through a forest. Soon the elf found shelter in the tree and the alpha wolf found him.

Aelita shook in fear, and Cassidy hugged her. “It’s okay,” Cassidy said. “I’m here.”

Soon the shaking stopped and Cassidy recited her plan. “OK, this is a good one, so listen close…ok at seven, Sissi, the most untrustworthy girl in this school, will hog the shower. Long line forms and I don’t think _we_ —” She pointed to her friend and then back to her—“would like to wait _all day_ in night-before sweat. So, we go in the shower at this time—” she checked her clock: it was five-thirty—“And we get our shower in first. That way, we don’t end up waiting. And Sissi will trick you into the boys’ bathroom if we don’t initiate this plan.”

“Okay,” Aelita was confused, but gathered her materials.

Soon both girls were showered and refreshed before Sissi could wake up.

**-Let’s go to Jeremie’s room, shall we?-**

Jeremie had done research on the Hermitage. Something caught his eye and he sent it to the printer. “Now, let’s see.” Right away, the document came out. “WOW! Unbelievable!”

“Come on, Jeremie,” Ulrich opened his door. “Let’s get a move on! Otherwise there won’t be any hot water left!” Ulrich wasn’t going to let the cold water be his enemy this morning. Heck, any morning. **(A/N: As do I.)** He hated freezing cold water. It was like receiving an electric shock from XANA.

“Hey, remember the Hermitage?” Jeremie asked.

“You mean the house where Aelita had those visions? Bad memory, Jeremie!” Ulrich said.

“Right,” Jeremie turned to his computer screen. “Well, I wanted to check it out a little closer, and I found out something a _mazing_!”

“What would really be a _mazing_ is that there’s still some eggs left when we get down to breakfast,” Odd said. He was hungry…scratch that…he was hungry all the time.

“Odd, you’re a real walking stomach, you know that?” Jeremie typed a bit on the computer.

“And you’re a walking _brain_ ,” Odd smiled. “You see, we compliment each other.”

Cassidy and Aelita walked up, both clad in their day-clothes. “And what are _we?_ ” Cassidy raised a brow.

“Cassidy, you’re the nervous system,” Odd said.

“I can’t help it if I’m jittery sometimes!” Cassidy said.

“Aelita, you are the heart because you are sensitive and kind,” Odd smiled.

Aelita smiled.

“What are Ulrich and Yumi?” Cassidy said.

“Ulrich and Yumi are the muscle,” Odd helped.

“Okay,” Cassidy said.

Soon everyone was showered, but Cassidy gave a text to Sissi, masking her number.

Later, it turned out that Sissi got to the boys’ room and almost showered there.

Cassidy giggled like a maniac. She loved this.

Then Hervé and Nicholas showed Sissi out.

Cassidy laughed, hysterically shrieking right out loud every three seconds.

“Cassidy, what did you just do,” Jeremie looked to Cassidy, who was laughing with tears. 

“ _Pranked_ Sissi!” She laughed.

“What was the prank?” Jeremie asked.

“I—texted her—into—going—into—the boy’s—bathroom!” She chortled in between words.

Odd and Ulrich laughed. “Good one, Cassidy. This is one we’ll need to tell Yumi about!” Odd smiled wider. “Sissi’s such a brat.” Then turning to Ulrich, Odd added, “And to think she has a crush on you.”

Ulrich scowled. “Cool it, huh; I don’t even like her and she can’t even get _that_ drilled into her tiny brain.”

“Yeah!” Cassidy recovered.

“I did a little research to find out who that old house belonged to and I came across a restricted access site. It took me most of the night to hack into it but it was worth it. I found a deed signed by a Mr. Franz Hopper. Seems that he’s the owner,” Jeremie smiled.

“And you think it has something to do with Lyoko?” Ulrich asked.

“Ulrich,” Odd came in, “there’s a secret underground passage into the sewers from his yard, remember? So the guy must’ve had something to do with the supercomputer!”

Cassidy was confused on the “secret underground passage into the sewers from his yard” part, then a spark-flash occurred and she understood.

Jeremie smiled. “Exactly! So I did a search on Franz Hopper and guess what?”

“He was a former science teacher here?” Cassidy’s eyes spark-flashed again.

“You read my mind,” Jeremie said.

**-Later, outside-**

“So you think the owner of the Hermitage and the science teacher are the same person,” Yumi asked, her hair flowing in the slight breeze.

Ulrich, whose hair was dry, half-shrugged, and frowned. “Well, let’s face it, huh. Finding two guys called Franz Hopper in the radius of less than half a mile would sure be a real coincidence.”

“Anyway,” Jeremie continued, “there’s only one way to be sure. After history class, we have a study period in the library. What do you say we do a little research in the Kadic Academy Archives. 

Jeremie smiled. 

“Good idea,” Odd said.

“I’ll go with you,” Aelita smiled.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Jeremie said. 

“What?!” Cassidy asked, creasing a brow. “She didn’t do anything wrong this morning.” 

“Alright,” said Jeremie.

“Ulrich may want to go, too,” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Jeremie walked to class. “See you later! We’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”

Yumi, Cassidy, and Aelita stayed behind. Yumi looked over to Aelita, concern crossing her path. “Are you alright, Aelita?”

“I—I can’t get used to living here,” Aelita sounded solemn. Yumi and Cassidy shared shocked looks.

Aelita continued. “I had another nightmare last night, the same one.”

Cassidy showed her sympathy. “Would you like another hug?”

The pink-haired girl nodded as Cassidy pulled her in for a hug.

After, Yumi said, “You haven’t even been here for a week yet. You’ll see. You’ll feel better in no time.”

Aelita smiled.

**-After classes-**

Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich dashed over to the office. Aelita decided to stay with Cassidy in the library.

Jeremie ran over to the Archives and slipped in.

**-Library-**

Sissi stormed up to Cassidy, anger rushing in her veins. “So you think you can get away with this?”

Cassidy looked up from her _Maximum Ride_ book, asked coolly, and innocently, “Get away with what?”

 

“With _this_ ,” Sissi flaunted her cell phone. She showed Cassidy’s text and this time the number was unmasked, clear as day. “You tricked me!”

 

“You were about to trick your _Ulrich Sweetheart_ with a letter once,” Cassidy’s tone turned steely with a hint of humor. “Luckily I _burned_ it. He’s never going to learn that you were about to trick him. Consider it karma. You trick, or attempt to trick, my friends or me, and then I get you back.”

 

Sissi was not going to let Cassidy go back to battles with Flyboys and other mutants in her book. “Now, see here, you—”

 

Cassidy gave her a look, and Sissi backed off.

 

**-Back with Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich-**

 

Jeremie found the shelving unit. “E, F, G, H—H for Hopper!” he muttered to himself. He occasionally did that from time to time. It never really bothered his friends. Therefore, it was okay that Jeremie talked to himself.

 

Mrs. Weber was about to walk in when Odd and Ulrich caught her eye. They were smiling innocently. “Shouldn’t you be in class? Well, children.” She talked in a slight British tone.

 

“We’re looking for uh—a teacher!” Ulrich was acting innocently. So was Odd.

 

“Oh, really? Which one?” Mrs. Weber asked.

 

“Mrs. Mayer,” Ulrich said.

 

Odd had another one, and said at the same time as Ulrich, “Mr. Chardin!”

 

They looked at each other, and laughed nervously. They had obviously confused the Administrator.

 

Jeremie, however, was looking for Franz Hopper. “Hopper, Hopper,” he fingered through the file folders and found the one labeled Hopper, F.  Opening it up, he found a contract signed by the same person.

 

Rummaging in his pocket, he found the deed. Jeremie compared the signatures, and found they were indeed an exact match.

 

“Bingo,” he said.

 

He went out to where Ulrich and Odd were. “Uh…come to think of it, at this time, if you can’t find your teachers, it probably means they’re in class.”

 

Exiting the doorway, Jeremy walked by Mrs. Weber. “It’s okay, guys, I’ve found Mrs. Hertz. Ma’am,” He said.

 

The two other boys followed their blond-haired friend.

 

**-Lunchtime-**

 

Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy grabbed their trays. Aelita didn’t know what to get. She was new to this and her hunger was next on the list.

 

Cassidy looked at Aelita, eyes full of sympathy.

 

A student yelled, “Hey, what—”

 

Cassidy turned to the boy. “I’m just as hungry as you are, but you don’t hear _me_ complain! Aelita’s new to this. She deserves to take her time. And if you have even _one shred_ of patience, I suggest you stay off her back!” Her words were cold to the boy, but warm to Aelita. She turned to Aelita. “Here,” her words were soft. “Yumi and I’ll help.”

 

Soon Aelita had a meal fit for a queen. So did Yumi and Cassidy.

 

**-Let’s hang with the boys-**

 

“Boy, that was a close one,” Odd said.

 

“Well,” Ulrich said.

 

“No doubt about it,” Jeremie came in. “I compared the teacher signature with the one on the property deed I found on the internet. They’re the same.”

 

That confirmed one truth. The former science teacher and the owner are the same person.

 

RING

 

Jeremie’s cell phone rang. He picked it up. “Hello.”

 

 _“Before you hop off to the Hermitage, I suggest you three get some lunch._ _Don’t just jump off the deep end,”_ Cassidy’s voice was calm.

 

“Okay,” Jeremie said.

 

**-Lunchtime, now-**

 

Jeremie and the boys made it. They grabbed their trays, seized the foods they needed, and ambled over to where Aelita, Cassidy, Yumi, and William are.

 

Cassidy passed a book over to Jeremie. “Here!”

 

“The Tunic Wars?” Odd asked.

 

“ _Punic_ not _Tunic_ ; the war between the Romans and the Carthaginians. We had a whole section about it three months ago,” Cassidy said.

 

Just then, Cassidy had a flash. Not a spark-flash or a lighter eye-color flash. A white eyes flash. Aelita looked to her friend. “Cassidy?” she was concerned. So was William.

 

The brown-haired girl grabbed Aelita by the wrist. It all happened so suddenly. “Cassidy,” Yumi and Jeremie snapped their fingers.

 

But this didn’t wake Cassidy up. She was out of it.  The two, Aelita trying to resist, ran out of the cafeteria and into the forest.

 

Everyone but William chased after her. Odd was the first to stop to catch his breath. “The girl may not be athletic, but she sure can run fast.”

 

Ulrich ran back, reprimanded Odd a little, then picked up his charge and caught up to the rest of the group.

 

Meanwhile, Cassidy and Aelita got to the factory. Cassidy still was under her power. ( _Get Aelita to the new sector,_ a new voice told her.)

 

Aelita had her first flashback.

 

** FLASHBACK #6 **

__

_She was yelling at Jeremie. But she (in the present) didn’t know why she was yelling at her Savior for._

 

** END OF FLASHBACK **

 

Doing the self-delayed virtualization for the both of them, Aelita and Cassidy made it to Lyoko’s forest sector. Aelita needed some way to get Cassidy out of her trance. On Lyoko, she was a little useless. Oh, if only Odd were here.

 

The cat-like female grabbed Aelita again and pulled her to the edge of the sector. No monsters stopped them as a white ball with a blue eye of XANA appeared.

 

Aelita fought against Cassidy, but she was like a statue.

 

 _“Aelita!”_ Jeremie’s voice came through.

 

“Jeremie, Cassidy…” But the ball covered the two girls and transported them to a new sector.

 

 _“Aelita, Cassidy!”_ Jeremie said.

 

“Problem, Jeremie?” Yumi asked.

 

“Get to the scanners,” Jeremie was desperate.

 

Soon Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were on Lyoko’s Forest Sector.

 

Yumi and the others ran to where the two girls were before the transport. “What?” Odd asked. “Aelita and Cassidy are already gone? Cassidy’s powers must be hard to get rid of.”

 

“Cassidy dragged Aelita into this, but why?” Ulrich mused.

 

 _“I don’t know,”_ Jeremie said. _“I lost the two from my screens!”_

 

“You—you mean, they—?” Yumi was getting more and more concerned.

 

“No!” Jeremie was typing. “Uh…I doubt it. I think they just…disappeared from the screens as if…wait!” He typed more frantically. “What is going _on?_ ” He asked. “I got it! I got a signal! A very weak one, but—hey, that’s strange. Aelita and Cassidy aren’t on this sector anymore. They’re not in any sector actually…”

 

Ulrich waved Jeremie and said, “Whoa, wait. Can you explain it a little better?”

 

 _“No, not really…Let’s say they’re in a sector…that doesn’t even exist. A_ fifth _sector.”_

 

“Huh?” Odd asked. “A fifth sector? Have you gone bananas or what?”

 

Jeremie was kinda shocked. “No! If I could only fix this thing…maybe I…” A code window pulled up. “‘Welcome to Carthage’?” Jeremie got confused.

 

**-In the new sector-**

 

Aelita and Cassidy woke up in the new sector. “Aelita?” Cassidy asked.

 

“Cassidy,” Aelita smiled. “You’ve got out of your trance.”

 

Cassidy raised both her eyebrows. “I did?” It sounded dumb but it wasn’t like that.

 

The blue room literally spun around. Then…it stopped. A bright light shown near the left. “Where do you think it goes?” Aelita asked.

 

Cassidy thought and said, “The Core Zone! It’s a room here.”

 

The two girls ran into the white light.

 

**-Forest-**

 

“Is this going to take long, Jeremie?” Yumi asked.

 

“I hope not,” Jeremie was getting worried and curious at the same time.

 

Then hornets arrived. Odd hopped on the OverBoard. “Now things are really starting to buzz.”

 

No sooner as they got some of the hornets out of the way, they got back to the edge of the sector. “Jeremie what are we doing?” Ulrich asked.

 

“Wait I got a little problem,” Jeremie said.

 

That caused some commotion.

 

“I need the password. Something to do with Carthage, I think.”

 

“This is no time for history lessons,” said Ulrich.

 

“A history lesson. That’s exactly what I need,” Jeremie was gaining confidence. He grabbed the Punic Wars book and felt a leaflet in the pages.

 

“Huh?”

 

He pulled it out, and out came a letter that read: SCIPIO, Jeremie. From Cassidy

 

P.S. SCIPIO is a code to get into the new sector.

 

Jeremie told his friends to get back to the edge of the sector, and then typed in the code.

 

The transport came and whisked the other three away.

 

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

 

Aelita and Cassidy walked up to the wall. The bespectacled girl felt it with her fingers. “It’s as if it has had a slicer here,” she muttered to herself.

 

It split, causing the two to jump back. Cassidy creased a brow. “No wonder Odd called me the nervous system.”

 

Soon the two went exploring…until a creepy…thing came. They tried to run for it, but then Cassidy realized that she still had her weapon.

 

Reaching for it, she turned around, turned it into a gun and shot at it. KA-BLAM!

 

It exploded in a thousand pixels.

 

Backing up into the Core Zone, Cassidy panted. “We’re safe!”

 

Aelita didn’t respond. “Aelita?”

 

No response. She turned around. A jellyfish-like monster was holding her friend. “Aelita!” She growled and then ROARED. She didn’t like this monster and it had her friend. She aimed her gun. POW!

 

Aelita was safe, but not the jellyfish. It had a bullet crammed in the membrane.

 

“Let’s get out of here,” Cassidy picked Aelita up and ran her back to the start.

 

Their friends were already there. “Guys, no time to explain, let’s just get out of here!” Cassidy said.

 

“S-C-I-P-I-O,” Jeremie typed.

 

They all got out of there.

 

**-Back to Jeremie’s Room-**

 

“So we get to the Core Zone, and we hit Creeper trouble. Just one creepy thing, a Creeper. Then I shoot that and I tell Aelita that we were safe, but she doesn’t say anything. Turns out Aelita was held by a jellyfish monster. I get its membrane bulleted and we get out of there.”

 

“We were scared,” Aelita said. “And to think it was stealing my memory.”

 

“Well, one thing’s for sure, we’ll be careful about you and your visions,” Odd said.

 

“I’m sorry,” Cassidy said.

 

“Apology accepted,” Aelita said.

 

“William forgave me, too,” Cassidy said.

 

“And I’ll teach you plenty of ways to tell Sissi to go to—”

 

“MARCUSVILLE!” Cassidy bellowed.

 

Everyone looked at her strangely. The brown-haired girl said,  
“Heck!

 

“Well, well, this is terrific,” A high-pitched voice said. “You are all together. I guess the white north wasn’t all it seemed.”

 

Cassidy scowled.

 

“Yeah while you were taking your third appropriate shower of the day!” Ulrich scolded.

 

“Well, you know Ulrich dear, a beautiful flower like _me_ needs to be watered often,” Sissi said.

 

Odd got really angry. “You—”

 

Aelita smiled. “Yes, you never know you might just sprout a brain.”

 

Cassidy and the others laughed.

 

“Morons,” Sissi said and left.

 

“I think you can give Odd lessons, Aelita!” Ulrich laughed.

 

“You sure learn fast,” Yumi said.

 

Odd and Aelita hugged.


	11. Time to Explore

**Code Lyoko © Moonscoop/Toowam/Antefilms/Taffy Entertainment**

**Cassidy © Me. If you want her, ask me, tell me why, and I may, or may not, lend her over.**

Aelita was running to the deactivated tower. “Aelita, hurry. Yumi’s only got ten life points left!” Jeremie was getting desperate.

Aelita got into the tower.

“Get ready, girls, I’m starting up the devirtualization process!” Jeremie typed on the computer.

“Ulrich, I know you are getting tired of the same ole routine,” Cassidy looked to Ulrich with a hint of sympathy. “Sometimes I do, too, but I’m still in the game!”

“Still, sometimes I really wish we were done with XANA!” Ulrich had gotten a little angry.

“You missed a chapter, Ulrich **(A/N: Get it, because it’s a chapter)**. Remember? Aelita’s carrying around a miserable link/virus that is connected with our old friend, XANA. Bye-bye XANA equals bye-bye Aelita,” Odd came to terms with it. The two girls came up to the lab.

“And, I don’t know how to create a breaker/antivirus,” Jeremie said. “I mean, not just yet.”

Aelita wasn’t mad at Jeremie. But she did have an idea. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we explore that new, mysterious sector we discovered?”

“Great idea, Aelita!” Cassidy smiled.

“Sector 5? But we don’t know what’s in it!” Jeremie said.

“Sure we do!” Odd said confidently. “According to Cassidy, there are monsters, ultra-dangerous traps, and the Schyphozoa, as you call it that wants to steal Aelita’s memory.”

“You’re right,” Aelita felt ready. “But what if there was something else there? Like information about XANA? We have to go back.”

“Here, Yumi,” Cassidy gave Yumi a note. “It says a line in case your parents get suspicious.”

Yumi opened the note, a tad suspicious, and read silently. The line was: “I’m in love!”

“Will that line work?” Yumi asked.

“Did my text for Sissi to walk into the boys’ showers work?” Cassidy cocked a brow.

“I still remember that one,” Odd exclaimed. “You did excellent, Cassidy.”

Cassidy blushed, a little embarrassed. “It was nothing. I only did that because I sensed that Sissi was going to do the same thing to Aelita. So the plan worked.”

“It was something,” Yumi smiled.

“Good idea,” Ulrich said to both Aelita and Cassidy. “All four of us will go!”

“You mean all _five_ of us?” Aelita said. “I want to be part of this expedition!”

“That’s right,” Cassidy said, defending Aelita. “Don’t leave Aelita out!”

“With that Schyphozoa slinking around? No way!” Jeremie got out of his chair.

“Come on, Jeremie,” Cassidy frowned. “I bulleted the Schyphozoa last time!”

“AND you put Aelita in DANGER!” Jeremie yelled.

“I didn’t mean to! My visions controlled me! It’s not my fault I’m a _dangerous psychic_! If I knew that my visions would control me, I would have kept myself away from the cafeteria. But I didn’t. So there!” Cassidy yelled back.

Jeremie could see where the psychic cat warrior was going with this and sighed defeated.

“What if there’s a tower to deactivate,” Aelita put in. “Think about it! I have to be there.”

Odd and Cassidy put hands on Aelita’s shoulders. Odd decided it was his turn to put his two-penny worth in. “Come on, Einstein. With bodyguards like us, she has nothing to worry about. And I promise to be careful.”

Cassidy smiled.

“Okay, tomorrow night, exploration!” Jeremie declared.

“Alright!” Cassidy exclaimed. “We’re gonna explore Sector 5 and hopefully come out alive!”

Jeremie chuckled a little.

**-Outside-**

“Oh, my, gosh, it’s so late,” Yumi gasped. “My parents must be going bananas!”

“Calm down, Yumi! I promise if you use the line, your parents will believe you!” Cassidy said.

“And _if they don’t?_ ”

“You can kick my butt tomorrow,” Cassidy frowned sheepishly. “Odd, you and Ulrich can help me with my Will.”

“Okay, but Will _iam_ will be downtrodden to hear his girlfriend’s fate!” Odd joked.

Cassidy smiled a little.

“Bye,” Yumi said. “See ya tomorrow!”

“Climb the tree, Yumi!” Cassidy called when Yumi was ten feet away from her.

“And as for us, we missed dinner again,” Odd said, checking the time on his cell phone.

Cassidy’s stomach growled. “Odd, please don’t mention food at this time!”

“And it was spaghetti and meatballs night!” Odd said.

Cassidy’s stomach growled louder. “Odd, you are so cursing me!”

**-At Yumi’s-**

Yumi didn’t get what her brown-haired friend said. So she slipped inside, and her parents were there as soon as she shut the door.

“Yumi, we need to talk,” her father said.

 _At the right moment, spring the line_ , Cassidy’s words bounced in Yumi’s head.

As Yumi ate a late dinner, her father talked. “You come home late every single night. Tonight is the last straw! It’s past ten o’clock and you didn’t bother to telephone us.”

“And you haven’t eaten anything either,” Yumi’s mom said. “What’s going on, dear? If you have a problem, you know you can tell us!”

 _Right moment is NOW!_ Cassidy’s words made Yumi jump mentally.

“I’m in love, okay?” Yumi said.

A voice behind the kitchen walls was laughing.

“Hiroki, get out here!” She yelled.

A young boy with black hair, a Jeremie-like turtleneck (only yellow), and

The line made Yumi’s parents soften.

“And would you tell us your boyfriend’s name?” Yumi’s mom asked.

“No, sorry, I won’t mom!” Yumi said.

“We’ll let you off the hook, Yumi!” Yumi’s dad said.

Yumi nodded her thanks, finished dinner, and went to bed.

_Now I see a reason to let Cassidy live._

**-The next morning, in Jeremie’s room-**

“…and they bought it,” Yumi said. “Cassidy, you’re a genius.”

Cassidy blushed bright red. “Please, I’m anything, but that!”

“Anyway, I told my parents at breakfast that you called me and wanted me to sleep over at your dorm again,” Yumi said.

“Did that work?” Aelita asked, curiously.

“Yes,” Yumi said. “My mom and dad didn’t think anything of it. I told them again and again when the…thing occurred.”

Cassidy squirmed a little. The sea thing was still something she’d rather forget.

“Well, we better tear up the will.” Odd proceeded to do so. “And to think you were going to give me your Jet Fusion game!”

“What was bequeathed to the rest of us?” Ulrich cocked a brow.

“Ulrich: she would have given you her DS. Yumi: She would have given you her sketchbook. Jeremie good buddy: Her quarter collection of almost all 50 states. William: She would have given him her comic adventure that she was creating.  Aelita, she saved you for last: A drawing book of all her visions that she had had over the past months.”

“Whoa,” Ulrich was impressed.

The will torn up, Cassidy smiled. She would live.

“Did you study for the marine biology test?” Jeremie asked Odd.

“Cassidy made me **(A/N: Moonlitdaze4, if you are reading this, yes I grabbed the inspiration from you)** ,” Odd frowned.

“After we made the will,” Cassidy prompted.

**-Later that night-**

The sewers were alive with noise. Cassidy was riding her bike; Jeremie and Aelita, scooters; Odd, Ulrich and Yumi had skateboards.

“Why do you have a bike down here?” Aelita asked her tone curious.

“She doesn’t do well with skateboards or scooters!” Odd informed her.

“With a bike, I have more control,” Cassidy smiled.

**-A few minutes later-**

Jeremie started the processes and everyone was in Lyoko’s Forest Sector. “Get to the edge of the sector!” he commanded.

“We will, just call us some taxis and we’ll get there,” Cassidy smirked.

“Since when do you take my line?” Odd slyly asked.

Cassidy just giggled. “Do you think I will tell?”

“Uh…no?”

“By the way, how was your marine-biology exam?” Yumi asked.

“I think Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and I did fine,” Cassidy said.

Ulrich looked to her as if she had virtual corn growing out of her ears. “Did you look off of our tests?”

“No,” Cassidy crossed her arms across her chest icon **(A/N: It’s a cat’s paw print)**. “I would never do that. Cross my heart and hope to not fall into the digital sea. Trust me. I didn’t like going down there the first time and I don’t want to come back. It ain’t pretty.”

The vehicles arrived and everyone got to the edge of the sector.

**S-C-I-P-I-O**

The transporter arrived and whisked all of the warriors to Sector 5.

It was like a train ride with all the curves of a roller coaster.

Everyone got off at the right stop.

“Welcome to Sector 5 everyone!” Jeremie told the team.

“You’re telling me,” Odd complained, rubbing his stomach. “I feel like I’m going to be sick!”

“I know what will make you feel better!” Cassidy said.

“What?” Odd asked. It was the “What is it” what again.

“Take some ginger before we go to Lyoko,” Cassidy said. “Mythbusters confirms that it works.”

“Really!”

“Yep,” Cassidy said as the room stopped spinning.

“Let’s go,” Ulrich smiled.

They entered the core zone.

“To stop the countdown, we need to touch a key mark, and since the layout of the core zone varies by visit—” Cassidy sparked a flash—“Follow me.”

“Are you nuts,” Odd asked.

“If I was would I be right?”

Odd didn’t answer that question.

“Just follow Cassidy,” Jeremie said.

The walls opened up. “Anyone up for a stair challenge,” Cassidy smiled.

“But it was flat the last time,” Yumi pointed out.

“Ah…but remember the core zone varies by visit,” Cassidy gave her friend a wry smile.

Cassidy led her friends in a few, easy directions. Then the cat-girl saw something. “There!” Cassidy said. “We’ll get there in no time. How much time do we have left, speak of the devil in disguise.”

“One minute, forty-seven seconds,” Jeremie said.

“That’s easy time,” Odd said.

“Since when do you take my line?” Cassidy smiled.

“Do you think I will tell?” Odd laughed.

Ulrich ran up to the key. “What should we do?”

“Press it!” Cassidy ran up to her friend.

Ulrich did.

Cassidy spark-flashed again. “The elevator’s right this way!”

 _“You know everything don’t you,”_ Jeremie asked.

“Yes, but I’m not expert!” Cassidy would have blushed if she were on Earth.

Soon they got to the elevator. _“Remember what we do with elevators?”_ Jeremie said.

 “WE RIDE THEM!” Everyone yelled happily.

Everyone jumped on. And soon… “We will be close to the celestial dome.” Cassidy smiled.

The elevator changed directions and soon stopped at a door. “We need to grab something from here, and then we’ll be on our way. Jeremie, could you send our vehicles first?”

Jeremie did as Cassidy asked.

Aelita saw something up in the next room. “It’s an interface,” Yumi whispered.

“What exactly are we looking for,” Aelita asked, working the interface.

“A devirtualization key, since we can’t devirtualize out of this Sector yet,” Cassidy said.

Aelita understood her reasoning. “Okay!”

As Aelita worked, some manta-like monsters came in.

“Battle stations everyone, we have some enemies coming in,” Cassidy waited for Odd to jump on the Overboard so she could get on.

**(A/N: My OC’s vehicle is a land-only vehicle.)**

Soon Aelita got what was important. “Good job Aelita, now we don’t have to worry about not returning to Earth.”

“That’s why?” Yumi took care of her monster.

“Yep,” Cassidy said. “It’s like Jeremie said, I know almost everything.”

Everyone got a good laugh out of this, including Cassidy.

 


	12. Today was NOT a Great Day

**Disclaimer: I don’t own Code Lyoko, and won’t unless I worked for Moonscoop/Toowam/Antefilms/Taffy/Whatever!**

**Claimer: I do own Cassidy as she is mine. If you want her, ask me first! State your reason! Then wait for my confirmation or my denying. I hope you understand.**

Sector 5…a vast interface where our heroes’ enemy XANA lives.

Aelita was working on the interface as her friends (Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, and Cassidy) waited on-edge for her to finish. Cassidy was taking the time to sit down and practice shooting at the data stream. Weird for her, she never ran out of bullets or any other ammunition.

 _“What about the Mantas,”_ Jeremie was getting tired. _“How’re we doing?”_

“They’ll be hatching soon,” Cassidy sounded bored. “I’m just shooting bullets at the data stream, and yet it never gets damaged.”

“Well, this is Lyoko,” Odd joked. “Almost nothing gets damaged here!”

“Except for some of Aelita’s creativity projects—destruction! And some of the landscape,” Cassidy waited.

“Anyway, judging by the size of the nests, we’re gonna have some big bouncing babies,” Odd smiled.

“Yup,” Cassidy faked a yawn. It was impossible to get physically tired on Lyoko. So faking a yawn was the best the girl could do.

 _“Okay, that’s it for now Aelita,”_ Jeremie said.

“Just a little longer, Jeremie,” Aelita begged, “We’ve never been able to access this much data.”

 _“Let me take over now, okay,”_ Jeremie asked.

“Aelita, listen I don’t wanna rush you, but uh…” Odd pointed.

The mantas came out. “Jeremie, they’re here!” Yumi said.

 _“Okay, I’ve got things under control,_ ” Jeremie came in. _“Three vehicles coming right up!”_

The vehicles came up on either side of the platform. Odd back-flipped on his vehicle; Ulrich climbed on to his; and Yumi hopped on hers. Cassidy hopped on to Ulrich’s side.

Yumi was about to go alone, but stopped to pick up Aelita. There was a barrage of laser fire.

“Open up a tunnel before Odd and Ulrich get into a gender conversation,” Cassidy cringed. “Besides, I’d rather _not_ figure out the gender of the Mantas thank you!”

Unfortunately, Odd just had to rip it. “Wow, still babies and check ’em out!”

And unfortunately, Ulrich just had to jump into the conversation. “What do ya think they are: Male or Female?”

“JEREMIE!” Cassidy screeched.

_“I’m doing my best, Cassidy, sheesh!”_

“I don’t think that Yumi, Aelita, and I would love to have biology lessons on the gender of our _monster friends!_ ” Cassidy grumbled.

“True,” Yumi came up beside the pair. “Cassidy if you want, hop on!”

Aelita moved over so that Cassidy could join the girls. “Thanks, Yumi.”

“No problem,” Yumi said.

The tunnel opened. _“And, Cassidy, I don’t think breaking my eardrum would suffice anything.”_

“I’m lucky that my so-called friend stopped visiting!” Cassidy said.

**-Later-**

“And there you go! The data-analysis program is running,” Jeremie said.

“Great,” Odd said coming from the elevator. “And what does that mean exactly?”

“With all the data that we’ve been able to recover, I’ve got a good chance at finding the antivirus!” Jeremie was sitting in the hot seat.

Ulrich and the others walked up to Jeremie. “You mean that…pretty soon we’ll be able to shut down the super calculator?”

“Exactly,” Jeremie said. “And if it works, Aelita will be no longer tied to XANA by that miserable virus.”

“Oh, shoot,” Odd quipped. “What are we gonna do with all our free time, I mean if we can’t save the world anymore?”

“You might study a little more,” Yumi said. “And learn something for once!”

“Odd? Studying for him might take two or three return trips to jog _his_ noggin!” Cassidy said, giving Yumi and the others, minus Odd, a hint.

Jeremie checked his watch. “Three A.M. Wow! We better head for our rooms if we don’t wanna get caught!”

“Yumi, you could say that you were studying with Aelita and me. I’ll just tell the same story!” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Yumi understood.

**-Later, in the dorms-**

“Well, goodnight,” Jeremie said.

“You mean, what’s left of it!” Odd was half-outraged. He missed out on dinner again which was meatballs and gravy.

Jeremie led Cassidy and Aelita up to their room. Cassidy pulled Jeremie and Aelita inside. “Sissi is watching. Shhh…whisper!” she whispered.

“What?!” Jeremie was about to say when Cassidy covered his mouth.

“Walls and corn have ears, Einstein!” Cassidy whispered. “Sissi too in that matter.”

“Why would she be watching?” Aelita whispered.

“She wants to record something private. I won’t say what it is.” Cassidy shifted her eyes around.

“Okay,” Aelita said.

Jeremie pried the second girl’s hand from his mouth. “I’ll just go to bed now!”

“Good plan!” Cassidy said.

“Goodnight, you two,” Jeremie said.

**-Meanwhile-**

Sissi tapped the stop recording button on her Walkman. “Gee,” she whispered to herself. “Is there anything Cassidy McGuire doesn’t know? Well I’m going to ask her in private. This time I got her!”

**-Meanwhile, factory-**

**Some of the data turned red.**

**-The next morning-**

Jeremie’s alarm clock woke the aforementioned person up with Sky Radio. The Subsonics was playing their smash hit: Break Away.

Turning off the radio, Jeremie put on his glasses and smiled. The radio promised a great day.

**-At Yumi’s-**

“Hi, Daddy,” Yumi said, grabbing her breakfast.

Her father turned off the radio. “I can’t help but wonder what a girl at your age could possibly be doing out at such a late hour. There’s a boy behind this, isn’t there?!” He pounded the table, almost displacing the radio.

“No, Daddy!” She tried for innocence. “I was studying at Cassidy’s dorm, and she proved to be of a great help.”

“I’ll give her a call!” He sounded like he didn’t believe her.

**-Cassidy and Aelita’s dorm-**

RING

Cassidy picked up her cell phone. “Yellow,” she said, happily.

 _“Was Yumi at your dorm studying last night?”_ Yumi’s dad sounded angry.

Picking enough sang froid, she smiled. “Yes she did!”

 _“Really?”_ the father of her friend was unconvinced.

“Yes,” Cassidy sounded really convincing. “We lost track of time so badly.”

 _“Okay,”_ he said.

They both politely hung up.

Cassidy smiled. Today was the perfect day to lie.

Taking her toiletries and clothes, she went outside the door. “Time to get the great day started.”

“Going somewhere,” a high-pitched voice said.

Cassidy jumped out of her skin. “Sissi, don’t do that. I get jumpy when someone is sneaky. My dad is the perfect example.”

“Oh, I just want to talk. Ya know, girl-to-girl,” Sissi said.

Losing the remaining sang froid she had remaining, the brown-haired girl looked to the black-haired one worriedly. She probably recorded the conversation from a few hours ago.

“Okay,” Cassidy said.

“Okay, great,” Sissi said. “Would you listen to something for me? You’ll see. There’s not a lot of music, but the words are really interesting.”

Cassidy’s stomach twisted in a knot. There she was in her night clothes, and Sissi was harassing her already.

**-Later in Class-**

“She taped the conversation out of the off chance that I would slip about you-know-where!” Cassidy was shaking.

“But, what does she want exactly?” Ulrich whispered.

“She wants me to be friends with her, and explain why I’m psychic from A to Z,” Cassidy said. “If not, she’ll squeal to everyone, including her father.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Odd said. “Why would Sissi want to tell her father that you’re psychic? She might as well get sent to the infirmary for inventing such a wild story like that.”

“By the way, Odd, the answer to the question from Mrs. Hertz to you is 32 grams per mole,” Cassidy whispered to Odd. “Seriously, I don’t want you to fail miserably today.”

“WOW!” Odd shouted by accident.

“Excuse me you four, but do you mind if I teach a class here,” Mrs. Hertz asked, making Cassidy jump.

Cassidy was too far shocked.

“Not at all, ma’am. After all, it _is_ your job,” Odd said calmly.

Cassidy was trying to calm down, but she was utterly failing. Jeremie noticed the situation.

“Yes, and my job is also to ask questions, isn’t it Odd, so would you be kind enough to tell me the mass in moles of two oxygen atoms?” Mrs. Hertz was angry, Cassidy could tell through her shock.

“32 grams per mole, ma’am!” Odd said.

“Uh…oh, yes, that’s right,” Mrs. Hertz was surprised. “Very well Odd. Now please, would you explain to me the principle of photosynthesis?”

“Of course, ma’am. That would be the synthesis of oxygen from plants processing chlorophyll placed in light,” Odd said.

Cassidy grew more into shock. She never told Odd that! Yet it came so naturally to him.

“Odd,” Mrs. Hertz was unknowingly talking for Cassidy, “is it really you? You haven’t been replaced by a clone?”

“No, ma’am, why?” Odd asked. “Is something wrong?”

“No…uh…no,” Mrs. Hertz said. “Let’s go on with our lesson!”

Odd looked to Cassidy. “What’s the matter?”

Cassidy tried to find the words to speak but it was useless.

**-After class-**

“Whatever happens, we can’t let Sissi expose Cassidy,” Jeremie said.

Cassidy was still in shock.

Ulrich was practicing his Pencak Silat. “Don’t worry, Jeremie. I won’t let her expose Cassidy. I have an idea.” On the word “idea”, Ulrich practiced a high kick.

Jeremie was holding a water bottle. Due to the situation in class, Jeremie took the time to go down to the vending machine and buy a bottle of water.

Cassidy was wide-eyed, staring at Odd.

SPLASH

Cassidy sputtered and coughed a little. “What was that for!” she asked, her long, brown hair limp with water.

“For the shock,” Jeremie smiled.

“Thanks,” Cassidy muttered. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to change clothes.”

Cassidy walked off, not even a hint angry at Jeremie.

**-This oughtta be good-**

“I’m so happy that you finally to give me a lesson of Pen char key lat,” Sissi said.

“Pencak Silat,” Ulrich corrected, holding his high kick position.

“Whatever, well, I wonder what could have made you change your mind all of a sudden?” Sissi asked.

Cassidy and Yumi walked stealthily into the girls’ locker room. Cassidy was now wearing a white Saddlebreds horse shirt and dark navy blue shorts.

“It’s this one!” Cassidy opened Sissi’s locker, but a flash occurred. “It’s not there. Hervé and Nicholas have it, and they’re on their way here now!”

Cassidy tugged Yumi away from the lockers and into the boiler room. Blocking the way with barrels, Cassidy backed up and shuddered. “I hope that this will keep them away from us!”

She pressed an ear to the door. “Someone was in Sissi’s locker. Sounds like Della Robbia and Belpois,” Hervé’s voice was heard.

“I don’t think so, Hervé. They don’t wear red hot crème nail polish,” Nicholas was certain.

Cassidy realized that she _was_ wearing red hot crème nail polish. Her left pinky nail was chipped. “Crap!” she mouthed.

Then a return trip happened.

**-Back to the morning-**

Cassidy hastened to acetone her fingernails. “If Nicholas and Odd get smart on me again, it’ll take more than water to get me!”

“But why?” Aelita asked.

“Nicholas saw a chip off my nail and got smart! Is the world ending right now as we _speak?_ ” Cassidy was freaking out. “We have the creative masterminded flirt—Odd—shooting off an answer I didn’t give him. Then Nicholas gets to be all Sherlock Holmes and points the nail polish to my direction.”

“Calm down, Cassidy.” Jeremie put a hand on Cassidy’s shoulder. He got up to Cassidy’s room as soon as he got dressed and put his glasses on. “I didn’t program a return in time.”

“It’s XANA!” She twitched.

“That explains it,” Ulrich said. “I also asked Sissi for Pencak Silat lessons.”

“Tower’s in the Mountain sector,” Cassidy said. “Jeremie, we have to stop the returns.”

“Why?” Ulrich said.

“Ulrich, do you want Odd to surpass Jeremie _and_ Mrs. Hertz? That could end the world right there as we know it!” Cassidy said.

“Okay, so it’s urgent,” said Ulrich. “We’ll go over.”

**-Factory time-**

“The data’s been tainted,” Cassidy said, and then passed Jeremie a note. “It’ll stop the Return in Time.”

“Okay,” Jeremie typed it in and the program to the returns stopped.

Odd was doing something that he did not do before.

Yumi looked over to him. “Odd, you mind telling us what you’re doing over there?”

Odd looked up from his book. “I’m studying!”

Cassidy dropped her jaw.

“That’s what you wanted me to do, wasn’t it?” Odd said.

Cassidy grabbed the don’t-need-a-cord-or-batteries stereo from her big suitcase. “I really don’t like doing this to you Odd,” She whispered silently to herself and pressed a button.

 _Guns and Roses Welcome to the Jungle_ played.

The boy looked to the stereo. “You like Guns and Roses, Cassidy?”

“Yeah,” Cassidy said. “I love it. Mr. Brownstone is my favorite.”

“This is _Welcome to the Jungle_ though,” Odd reminded.

“I love that too,” Cassidy smiled.

“Okay,” Jeremie pressed the stop button. “We have a tower to deactivate!”

“Right-o, buck-o!” Cassidy chuckled a little.

Soon everyone was on Lyoko.

“Follow Cassidy,” Jeremie said.

“Any vehicles this time?” Cassidy smirked for she knew the answer.

 _“Sorry, you’re going to have to go without vehicles because I don’t have the machine resources to bring them up!”_ Jeremie said.

“No problem. This is like the good ole days. Where everyone didn’t have vehicles on this world,” Cassidy smiled. “I’m in!”

Everyone agreed.

The hornets came and went forcefully. Then a tarantula came and blocked the warriors’ path when they were a little ways away from the tower. “One against five, I think we can handle it!” Cassidy smiled.

“Better than nothing!” Ulrich agreed.

Soon Aelita was at the tower and she deactivated it.

**-Cassidy’s room-**

“Good excuse to give to Mrs. Hertz,” Ulrich smiled. “We all avoided a detention.”

“Yep,” Cassidy agreed.

“And it helped with Mr. Fumet as well!” Yumi said.

“We did it!” Cassidy smiled.


	13. Discovery: Mister Pück

**I don't own Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy. Enough has been said.**

Aelita was having a nightmare.

A pack of wolves was chasing an elf through a forest. The alpha was about to attack the poor thing when…

Aelita screamed herself awake. Cassidy, who knew this would happen  **(A/N: Obviously)** , woke up, got out of bed, and stepped in front of Aelita as the door to their room opened causing the pink-haired girl to shrink into the covers. "WHO IS THAT  _SCREAMING_?" a high-pitched voice asked.

Luckily, Cassidy planned this. She popped a smirk. "You are, Sissi. And it wasn't Aelita's fault that she has nightmares. It's a package deal. Once she gets used to sharing with a roommate—" Aelita knew of the plan—"she'll settle down. At her old school in Canada, she was alone a lot. Since finding her cousin and coming here, she is trying to get used to the having-a-roommate style. So I suggest that you go back to bed. And we are sorry that we had woken you up at five o'clock in the morning for the third night in a row!"

Sissi went back to bed in shock.

"Great work, Cassidy," Aelita smiled.

"It's nothing much," Cassidy blushed.

**-The morning-**

Aelita and Cassidy walked out of their dorm room, happy to get the day started.

"So, you got your history report done?" Cassidy asked, keeping upbeat.

"Yes, you?" Aelita asked back.

"I got it done!" Cassidy nodded. "George Washington's my favorite!"

"Why is that?" Aelita wondered.

"He's the first president of the United States of America  _and_  I share his birthday. February 22nd," the bespectacled girl reveled in the facts.

"Didn't he chop down a tree?"

"It's not been confirmed nor denied yet," Cassidy said.

"Oh, I see," Aelita smiled.

They'd already reached the bathroom, so they walked inside. Cassidy sparked a flash. "Wait, Aelita, just eight seconds."

But Aelita, this time, was impatient. "And wait until Sissi comes in? No way!"

"Okay," Cassidy said.

They walked in and Aelita + steam from the shower = bad mix.

**(A/N: That's all I'm going to say!)**

**-Next scene!-**

Aelita was feeling ashamed. She didn't mean to do that thing. The aftermath of her nightmares caused it.

"It's a shame—gah!" Odd was interrupted by a water gun blast. "CASSIDY! Where are you?"

"The hay is in the needle stack so don't even try sticking your hand in," Cassidy's voice sounded.

"What does that mean exactly?" Odd shouted.

"She's saying you'll never find her," Aelita chuckled.

Odd pouted.

Cassidy smiled and jumped out of her hiding place. "We should go to the Hermitage, and don't worry Aelita. We'll be with you every step of the way. I'm positive. If you want, you can hold my hand and Jeremie's hand if you feel like it!"

"Since when did Jeremie resign leadership?" Yumi asked lightly.

"Never," Cassidy shrugged a shoulder.

**-Hermitage time-**

"My legs are shaking," Aelita said.

"It's okay. You're scared. It happens to me sometimes," Cassidy said.

Odd never knew what hit him.

They went inside. As soon as Jeremie stopped he said, "See? Everything is just fine!"

Aelita came out of Jeremie's grip. Cassidy came with.

Going upstairs, they went into a little girl's room that Aelita seemed to be familiar with.

The visions hit there, and Aelita and Cassidy both were caught in the tide.

The elf from Aelita's visions was running from the wolves. He stumbled, causing the other wolves to catch up some. Finding a hole in a tree, he climbed inside, hoping to be safe.

The other wolves passed the elf by, but one wolf found him. Aelita and Cassidy both screamed at two different pitches—Cassidy almost blood-curdling and Aelita in her normal tone. Odd's ears were bleeding.  **(A/N: Poor Odd. End A/N)**

The elf backed up screaming a little, the wolf trying to snap at him. Then, the elf found a hole leading to a secret location. He dug at the old leaves to find a chest. As he opened it, a blue mist came out of it. He marveled at the power.

Cassidy and Aelita found strength to pull themselves awake. Yumi looked to them concerned. "Aelita and Cassidy, you okay?"

The vision was clear to both of them. "Yes, I mean, I think so." Aelita spoke first.

Cassidy was shaking. "That's what it feels like to be taken in by something so powerful."

"Did you two share the same vision," Jeremie was worried.

Cassidy and Aelita nodded.

Aelita broke from Cassidy's hand and moved toward what looked like a fireplace. "Yes, but it was different this time. It's as if something or someone was leading me to—there was something in the tree like that one!"

Cassidy knew what the object was, but kept it secret.

The pink-haired girl looked inside, bewildered and in wonder. There was an elf-like replica of the elf from Aelita's nightmares. She grabbed it. An indescribable feeling made her rub the elf lovingly and say in a soft voice, "Mister Pück!"

**-Classroom-**

As soon as the younger members of the group filed into the classroom, Jeremie had Aelita put the thing on the table. "So to make a long story short, Aelita has never seen this toy gnome, but she's been dreaming about it for days and she knows it's called Mister Pück!"

"Elf, Jeremie,  _elf_ ," Cassidy scowled.

"What's more, Cassidy never seen this elf either, but she and Aelita had a chain vision share," Odd said. "Well, whatever it is, this whole story's definitely paranormal!"

A hand grabbed for Mister Pück, but Cassidy grabbed the wrist out of instinct. "SISSI!" Her voice took on an almost-correct southern accent. "This here toy's Aelita here's property, now she doesn't want it stolen, ya hear!"

Sissi smiled and poked Cassidy's tickle-spot with her free hand. The brown-haired girl was surprised and started laughing, still keeping Aelita's toy safe as she hit the ground.

CLINK

A key fell out of the side of Mister Pück and Cassidy grabbed it before Sissi could see it.

Mrs. Mayer came in then. "What is all this noise about?" She saw Sissi giving Cassidy a full-on tickle attack.

"Ms. Delmas!"

Cassidy breathed a sigh of needed relief as Sissi paused. "My second hero."

"I expected better of you than to tickle Ms. McGuire here. Come with me!" Mrs. Mayer pulled Sissi off Cassidy.

"Thanks," Cassidy got up and gave Jeremie the key. "It's a train station locker number," she whispered to him.

"Thanks, Cassidy," Jeremie said.

"Oh, and Aelita," Cassidy gave Mister Pück to her. "Here, he's yours!"

"Thanks!"

**-Train Station, here we come-**

"This is it!" Jeremie said. "Would you—" he meant Aelita—"like to do the honors?"

Aelita unlocked locker 167. It unveiled a suitcase with the letters FH on the top. "Franz Hopper!" Cassidy exclaimed. "This is his diary!"

"You definitely need to psyche down!" Ulrich said.

"Unfortunately, my power is the one who chooses the time to blurt, not me," Cassidy said. "If I were to psyche down, I would have done it ages ago. But I can't."

Ulrich scowled.

"And maybe we'll be able to find out more about the Hermitage's mysterious owner!" Yumi said.

"He—mph!" Ulrich wrapped his hand around Cassidy's mouth.

"For sure, but not right away. Everything's encrypted," Jeremie said.

"OUCH!" Ulrich yelped. Cassidy bit him.

"Franz Hopper was married," Cassidy said, "But the fate of his wife is unknown."

Ulrich looked to the girl strangely, but shrugged it off.

"I'll have to decode it first," Jeremie said ignoring Ulrich's daring outburst.

"How much time do you need?" Ulrich asked. "One, maybe two hours?"

"More like one or two years," Jeremie sounded grim.

"We don't call you 'Einstein' for naught, Einstein. You found Aelita's materialization program, and you can decode Franz Hopper's diary because I believe WE CAN!" Cassidy smiled in emotional pride.

"If you say so!" Jeremie said.

**-XANA's at it again (oh, joy)—skip to the next morning-**

Ulrich, in his PJs, looked to a sleeping Odd. "Come on, Time to get up!"

Odd groaned. "Just a little bit longer."

**-Cassidy and Aelita's room-**

Aelita and Cassidy were doing the same thing. (Cassidy being the sleeper and Aelita trying to wake her up)

**-Back to Ulrich and Odd-**

Ulrich decided to walk out. "I'm gonna take a shower."

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Same thing.

**-XANA-**

Both sleeping boy and girl were attacked at the same time. Cassidy fell out of bed, quickly emptying Cassidy of the entity.

Odd got up and XANA came out both his ears.

He came into the bathroom and asked Theo if Ulrich was in there. Sure enough, Ulrich was attacked as well but, like Odd and Cassidy, he wasn't possessed either.

**-Let's see how the girls are-**

Cassidy ran into the girls' room and asked Emily if Aelita was there. Aelita came out, still clothed, at the sound of her name. "What is it?"

Cassidy made some random noises and screeches as a code for, "XANA attacked me and probably Odd and Ulrich too!"

Aelita only half-understood what Cassidy said. "I don't understand; who attacked you and Odd and Ulrich as well?"

Cassidy used her body to spell out XANA's name, but had a hard time doing the A's and the only N.

Aelita got worried. "We should see Jeremie."

Cassidy nodded.

**-Jeremie's room-**

"Jeremie!" Cassidy was scared. "Get up!"

"What, huh?" Jeremie was waking up.

"XANA attacked Odd, Ulrich, and me," Cassidy said so quickly it almost was one word.

"Repeat it slower, please?" Jeremie asked. He didn't know how to translate Cassidy's quick talking.

"XANA attacked Odd, Ulrich, and me," Cassidy repeated slower. She clung onto Aelita and shook. "That was scary."

"Don't worry," Ulrich soothed Jeremie. "No harm done. They ran away."

Jeremie got onto his computer. "The super-scan didn't detect any activated towers! XANA's attack failed. That's weird. He's already learned how to possess humans, but not you three."

Odd shrugged and he and Ulrich left the room.

Cassidy was starting to sob. Aelita looked to Jeremie. "And Cassidy's in shock."

"I'd rather be back in that sea!" Cassidy yelled into Aelita's shirt.

"Must be Post-Traumatic Stress," Jeremie said. "Lend her to me—I'll try to calm her down."

"You know how?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, with Cassidy, stress and shock get her easy, but I know the solution," Jeremie promised.

Aelita nodded and handed Cassidy over to Jeremie and went to take a shower.

Calming Cassidy was a little hard, but nothing was too hard for Jeremie. Cassidy calmed down when she was shown a Whose Line clip.

(Ryan: I want from generations now I want people talking about the alamunia the alimony!

Colin: No! We're not married anymore!

Ryan: I want them to say remember the alimony.

Colin: No!

Ryan: What?

Colin: What do you want them to say? Forget the alimony! That marriage isn't legal in this state.

Ryan: Good!)

Cassidy giggled and guffawed. "That was great!"

The inside shock died down.

"Cassidy, you okay, now?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah," she brushed off her shoulder a little.

"That was bad huh?" Jeremie was concerned.

"I was scared to death," Cassidy shivered.

Just then one of XANA's ghosts found the pair of friends. Cassidy noticed—she knew that Jeremie wasn't immune to XANA possession and what would happen. "Jeremie LOOK OUT!"

Jeremie seemed to dodge the ghost, but it was faster. It got to Jeremie as fast as it could.

"NO!" Cassidy screeched.

But it was no good. XANA's ghost possessed Jeremie. Cassidy put up a fighting stance. "If you need Aelita, XANA, then you are going to have to go through me to get her."

Electricity sparked. Cassidy used her wits about her. She dodged and skipped crazily around the room. She typed the super-scan when she had a chance. She found the location of the tower. "The Ice Sector, south, southeast."

Unfortunately the lapse in concentration cost her. XANA-Jeremie zapped her in the back and she passed out.

XANA-Jeremie carried her to the factory as fast as XANA could. He set her down in the elevator.

XANA's next task, Aelita. He ran to the school and got dressed for PE.

**-Gym-**

"Running is the noblest event in athletics," Jim said, "except for maybe for the long jump or the shot-put, javelin, high-jump, pole vault. Some of you may associate running with cowardice as in running away. Nothing could be further from the truth as he who runs well goes far!"

"Cassidy's not here," Odd whispered to the gang. "Did something bad happen to her?"

Aelita looked to Jeremie. "Jeremie!" Jim wanted him to go first. "Uh…let's see how powerful your strides are."

Jeremie nodded mutely and got to the starting line. "For those of you with short memories, let me remind you that uh…what was I about to say? Uh…right. Let me remind you that we start when I say 'Go;' not on 'get set' and not on 'get ready'. Well, after 'get ready' and 'get set', I say 'go'! Right!" Jim got himself ready. And as the PE teacher uttered these commands: "Okay! On your marks, get set, GO!" Jeremie was ready and willing…until he twisted his ankle, causing him to yelp in pain.

"What now?" Jim said.

"I twisted my ankle," Jeremie was in pain.

Jim taunted the limping boy and told Hervé to take Jeremie to the infirmary.

"Jim, would you mind if Aelita came with me instead?" Jeremie hopped on his "good" leg.

"Okay," Jim was getting ticked off. "Whatever. Take him  _far away_  from me."

**-Later-**

Jeremie was walking better.

**-Yumi-**

She was washing her hands because a friend of hers spilled chemicals on it.  **(A/N: It's not skin threatening. End A/N)**

**-Back to A &J-**

Aelita noticed. "Jeremie, you're not limping anymore. Has your ankle stopped hurting?"

Jeremie looked to her, the blatant XANA symbol in his eyes. And before Aelita could scream for help, he knocked her out.

**-Yumi-**

She saw Jeremie carry Aelita to the factory. Getting worried, she got on her phone and called Ulrich.

**-Ulrich and Odd-**

Ulrich's phone buzzed. "Yumi?"

**-Back to Yumi-**

"Ulrich, I think Jeremie's been possessed by XANA!" Yumi said.

**-Back to Odd and Ulrich-**

"Are you sure?" Ulrich was getting just as worried as Yumi was. "This morning, Odd, Cassidy, and I were almost possessed by a couple of ghosts but they didn't succeed."

" _Wait! Is Cassidy with you?"_  Yumi asked.

"No, after having a calming down session with Jeremie, she didn't show up,"Ulrich said. "Why would it work on Jeremie?"

" _No idea, but I saw him heading for the parklands,"_  Yumi said.

**-Back to Yumi-**

"Aelita was in his arms. She was unconscious," Yumi continued.

**-Back to Odd and Ulrich-**

"Oh, no," Ulrich whispered.

**-To Jeremie and Aelita-**

Jeremie picked up the tunnel cap and tossed it into a tree trunk.

**-Yumi-**

"I'll check the super-scan," Yumi raced out of the science building. "Let's meet at the factory."

**-Ulrich and Odd-**

The runner ran out of energy and Jim berated her on it as Ulrich hung up with Yumi.

Jim wanted Ulrich to run next.

"Uh…okay, but I've got to go to the restroom, first," Ulrich stood up.

Odd raised his hand. "Oh, and I gotta go too, Jim!"

Jim was getting increasingly ticked off. "Okay, okay,  _make it snappy_!"

Odd and Ulrich rushed by him.

**-Yumi-**

Yumi saw that the super-scan had been opened. "Cassidy must've done it. Says here, Ice Sector, south, southeast!" She muttered to herself.

She wrote down the coordinates and left the room.

**-Cassidy-**

Cassidy woke up feeling woozy.  _Ugh. That's gonna leave a mark. XANA definitely has some punch. Ow._

She pulled herself up as she opened her eyes. Everything looked doubled. "Dang, XANA! I'll think twice before I distract myself."

She walked into a pole.  _It ain't easy with a dizzy spectrum._  She turned to face the two-in-her-eyes elevators and looked above them. Jeremie was there.  _He's possessed by XANA now. Only hope—Aelita getting to the tower and deactivating it._

She wobbly ambled up the ramp and faced XANA-Jeremie. "I'll save you, Aelita."

She put up a woozy fighting stance. "XANA, I'm going to stop you!" she mumbled.

Slowly stalling XANA-Jeremie, she was relieved when she saw her friends arrive. "Hey, guys. Look who I've found. It's Aelita!" She put on a loopy smile.

Her friends attacked XANA-Jeremie and helped Aelita. Cassidy could only stand and smile.

Odd grabbed Cassidy and gave her to Yumi and Ulrich. "She's in even  _worse_ shape."

"Okay," Yumi said. "Come on Cassidy. We'll get to the lab."

Cassidy's forte couldn't hold out and she slithered back into darkness.

When she woke up, she felt a little bit better. "Aelita?"

"I'm here, Cassidy," Aelita put a hand on her friend's head. "What happened to you?"

"Well after you three left, I was calmed by Jeremie—who then wasn't possessed—and shown a favorite TV show clip. Then XANA possessed Jeremie and I ended up putting a good show of wild jumps to avoid getting hit. Then I super-scanned, Jeremie zapped me. Everything was black until I woke up in the elevator of this factory."

"So that's why you weren't at Phys Ed." Aelita helped Cassidy to her feet.

"I'm going to the scanner room," Cassidy said.

"Okay," Aelita said.

Soon, Cassidy, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich were on Lyoko.

"So, you were here, huh, Cassidy. Was it Love in an Elevator," Ulrich joked.

"FYI, I was unconscious," Cassidy said, totally better.

"I know, I was just messing with you," Ulrich said.

"It will be the Morning of the Living Bloks soon, Ulrich!" Cassidy sighed.

Everyone was at a run. "He who runs well goes far!" Aelita yelled.

"Oye, Jim said it, didn't he?" Cassidy said.  **(A/N: Oye is Spanish for Hey! I love learning Spanish.)**

"Yes," Aelita said. "I caught it off of him."

"Not bad!" Cassidy smiled.

**-Meanwhile with Odd and XANA-Jeremie-**

XANA-Jeremie tried to punch Odd, but he slipped away slyly. "Whoa, I'm so glad that post was there, and not my face! Got any other tricks up your sleeve?"

The XANAfied victim turned around, his hands turning into light-violet, electric sparks, and was about to round on his opponent. Odd cart-wheeled out of the way as XANA-Jeremie broke the elevator button. "Uh-oh! That wasn't very smart, was it? Especially since you're the one who has to fix it."

XANA-Jeremie's head turned to Odd, the unpleasant symbol flashing in his eye.

**-Lyoko-**

The four friends ran up to where the ice was large.

"Bloks are coming, and they are under the ice," Cassidy said. She turned her tube into a gun and shot at the ice. Indeed, there were the Bloks.

"This is so not Van Helsing," Cassidy muttered. "These are not offspring."

She shot at one and it combusted.

"Gosh," Yumi said. "What's wrong with them?"

"They aren't expecting us until we step in the center. We haven't yet," Cassidy said.

Killing the Bloks was easy.

Taking out an already scarred Schyphozoa—half the fun. Cassidy put another bullet into the membrane of the jellyfish before it could even get close.

**-Lab-**

XANA-Jeremie made it in.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita put in the Lyoko Code. "Tower deactivated!" she said.

**-Lab-**

The ghost left Jeremie, and he passed out.

**-Scanner room-**

Cassidy came out of that one totally exhausted. She took one look at the scanner room and blacked out.

**-Later-**

"Well, how are you two feeling?" Yumi asked, concern crossing her features.

"AY! Like a car hit my back," Cassidy didn't say it like a complaint, more like an in-pain statement. "And left me un-paralyzed!"

"Strange," Jeremie said.

Cassidy put one finger on her back and flinched. "Ow."

She couldn't exactly blame Jeremie for the pain, and she didn't.

Ulrich helped Cassidy to her feet. "Easy now."

"I remember calming Cassidy down, and she warned me of XANA's ghost, and then after that…nothing. Just a black hole," Jeremie said.

"XANA did it," Cassidy scowled. "He zapped my back and now it'll be an ugly scar for the rest of my life."

"Easy," Odd copied Ulrich.

"Luckily, XANA didn't destroy Franz Hopper's CDs this time," Cassidy said.

"This time?" Jeremie said.

"I don't know what I'm saying," Cassidy said.

**-Lyoko time; skip to the next part-**

Jeremie came out of the scanner in a great mood, but vowed not to go to Lyoko again.

"Just to monitor everyone's status and keep us on the know, right," Cassidy tilted her head to the side.

"Yep," Jeremie said.

**-That night-**

Cassidy was sleeping off her weariness and pain while Aelita was dreaming pleasantly.

"Come on, Mister Pück; go for a walk in the garden!" A little girl's voice was saying.


	14. Two Final Mixes UP

**I'd rather say that I don't own Code Lyoko and I do own Cassidy. I'm not skipping Saint Valentine's Day. I just want to do Final Mix first.**

"I can't remember the equation," Ulrich said, ordering his drink, "The square root of a quotient equals…"

"No, Ulrich, it's: The  _quotient_  of the square roots is the  _square root_  of the  _quotient_ _," Cassidy helped._

"Okay," Ulrich said.

"Odd, here are some easy ways to remember the physics and chemistry exams," Cassidy listed her Cliff's Notes bit to Odd.

"Wow!" Odd smiled after Cassidy listed all she knew. "That sounds so easy!"

"Luckily I remember," Cassidy smiled.

"You remember everything," Ulrich said.

 _"_ Gracias, Ulrich," Cassidy patted him on the back.

"No problem," Ulrich said.

RING!

"That's my call!" Cassidy said, reaching in her pocket.

"Who could call ya? I mean, besides Jeremie, Aelita, Me, Ulrich or Yumi," Odd asked.

"My parents," Cassidy raised a brow as she put the phone to her ear. "Hi, Mom!"

" _Hey, honey,"_ her mom said.  _"How's Kadic?"_

"Great," Cassidy was really convincing. "I've made the best friends here!"

" _That's great, sweetheart,"_  her mom sounded happy.  _"Made any boyfriends there?"_

"I have one right now. His name is William," she smiled. "He's a year older than me."

" _That's awesome, honey. Hey, Scott, Cassidy's found herself a boyfriend,"_  Her mom shouted.

There was the sound of thudding footsteps.  _"That's great, Cassidy."_

"Thanks, Dad," Cassidy said.

" _You're welcome,"_  her dad said.

"Listen, I'm gonna let you go. Talk to ya guys later," Cassidy said. "Love you."

" _Love you, too sweetie,"_ They both said.

And Cassidy hung up.

"They don't know either," Ulrich was referring to Lyoko.

"No," Cassidy said.

"Good."

Sissi then showed up. "Wow, I'm really knocked up.  **(A/N: YouTube watchers and Code Lyoko fans (not me) got a real kick out of that line for God-knows-what. End A/N)**  Betcha can't guess why."

"Your father said, 'ALL SYSTEMS GO' on using the gymnasium?" Cassidy asked.

"Huh, how did you know?" Sissi asked.

"Oh, just…paying undivided attention," Cassidy smiled.

Sissi was in a little shock.

One of Cassidy's spark-flashes occurred. "William may need our help!"

**-Drill time, Jim style-**

_TWEET, TWEET! TWEET!_

Jim was blowing his whistle as if his life depended on it. "Hurry it up!"

He blew on it a couple hundred times and ordered that the mats be put in the storage area and the pummel horse is up against a wall.

Someone bumped into William, making him drop the mixing board and break it. "Oh, no, I can't believe this."

Cassidy and Odd walked up to him. "Oye, William!" Cassidy smiled pleasantly.

"Hey, Cassidy," William faked a smile.

Odd was next to say something. "So it's really true, huh. The Principal gave our techno party the green light?"

"Do you think I was saying that pumpkins can be engorged," Cassidy lightly Gibbs-slapped Odd.

"'Looks like it, yeah," William sounded grim.

Cassidy tried to psyche down in front of William to assure him that she didn't know everything. It worked for Cassidy in front of William, but not in front of anybody else. Keeping her mouth shut was a breeze.

"Wow, smoking, huh? The best DJs from all the local schools'll be there. It's going to be a BLAST!" Odd was excited.

"I'm not  _blasting_  anything," William said. "The mixing board is hammered. I can't figure out how to fix it."

Odd and Cassidy patted William on the back. "Hey, no problem," Odd smiled. "We'll ask Jeremie. He's Mr. Fix-it. He can fix anything."

"Or, Odd, your cousin, Aelita," Cassidy lightly reminded him. "She has experience in the repair field too."

"You think so," William asked the two.

"I know Aelita might want to. I'm not so sure about Jeremie," Cassidy had a light spark-flash.

"Yeah," Odd said.

**-The verdict, if you please-**

"No," Jeremie was typing on the breaker/antivirus program for Aelita. "I got better things to do with my time than to play around with some mixing board."

"Aelita?" Cassidy turned to Aelita, who was studying on Jeremie's bed.

"I can help," Aelita said. "I'm just like a little pink mushroom on a log at this stage."

"Would you?" Odd asked.

"Great," Cassidy smiled.

Jeremie stopped almost dead in his tracks. "Uh…but what about our research on your antivirus."

"Aelita said that she'll do it," Cassidy was half-adamant. "She might need a chance to stretch her legs. Plus, that's what you did once!"

Odd was excited. "Great, come on!"

"Right," Jeremie said, but then realized. "What about the science final? Don't you and Cassidy ever study?"

"I'm third-in-command on memory," Cassidy shouted over her shoulder. "I studied it beforehand."

"I've got the Cliff's Notes," Odd said.

Jeremie shrugged, miffed.

**-Repairs by Aelita-**

Aelita screwed in the last screw. "So then, this is the thing that makes the music?" She was interested. The only music she listened to on Lyoko—to say the least—was nothing. She was—what one might say—sheltered.

"Yep, you play the records on the turn table. The board mixes one song with another. The trick is to synchronize the sound!" Odd showed Aelita the works.

"Interesting," Aelita smiled.

"It doesn't sound like you know a whole lot about it," William said.

"She wasn't allowed music at her school in Canada," Cassidy sounded convincing. "We could say that she was sheltered."

William nodded in understanding. "Will it take much longer?"

"She's done with the repairs," Cassidy smiled.

"No," Aelita said. "I'm done."

William was revving to try it out. "Mind if I give it a try?"

He put the record on the first turn table, turned it on and smiled. He had Aelita try it first. She mixed it her way. The music was clearly amazing.

Cassidy smiled in amazement.

"Wow, I never managed to get  _that_  kind of mix," William said.

"May I try, Aelita?" Cassidy asked.

Aelita nodded and handed the controls to her. Cassidy mixed it wonderfully.

"WOW!" William shouted. "These girls got talent."

Odd nodded in amazement.

Jim shut off the electricity. Cassidy looked up from the table. "Hey goof-offs. Well, don't mind me!" Jim shouted.

"We'll get out of your hair, Jim," Cassidy took off the headphones delicately and placed them on the table. "We were rehearsing for tomorrow's party."

As the four walked, William said, "Aelita and Cassidy, you two mix like pros. Where'd ya learn?"

"That was my first time," Cassidy said, "mixing like that. I never managed to do that before."

Odd covered for Aelita. "It runs in the family. We're all artists. We're creative."

William gave Cassidy a peck on the cheek. "I'll make a selection of LPs and you two can be our DJs for tonight, okay?"

Cassidy was excited and surprised. "Really?"

"Really, sweetheart," William whispered warmly to her.

"You think so?" Aelita asked. "Well, okay!"

"If Aelita says okay, then I'm in!" Cassidy smiled.

**-Aelita and Cassidy—up in Jeremie's room-**

Jeremie tried to protest but Cassidy's wit was quicker. "Aelita and I are  _not_  wasting our time, and Aelita has found her special talent. She and I are going to the party. And  _you are too_! You need a much-needed break."

Aelita silently cheered Cassidy on.

Jeremie gulped. When Cassidy got serious, she meant the things inside her sentences.

"Okay," Jeremie saved his progress and joined the ladies.

**-Quiz time-**

"One pen, that's all you can take in," Jim said.

Everyone had two hours of chemistry and two hours of physics. Odd didn't do origami on his, thanks to Cassidy's before cliff notes.

Sissi drew a lady with a handbag. She skived off her studying.

After the quizzes were taken in, Cassidy felt a warm flicker of pride. No one will be held back, she quickly realized, thanks to her help.

**-Teacher's locker room-**

Jim searched for Mrs. Hertz's locker and found it.

**XANA possessed him as HE had activated a tower in the desert region. A Megatank was there guarding the spiral thingy.**

**-Later that night-**

Yumi met up with Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie. "Well," she said.

"We all made good grades," Jeremie said. "Mrs. Hertz came around to me and told me Odd's, Ulrich's, Aelita's, Cassidy's, and my test results."

"What did I get?" Odd pleaded.

"Well," Jeremie said, "you made an 80% B. You were raised two whole grades into a B."

"Great," Odd said.

"Ulrich you got a 90% A. Aelita and I scored 100%. Cassidy scored 98%. So we're all good!" Jeremie smiled.

"Hey, we've got a  _real_  treat," Odd smiled. "We're going to a double feature. We're going to see Aelita the DJ and Cassidy the DJ! That will boost this into ecstasy. Where are they anyway?"

"They're already in the gym," Ulrich said. "The DJs get VIP treatment."

**-On Camera-**

Milly and Tamiya were interviewing Cassidy and Aelita. "Cassidy, a question from the school paper: as a DJ how would you define your style: Hard-core, deep-pals, or downright newbie?"

"I'm a newbie, but I think I do it my way. Same for Aelita as she has a style of her own as well," Cassidy's stomach was in deep jitters.

"Totally rad," Tamiya took the camera off her eye.

Sissi snuck out. She wasn't supposed to be at the dance. Cassidy saw this coming. She pulled out her cell phone, and called the principal. "Didn't you ban her from the dance?"

" _Yes, I did,"_  the voice on the phone said.  _"She failed her exam. Why?"_

"She's at the dance," Cassidy said.

" _I'll handle this,"_  Mr. Delmas said.

So Sissi was escorted by her father out of the dance.

 _Score one for my secret plan,_  Cassidy smiled.

"And now Cassidy, one of our brand-new DJs," Christophe said into the mike, "And as you're gonna see, she totally  _rips_!"

Cassidy allowed the music to ride the wind. She worked it perfectly. Then she allowed a karaoke version of Poison's Ride the Wind to come in.

She grabbed a microphone and sang,

_Hearts of fire_  
_Oooh, Streets of stone_  
_Modern warriors_  
_Saddle iron horses of chrome_

_Taste the wild_  
_Lick the wind_  
_Like something they never saw before_  
_Their jaws dropping to the floor_  
_Steel made of soul and sin_

_Rebels born without a care_  
_(And the day he listens)_  
_Only to fly where eagles dare_  
_(And the night she whispers)_

_Chorus:_  
_Ride the wind_  
_Never coming back until I touch the midnight sun_  
_Ride the wind_  
_Never coming back again_  
_Ride the wind_  
_Never coming back until I touch the midnight sun_

_Painted flesh_  
_Loyalty_  
_Humble pride_  
_Just as far as the eye could see_

_Stories told_  
_To old friends_  
_Of battle scars and lonely bars_  
_And nights the rain wouldn't end_

_Here's to weathered eyes and gypsy smiles_  
_(And the day he listens)_  
_Here's to lovely ladies and a million miles_  
_(And the night she whispers)_

_Chorus_

_Ride the wind_  
_Oh, steel made of soul in sin,_  
_Burning till the night is done._

_Solo_

_Of all the truths and lies_  
_and stories of riders in the sky_  
_only the bravest try_  
_where eagles and angels dare to fly_

_Chorus_

**(A/N: I don't own the song Ride the Wind)**

The crowd went wild as Cassidy skipped down the steps. "Your turn, Aelita! The crowd's all warmed up."

William reached out to Cassidy and she took his hand. "You did great, Cassidy!"

"Thanks, William," Cassidy smiled.

"And now, Aelita, the second brand-new DJ," Christophe announced, "And, like Cassidy, she totally  _rips!_ "

Aelita allowed herself on the board and let the music begin. She worked the music twice as well as Cassidy did.

Cassidy walked up to her friends, who were standing awestruck. "Wow, you two are great! Ya coming, Ulrich?" Yumi said first.

Ulrich nodded. He wanted to dance too.

They both went and danced because the night was still young.

William went up to Odd. "Your cousin's incredible, Odd."

Odd nodded.

Jeremie was impressed.

William wasn't dancing, and Cassidy understood. Odd didn't. "What's up? Not dancing?"

Cassidy psyched down. William said, "No…it's not my thing!"

Odd smiled. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Come on! Let me see how you move."

William danced poorly. Odd regretted that choice. "Oh, you're right. It's not your thing!"

Jim walked in and zapped the electricity cable.

Cassidy knew this was coming and saved Aelita's life, getting zapped in the process. The music stopped abruptly.

Aelita knew what was going on. She was worried over her friend's sake, though. "Cassidy?"

It was uproar. "Is she okay?" a young girl named Claire Girard asked.

"I don't know," Aelita was stunned.

**-Meanwhile-**

XANA (somewhere in Sector 5) was angrier than the time his mud attack failed. "That little psychic has gone too far! She'll pay for all of this."

**-Back to the show now-**

Cassidy came out of it faster than anyone thought possible. She sat up and looked to Aelita. "Are you okay, Aelita?"

Aelita nodded.

"Good," Cassidy said.

"You gave us a real scare," Yumi crossed her arms across her chest.

"It was for the safety of Aelita," Cassidy said.

**-Tower deactivated?-**

The desert sector's only activated tower went straight to blue.

**-Jeremie's discovery-**

"There was an activated tower," Jeremie said when the Lyoko warriors were in his room.

"But what happened?" Yumi asked.

"I think I know what." Cassidy shifted from one foot to the other. "I got zapped and Aelita was the initial target, but I stepped in the way."

"And that's why the tower is not activated anymore," Jeremie said; "you interrupted the way things were supposed to happen."

"Am I in trouble?" Cassidy lowered her gaze to the floor.

"No," Jeremie smiled. "You saved Aelita's life. I think that's a job well done!"

**A/N: I'm not a DJ in real life, I just needed plot filler.**


	15. XANA Swears! Saint Valentine's Day

**I don't own Code Lyoko. But I do own Cassidy = BONUS! (Cheers cheers)**

It was a peaceful night at Kadic. The cool airs of spring were just the beginning of greatness.

A man in a red jacket walked into the dorms with a shoulder-bag by his side. He was XANAfied.

Aelita and Cassidy were sleeping in their room. Aelita was having a nightmare. Cassidy was having a good first-time study dream session. The pink-haired girl was talking in her sleep.

The man placed two small, square packages on the floor—one green and red, and one orange and red.

"No…stop…let me go," Aelita said.

Aelita's computer went online, waking both girls up. "Cajas," Cassidy said.

"What?" Aelita asked.

"Boxes," Cassidy said. "I ended up confusing you and the others on Lyoko one time using Spanish. I vowed to keep my Spanish calm, but in the end it washed over me."

There was a sharp knock on the door. Cassidy went first to investigate. "Odd is that you?"

"Who's there?" Aelita asked from behind Cassidy.

"I don't know," the psychic shrugged. She looked down and immediately felt a bad vibe.

"And I'd rather not find out!"

Aelita took the boxes in. They opened them to find a glowing pink pendant and a glowing purple pendant.

 _Two necklaces, different colors, glowing…_  Cassidy found the conclusion in a spark-flash.

"Aelita, they ain't from the boys. They aren't even from Yumi. It's from XANA!" Cassidy shivered.

**-XANA's Home-**

"D***," Thought our favorite virus. "Stupid, mind-blowing, sharp-shooting fox—it should have worked. She's too smart for my tricks."

**-Back to the Dorms-**

Jim caught the XANAfied man. "Hey, you! What're you doing here? No one is allowed in the dormitory without my authorization. How'd you get in here?"

The man half-hypnotized Jim and jumped on to the ceiling, crawling on his stomach, leaving a dumbstruck Jim standing in his wake.

**-Skip to the next morning-**

As Cassidy explained the dilemma, Yumi was a little suspicious. "How would XANA get in?"

"Possessed a guy who robbed a bank and then gone to the jewelry story and implanted a microchip into the necklaces," Cassidy said. "All without leaving a trace of evidence. I can prove the microchip part."

Taking the purple necklace in hand, she threw it down on the floor and half a microchip came out of the shattered remains.

**-XANA's Home Part 2-**

XANA was burning mad. That psychic meddled with the wrong computer virus.

**-Back to the Girls' Bathroom-**

The necklace that hadn't been shattered began to act strangely. It jumped for Cassidy's neck.

"So much for a Happy Valentine's Day," Cassidy muttered as she tried to get the pink necklace off.

"The day all lovers celebrate," Yumi said.

"Lovers?" Aelita asked.

Cassidy was now using the dog-scratching-a-flea method to get the necklace off. "Stupid necklace."

**-Before Cassidy does anything else worse (Cassidy: HEY!) let's head over to the next scene-**

Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich were walking together when the girls (and a really ticked off Cassidy) arrived. "Hey, there are the girls."

"Any solutions for a stubborn necklace?" Cassidy growled.

"Scissors?" Odd suggested.

Cassidy showed a mangled pair of scissors. "Oh…"

"Pocket knife?" Jeremie said.

Cassidy showed her blade. The saw portion of the pocket knife pack had all its teeth ground off.

Jeremie flinched.

"Untie it?" Ulrich asked.

"Been there, done that!" Cassidy scowled.

They shot off suggestions until Odd suggested something weird but helpful.

"A hammer?" Cassidy cocked a brow.

"It may work," Odd was getting shy.

"Okay," Cassidy calmed down a little. "By the way, XANA gave this necklace."

That put fear into the Lyoko Warriors' hearts.

Soon they went to class.

"Ulrich, would you please use the word flip in your biology homework that  _rhymes_!" Cassidy smiled.

"Okay," Ulrich smiled. She was in the plan alright.

Mr. Fumet was talking about the history of Valentine's Day, because of the occasion.

**-After class, during break-**

William gave his sweetheart a peck on the lips. "Happy Valentine's Day, Cassidy!"

"Thanks William!" Cassidy smiled. "You too."

"And, look what I got," William said sweetly as he handed her a bouquet of flowers.

"Aw, you shouldn't have," Cassidy blushed.

"Ah, but what would be Valentine's Day without flowers?" William chuckled silently.

"I think they're lovely William," she gave her boyfriend a hug, to which he blushed.

**-William and Cassidy are okay. Let's check with Yumi and Ulrich-**

Yumi was sitting on the bench when Ulrich came toward her. "Hey, Yumi, I have a poem to recite to you."

"Let me hear it, then," she smiled.

"To tell you how much I flip,  
If not with a tulip;  
How I'm a victim of your charms, and  
long to hold you in my arms;  
with you, I never feel gloomy,  
my great friend Yumi." Ulrich felt a glow of pride for he did it with a little help.

"Ulrich, that was nice," Yumi smiled. "Did anyone help you?"

"Just one person and we all know who that is." Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"We all know that she's a great help," Yumi winked.

**-Ulrich and Yumi are fine. Jeremie and Aelita?-**

They were smiling as they enjoyed the fresh air. "Happy Saint Valentine's Day, Aelita." He smiled.

She nodded. "Happy Saint Valentine's Day to you too, Jeremie."

**-Odd?-**

Odd smiled. Samantha came over and he and she were spending Valentine's Day with each other.

**-Cassidy's little trip to the john-**

**XANA was trying to possess her. She had a little hammer. He tried harder, but she was smart. She smashed the pendant and caught the microchip as it fell.**

Cassidy shook out of it.

**-XANA failed, let's see the results-**

XANA was shouting "NO!" at the top of the decibel scale. "That little s***! I was this d*** close. Stupid HAMMER!"

The tower in the ice region (which was supposed to be used) turned a light blue.


	16. Guess Who's Missing a Link

**Code Lyoko ain't mine. Cassidy is mine. Enough has been said.**

Everyone was raring to go to Lyoko. But Yumi was missing for a little bit. "She's getting two tickets for the Subsonics concert, Ulrich, and she was having internet troubles. I know that William is faithful," Cassidy smiled.

"He is?" Ulrich asked.

"Sure is. He has never dated outside of me," Cassidy said.

"By the way, Jeremie, have you made any headway on the breaker/antivirus recently?" Aelita cocked her head to one side.

" _Well, actually it's going kind of slow. I'm missing a lot of important codes,"_ Jeremie said.

"But with a little luck, we'll find them today!" Odd was optimistic at best.

"And then it's ciao XANA. We'll finally be able to shut down the supercomputer," Ulrich was optimistic as well.

"That'll interrupt the storyline," Cassidy muttered to herself.

"What was that?" Ulrich asked.

"Nothing," Cassidy smiled.

**-Yumi's coming-**

Yumi was getting on her skateboard.

**-To Jeremie-**

" _We are NOT forgetting about Yumi!"_  Cassidy was adamant.

Yumi came into the elevator and down into the lab. "Hi, Jeremie, sorry I—"

"Cassidy wanted to wait for you. She insisted that we wait," Jeremie said. "Hurry up! I'll give Cassidy the news."

Yumi nodded and went down to the scanner room. Cassidy was happy.

Soon everyone was on Lyoko. "Now head for the edge of the sector, okay?"

"You got it, captain!" Cassidy said.

They ran until they spotted the Kankrelats.  _"Careful, you have visitors!"_  Jeremie expressed his concern.

"Of the virtual kind," Cassidy teased.

" _Cassidy, this is not the time for jokes,"_  Jeremie said.

Cassidy sighed, a little sulky.

Everyone was fighting the army of Kankrelats when the Schyphozoa appeared.

Cassidy pushed Yumi out of the way. "Watch where you are going, Clumsy!" Yumi scowled then looked to Cassidy who was held by the Schyphozoa, then gasped.

"SUPER SPRINT!" Ulrich yelled and cut the tentacles. Cassidy fell down in a heap.

"Cassidy," Yumi was scared for her friend's Lyoko life. "Are you okay?"

"I feel sick," Cassidy mumbled.

"It scared the Kankrelats away," Odd kidded.

"Cowards," Cassidy yelled.

" _Why would they go after you? We'll abort the mission!"_  Jeremie said.  _"Materialization Yumi, Materialization Odd, Materialization Cassidy."_

Yumi and Odd came out, but not Cassidy. "You must've tripped on your fingers, Einstein. Cassidy isn't here!" Odd said.

Jeremie cocked his brows.

**-Lyoko-**

"Jeremie," Cassidy said. "I think it's a—"

**-Lab-**

"I must've made a mistake. I'll reboot the program." Jeremie typed on the computer program again.

**-Scanner Room-**

" _Materialization Ulrich, Materialization Aelita, Materialization Cassidy."_

Ulrich and Aelita came out, but Cassidy didn't. "Missed again," Odd said.

Cassidy was worried.

Jeremie was too. "I can't believe it! Cassidy, I don't know what's going on! I can't devirtualize you!"

"Well this is just splendid!" Cassidy said sarcastically. "Next thing you will tell me is that The Queen of England  _just_  found out about Lyoko! Now that would be a hoot!"

" _Go and hide in a tower while I figure this out!"_  Jeremie said.  _"Direction, south, southeast!"_

Cassidy ran to the tower. "And you better tell Yumi to get ready for picture day!"

" _I will!"_

**-Later on-**

"Don't worry, I'll find the bug," Jeremie said to Cassidy. "You're safe in the tower!"

" _I know I am! Monsters aren't even allowed in the tower,_ " Cassidy said.

"How do you know," Odd asked.

" _Why wouldn't they be able to,"_  Cassidy scowled.

Yumi went off to picture day.

"In my opinion, when the Schyphozoa attacked you, it gave you some kind of bug, Cassidy," Jeremie said.

" _Or, if you look it another way, took something from me,"_  Cassidy was getting nervous.

"That's strange," Aelita said. "It's my memory that XANA seems to be after."

" _I wasn't referring to memory,"_ Cassidy was shaking in the tower.

"If you ask me the Schyphozoa took something else from you. Stand still. I'm launching the digital analysis," Jeremie was sitting in the hot seat.

Cassidy did and was scanned from head to toe.

Jeremie then found the problem. "Oh, no. I don't believe it!"

"He stole my EARTH code, didn't he?" Cassidy was getting furious.

" _Yeah!"_  Jeremie wasn't prepared for the next thing Cassidy did.

"THAT RAT! He knew I would spark-flash and when I shoved Yumi out of harm's way, ARGH!" Cassidy was angry.

" _Calm down Danger Psychic; at least he didn't steal your memory,"_  Odd said.

"Yeah…Danger Psychic?" Cassidy's voice was getting in range.

" _Uh-oh!"_  Odd was in trouble now.

"Danger Psychic? You made a nickname behind my  _back_  and didn't  _tell me?_ " Cassidy was definitely having a bad day.

" _Odd, she wasn't supposed to know!"_ Ulrich said.

"YOU TOO,  _ULRICH!_ " Cassidy yelled.  _"_ Gee, just when I knew who my friends are."

**-Lab-**

"What if…?" Aelita said.

"You have an idea?" Jeremie asked her.

"I think so," Aelita said.

Ulrich and Odd were bickering over who made up Danger Psychic in the first place.

"Send me to Lyoko," Aelita said, then added, "solo!"

"What are you going to do?" Jeremie was wondering.

"Just trust me this time," Aelita seemed adamant.

"Alright, I'll bring you up close to the tower," Jeremie said.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita was soon on Lyoko and on the Overboard. "Okay, Aelita. The tower is nearby at ten o'clock."

Aelita was on her way to the tower.

" _Watch out for monsters,"_  Jeremie expressed concern.

The pink-haired girl was on the lookout.

**-Lab-**

The two boys were still arguing at a distance away from Jeremie.

"Aelita, now will you tell me what your idea is?" Jeremie asked.

**-Lyoko-**

"No," Aelita made a turn.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie was getting suspicious.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita got to the tower and went inside to work.  _"Aelita, please tell me what you are up to."_ Jeremie wanted to be in on the plan.

"There," Aelita said. "Process launched."

Cassidy on the inside flinched, but she couldn't help be curious. "What is it?"

"The process of transferring my DNA sequence code to your virtual structure," Aelita simply stated.

Cassidy cocked a brow.

**-Lab-**

"What?" Jeremie asked in a half-whisper.

Yumi came back in to find the two boys arguing. "What happened now?"

"Odd slipped Cassidy's not-supposed-to-know nickname," Ulrich said, "and it's all  _his_  fault."

"Oh, yeah," Odd countered. "Then who said, 'She's not supposed to know'? Hmm…?"

"It wasn't  _my fault_!" Ulrich said.

"Cassidy heard you!" Odd shouted. "And she rounded on you too."

"Are you crazy?" Jeremie asked Aelita.

**-Lyoko-**

"Jeremie, Cassidy's place is on Earth. If anyone should stay on Lyoko until we find a solution, it's me!" Aelita said.

Cassidy felt a tug at her visions, but tried to ignore it.

" _I don't agree with that. Aelita, stop it—"_  Aelita cut off the communications, cutting off Jeremie in the process.

"I knew he was going to say that!" Aelita turned to Cassidy.

"This is a big sacrifice, right?" Cassidy cocked a brow.

"Call it whatever you want to," Aelita said.

**-Lab-**

"Aelita, do you hear me?" Jeremie tried to no avail.

**-Lyoko-**

Cassidy got on her knees and tried to size up to Aelita so she could match her height perfectly. She closed her eyes.

Aelita then started the process. Products of codes were rushed in a column to Cassidy's head.

Cassidy tried to relax as this was happening. She knew what would happen, but she didn't want to stop the process abruptly.

**-Lab-**

"Aelita," Jeremie tried again. No response. "I can't believe this!"

A screen pulled up and showed what was happening to Jeremie. "I don't even know how that kind of transfer works!"

He typed on the computer. "Oh, no, this is unbelievable."

The now-three arguing friends were stalemated and were playing Go-Fish as friends again.

"Got any threes?" Odd asked.

"Here," Ulrich said, giving Odd his pair of threes.

"Great! I got a book," Odd said.

"Do you cheat, Odd," Yumi asked, "in this game?"

"No," Odd said. "I'm just plain lucky."

"Luck gets everyone," Ulrich said.

Jeremie was getting worried, scared and concerned for the fact that his sweetheart and friend were sharing codes. "GUYS!" Jeremie yelled.

Everyone threw their cards in the air in surprise. Ulrich was first to speak. "What's going on?"

"Listen to me, Aelita is on Lyoko, transferring her DNA sequence code over to Cassidy," Jeremie beckoned everyone closer to him.

"Duh, so what, you mean that's not a good idea?" Ulrich asked.

"No," Jeremie said. "Aelita doesn't know that when she transfers her code over, her memory will be exposed."

"What? Are you saying XANA will be able to steal it at will?" Ulrich raised his brows.

"That's right," Jeremie was worried. "I'm sure that's why the Schyphozoa was supposed to attack Yumi but attacked Cassidy. It's another one of XANA's little evil schemes."

"Then warn Aelita," Ulrich said. "Tell her to stop!"

"I can't. She's cut off all communication with the tower. So you've gotta get to Lyoko fast!" Jeremie said.

Ulrich and the others nodded and they went down to the scanners.

**-Lyoko-**

"Just ten more minutes before the transfer," Aelita reassured Cassidy. "Everything will be just fine."

**-Scanner room-**

"Girls! You bicker and argue for five minutes and it's mess—such a mess, such a mess!" Odd said.

Soon everyone was on Lyoko and on their vehicles. Soon they were a little closer to the tower.  _"You should be able to spot the tower now!"_  Jeremie said.

Ulrich, on his OverBike, nodded. "There it is! We'll be there in a minute."

**-Let's check on things with Aelita and Cassidy-**

"Just one more minute," Aelita said.

Cassidy was tempted to open her eyes, but kept them shut. She knew what Jeremie knew.

**-Back to the Lab-**

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Jeremie was getting anxious.

The percentages were Cassidy: 75% and Aelita: 25%.

**-Tower-**

"Aelita, stop right now!"

Cassidy and Aelita opened their eyes.  _Odd?_  Cassidy thought.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi rushed into the tower.

Ulrich was next to say something. "If the transfer takes place…"

"…XANA will steal all your memory," Yumi said.

"Aelita, stop everything, right now!" Ulrich coaxed.

Aelita was instantly swayed by this, stopped the transfer, and reconnected the communications program.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie saw with relief that Cassidy almost had 80% of Aelita's DNA sequence code and Aelita—20%.

" _Jeremie?"_ Aelita's voice came back online.

"Aelita, you are so stubborn. That was a silly thing to do!" Jeremie was firm.

" _Jeremie, it wasn't Aelita's fault,"_ Cassidy tried to calm.

**-Back to Lyoko again-**

"I'm sorry," Aelita said, "but I thought I was doing the right thing."

"I don't blame you," Cassidy smiled, like a mother swayed by her daughter's logic after the father scolded her. "I appreciated it while it lasted."

"You're turning into a real human being," Odd smiled. "You're beginning to confuse generosity with stupidity."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Aelita wondered to Cassidy.

"Ulrich told me to psyche down!" Cassidy pointed her cat-like claw to Ulrich.

"And now I take it back," Ulrich said. "I shouldn't have said that to you. I didn't know what I was thinking."

"You thought it was annoying," Cassidy crossed her arms across her chest. "That's what you were thinking."

"Again with the reading minds thing," Ulrich frowned. "I'm sorry."

"And…" Cassidy was still not over the Danger Psychic thing yet.

"We're all sorry—Yumi, Odd, and I—for making up a nickname behind your back," Ulrich said.

Cassidy nodded.

"Anyway, we still have no idea how to save Cassidy," Ulrich said.

"Yes we do!" Cassidy said.

"What?" Yumi asked the stuck girl.

"Where do we all go to when we need something from XANA's home?" The cat-girl smiled.

"SECTOR 5!" Everyone yelled.

Soon everyone was on the fast track for the aforementioned sector.

When everyone got to the arena, it was like this:

"Ugh, it's a good thing I didn't eat breakfast this morning," Odd patted his stomach.

"Did you forget to take ginger?" Cassidy asked.

"I didn't know that we were going to this sector!" Odd defended his own.

"Okay, okay," Cassidy said. "I was just a-wondering."

" _Oh, and by the way, Cassidy, just a little detail,"_  Jeremie began.

"I know. I know. One hit equals I'm a goner," Cassidy sighed.

" _You took the words out of my mouth,"_  Jeremie said.

"That is a Meat Loaf song reference," Cassidy smirked.

"How do you know so many different artists?" Ulrich wondered.

"I was around rock 'n' roll at the age of five, and I grew to love it." Cassidy said. "I'm also into country."

"Wow," Odd said. "So that's why you sang Ride the Wind."

"Yeah," Cassidy said. "But sometimes I would forget the lyrics and try to pull them back up again."

The room stopped spinning and everyone started running.

Cassidy noticed the ceiling didn't look safe. "Booby trap challenge. Better not get devirtualized or me get hit." She shuddered at the thought.

Everyone nodded. Cassidy said, "Odd, Ulrich, you two go at a fast pace, and don't stop for anything! It isn't safe here if you know what I mean."

Odd and Ulrich ran the course but then Odd got devirtualized when he was almost there with Ulrich. Ulrich got to the key first and pressed it.

"Congratulations, Ulrich!" Cassidy smiled.

"Thanks, Cassidy," Ulrich said.

"Come on," Cassidy said. "I'd rather not  _stay_ on Lyoko any more than we have to."

"Right," Yumi gave her a look of sympathy.

**-Scanner room-**

Odd fainted as soon as he got out.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The traps were lifted and the ladies met up with Ulrich and kept moving to the elevator.

"Here comes our taxi," Ulrich said.

Aelita noticed. "We better not miss it!" When it came time… "NOW!"

Everyone jumped on the elevator.

Soon Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy were in the celestial dome. "Hey, Yumi how was picture day?"

"It went really fast," Yumi said. "As soon as I sat down and we got settled, the photographer snapped the picture and I was free to go."

"Okay, cool!" Cassidy said.

Aelita worked on the interface.

**-Lab-**

"Aelita, do you know where to find…"

**-Lyoko-**

"… _Cassidy's DNA sequence code?"_  Jeremie asked.

"Not really," Aelita said, "but I'll manage somehow."

"The flying Mantas' nest is about to hatch. We don't have much time left," Ulrich said. "And Cassidy, thank you for saving Yumi's life."

"De nada, Ulrich. Besides, it was like the 'incident', only better this time," Cassidy nodded.

"The nest has hatched," Yumi said.

Indeed the Mantas were there, and what was left of the Lyoko Warriors put up their fighting stances. Yumi had first crack at the first Manta and succeeded.

" _How's it going, Aelita,"_  Jeremie asked.

"Nothing yet," Aelita announced.

Ulrich deflected two lasers, but got hit with a third.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie saw.

**-Back to Lyoko again-**

Aelita was doing the best she could.

Yumi ducked to avoid a Manta. Cassidy shot at it, causing it to combust. She didn't take bragging rights. She just did it to do it.

Aelita found the code. "That's IT! I've got IT!" She was joyous. "I'm sending it to you, now, Jeremie."

**-Back to the Lab-**

"I got it, Cassidy, I'll download it back to you in a  _second_ ," Jeremie was determined.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

"I'm so happy I'm going home!" Cassidy smiled and shot at the Manta. "YEHAW!"

Then another Manta came in and shot at Cassidy, devirtualizing her.

"CASSIDY!" Yumi and Aelita yelled together, and Yumi chucked her fan at the attacker, killing it.

**-Back to the Lab-**

" _Did you have time to insert her code?"_  Aelita was worried.

"I sure hope so," Jeremie said.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

" _You three get out of there!"_  Jeremie materialized the OverWing and the OverBike to Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi, to which they all took.

" _The north tunnel—it's open!"_  Jeremie said.

They escaped with their lives.

**-Scanner Room-**

Aelita and Ulrich stepped out of the scanners—Then Yumi came out, seeing the still form on the floor.

"Cassidy," Yumi got to her.

"It's okay, don't worry," Aelita was happy. "She's out cold, but she's here with us!"

Ulrich and Yumi kept silent vigil by Cassidy as she woke up to see her friends. She didn't have to say a word.

"We're glad you're home, too," Yumi said.

Cassidy smiled.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie looked to Odd. "How about you Odd? How are you feeling?"

Odd groaned. "Ever been flattened by a steamroller?"

"No!"

"It's simple. Just get yourself devirtualized in Sector 5," he said dryly.

Jeremie smiled. Odd was okay, alright.

**-That night-**

Yumi, Cassidy, and Aelita were in Aelita and Cassidy's dorm room, sleeping. Cassidy didn't call the sleepover. Yumi did, feeling it was right since Cassidy could've been in shock.

Cassidy, and Yumi's parents, approved of it. Hiroki didn't.


	17. BIRTHDAY! But whose?

**This is all original! Code Lyoko ain’t mine. Cassidy is.**

It was a natural spring day at Kadic. Most students were sleeping in, nestled in by the fact it was six o’clock in the morning. But one special group was _not_ nestling in for those lovely _long_ hours of needed and missing sleep. Instead it was indeed uproar in one particular room.

“Odd, NO! Put the pink streamer over to _that_ corner!” A teen girl’s voice—mature and now yelling at someone—yelled.

“Jeremie, is our VIP still sleeping?” Another girl’s voice—a tad younger—was pricked with curiosity.

“I’ll check, Aelita—Ulrich, you keep lookout in case she _does_ get up and comes down here,” a boy’s voice—maturing and kind.

“Still nothing,” another boy’s voice—a cool voice said.

“OW! Yumi, you _stomped_ on my foot,” the third boy’s voice was almost shrill.

“Sorry, William got in the way,” Yumi’s voice rang true.

 “There! That’s the last streamer, Jeremie!” Aelita sounded happy.

**-Let’s go in-**

The room looked amazing. Streamers hung from the walls. A banner saying Happy Birthday _ _ _ _ _ _ _ **(A/N: I’ll allow _you_ to guess our guest of honor! End A/N)** hung in the middle. In the middle of the floor smiled six teenagers.

One of them—a boy wearing glasses and a sky-baby blue mix sweater and brown pants—said to another—a girl with pink hair, “That’s great.”

“Will our VIP love this?” Another boy—unusual in personality and in name—hobbled to the front to examine the team’s brilliant effort.

“She’ll love it,” the third—a year or two older than the other two boys—smiled.

Another boy—heavily-skilled in martial arts—nodded.

“Sure she will!” Jeremie smiled. “Get ready guys, our turning-older VIP is about to get a wake-up call.” He pressed a key.

**-Checking in on our VIP-**

She was sleeping when her roommate’s computer flipped on and played one of her favorite songs. Emotional Fire by Cher played first, scaring the bejeebers out of the girl.

“What’s going on?! Aelita?!” She looked to find her roommate’s bed empty. “Oh, no! XANA!”

_Cassidy McGuire, please come down to Jeremie’s room at once._

The recording made her jump. She quirked a brow after all was calm. _A Cher Wake-up Call, then a command. Aelita’s bed is empty. What’s going on?_

Thinking nothing of it, she got out of bed, put on her glasses, and went down to Jeremie’s room.

She opened the door. It was very dark. Then…

“SURPRISE!” Everyone jumped out of nowhere.

Cassidy stood frozen in awe. When she unfroze two seconds later, her lips formed words and the sound came with it. “You did all this _for me?_ ”

“Yep!” Odd smiled. “Happy Birthday, Cat-Lover-Girl!”

The brown-haired girl blushed. “Gee, thanks!” She really appreciated it.

“And this is just the small stuff,” Ulrich smiled too.

Cassidy quirked a brow. “It is?”

“Yeah,” William smiled.

“But I thought this was it,” Cassidy chuckled a little. “You mean there’s more to it?”

“Yeah,” Odd said, patting her on the back. “Come with us, but first we have to blindfold you!”

Cassidy smiled and nodded as she took off her glasses. “Okay.”

Aelita blindfolded her roommate’s eyes. “No peeking.”

Cassidy laughed a little. “As if I would.” She began to grope around until William caught her hand.

He smiled. “We’ll lead you over.”

Cassidy blindly nodded as William took her.

**-Soon-**

“Okay, we’re here!” Ulrich said.

“Where are we?” Cassidy asked. “¿Dónde estamos?”

“A big room!” Odd smiled.

“I would like some detail, please.” Cassidy tilted her head to one side.

Odd looked around the gym in mock survey. “Well, there are windows. And walls.”

“Odd,” Yumi winked at him, giving him either a hint or a clue.

Odd nodded and undid Cassidy’s blindfold. She opened her eyes, put on her glasses, and gasped.

The gym was full of games, food, and presents. One of the games was comically named Pin-the-Nose-on-Kiwi. A big drawing of Kiwi going to the bathroom on a rock was missing a nose.

“I don’t know what to say,” Cassidy whispered in awe.

“How about ‘thank you’,” William prompted.

Cassidy nodded. “I second it.”

“And there are two more surprises,” Jeremie said, keeping his role in the party quite nicely. “This is a private seven-member party, and we will party until the next surprise.”

“Two more surprises?” Cassidy was awestruck. “Keep this up and one of you guys will have to call the hospital for a shock patient.”

“At the end though, we will have to clean this up. Principal Delmas approved it, under those conditions. You don’t have to, though—you are the special Queen for today,” Jeremie smiled.

“This is the greatest birthday in my life!” Cassidy squeaked.

Soon they were partying down…until Jim showed up.

Cassidy saw him and started chattering nervously. Jeremie saw this. Cassidy could speak nervously like crazy if provoked.

Jim took the birthday girl away.

“Well, if she did something wrong, she must pay for it one way or another,” Odd said.

Jeremie noticed something in the gym teacher’s eyes. XANA’s eye symbol.

He gathered the group together and said, “Cassidy’s in danger!”

“XANA?” Ulrich asked.

Jeremie nodded. “But why would he go after Cassidy? It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Unless,” Odd piped a little, “he’s angry at her for interfering.”

“That must be it! Cassidy interfered so many times that he wants to get rid of her!” Jeremie was getting increasingly worried.

“Aw shoot,” Odd interjected, “and today’s her birthday for crying out loud. She’ll avoid Lyoko for a month if it comes to that.”

Aelita nodded. Cassidy and shock together almost always equaled avoidance from Lyoko.

Soon they left William to help set up a…thing in her room. That was their rehearsed excuse, and it played off well.

They found her with Jim, note not jabbering like an idiot, but fighting. She saw her friends and smirked. “I can sense a polymorphing clone when I see one. Odd—care to help?”

Odd nodded, smiling, and fought with the birthday girl against the clone.

Aelita and the others made it to the factory and into Lyoko, where they got rid of monsters, deactivated the tower and saved the day.

**-Later-**

“And this is from all of us,” Jeremie smiled that night.

Odd presented Cassidy with a thick envelope. “It wasn’t an easy thing to get. We all had to chip in and help.” He smiled a small smile.

“What could it be?” Cassidy’s stomach gave a tight, little squeeze of curiosity as she opened the envelope.

Seven small, rectangular pieces of paper fell out and the birthday girl quirked a brow as she picked them up and looked at them.

“Tickets…to _home_?” Cassidy whispered.

“For all of us to go with you when you go this summer. All of our parents approved it,” Ulrich smiled. “You won’t be alone Cassidy. And also, we would like to see your school, parents, sister, old friends—everything about Albion, Illinois.”

“This is amazing,” she hugged her friends and boyfriend. “Thanks for everything.”


	18. Marabounta has a big problem

**Back to do more stuff with Code Lyoko’s episodes. I don’t own the show, but I do own my OC.**

Mrs. Hertz was giving a lesson on ants. Jeremie was super interested.

To give a Cliff’s Notes version: Ants are friends/defenders/workers in the colony and they have a queen to give out orders.

Cassidy was concerned for the genius. Anything that made him interested, there was always _something_ behind it. Like when he met Kiwi. He got inspired to do Kiwi 2—a robotic Kiwi look-alike.

Cassidy didn’t mind that then. But now, it sounded serious. Jeremie was looking a little too closely at the ant farm.

“What about killer ants,” Ulrich asked, snapping Cassidy out of her thoughts. “Do they exist?”

Mrs. Hertz smiled a little, but still had her serious side on. “Well, yes, maybe in movies, Ulrich.”

Deciding to jump in, Cassidy said, “There are African driver ants, Mrs. Hertz. They’ve killed animals and ate them too.” She shuddered.

Sissi quirked brows.

“Why, yes, Cassidy, that is true, but they are too far away from us to kill animals here,” Mrs. Hertz frowned with her student. “That, my colleagues and I are sure of, is a phenomenon called Marabounta.”

Sissi was relieved. “Whew, I’m glad I live in a country that has no danger.”

Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita looked to the brown-haired girl in concern.

At the end of class, Cassidy pulled Jeremie away from the farm.

**-Lunch time-**

“Saturday’s my favorite day,” Odd said after a mouthful of Jeremie’s food. “No school in the afternoon.”

“I like Sundays better—No school at all!” Ulrich smiled. Odd did too. It was nice to have someone on his side for once.

“Me, I’m in neutral territory,” Cassidy said. “I like them both.”

Ulrich and Odd nodded.

Aelita was concerned for Jeremie. “You seem worried, Jeremie. What’s on your mind?”

“Probably on Franz Hopper’s notes,” Cassidy bit into her food.

“You guessed it,” Jeremie said.

“And he probably has an idea for a multi-agent program.” Cassidy chewed and swallowed.

“2-0,” Jeremie frowned a little.

“I’ll join you,” she said.

He was not expecting that.

“It has to do with ants, guys,” Cassidy warned the others.

“Oh, no,” Odd warned the two. “You and Mrs. Hertz already bored us to tears with all that ant stuff. Don’t you start now!”

Ulrich and Yumi started laughing.

“It might weaken XANA a peg or two,” Cassidy pressed. “Jeremie will explain everything once we get to the factory.”

Aelita stood up. “Well normally, I’d love to, but I have to finish my Italian homework. See ya!”

Jeremie and Cassidy looked to Odd. “No, I have to practice for a skateboard competition.” He left.

They looked to Yumi. “Yumi?”

“Sorry, I have swimming after school. Buh-bye!” Yumi said leaving.

“Ulrich, William is faithful. I told you that, remember. She’s going to be okay,” Cassidy soothed.

Ulrich sighed. “Okay, I’ll go!”

**-Factory business; not top secret-**

Jeremie was working on the computer with Cassidy watching, and Ulrich playing Tetrix Annihilator sitting on the floor. “Okay, here we go!” Jeremie cracked his knuckles and started typing away.

**-Pool-**

Yumi was having a fine time at the pool. Cassidy’s boyfriend William did a great dive and he smiled all the way.

**-Back at the lab-**

Cassidy got bored and played a game of Go-Fish with Ulrich.

“Got any nines?” Cassidy asked.

“Only one,” Ulrich passed the one nine to her.

Jeremie was working on his new program that Cassidy talked about at lunch.

“Okay, do you have any aces?” she asked.

“Go Fish!” Ulrich said.

“Shoot,” Cassidy grabbed another card. “Ooh, the last nine in the deck!” she put her book down.

“Do you use your powers when you play this game?” Ulrich got concerned.

“No, they turn off,” Cassidy said truthfully.

“Weird,” he said. “If Jeremie were to press six instead of seven…”

“The same effect that happened to me would happen to him instead,” Cassidy said.

“And if I was cold to Yumi the first day we met…”

“Yumi would say, ‘Well, nice to meet you, too!’ in a cold tone toward you and you would be long gone. And you wouldn’t even know her name!”

“And if you didn’t warn me of Odd’s arrival…”

“Sissi would have bugged you like heck,” Cassidy shook her head.

“If Jeremie didn’t name Aelita her _real_ name…?”

“She would have been called ‘Maya’, and she wouldn’t know her real name until she deactivated the first activated tower.”

“But when you play a card game…”

“They turn off.”

“Now for the moment of Truth—everything seems to be working. Transfer: Prototype; Scanner; Virtualization!” Jeremie was having some hidden enthusiasm.

**-Lyoko’s forest region-**

A black orb appeared in the area’s air.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie looked on, letting out a small grunt. “Come on!”

**-Lyoko-**

Mara started to reproduce.

**-Lab-**

“Did it work, Jeremie?” Cassidy asked.

“Yeah, Franz Hopper, you are a genius, and so am I,” Jeremie said. “XANA’s monsters better watch out now!”

“I’ll call Odd,” Cassidy nodded and picked up her Motorola T725 to dial Odd’s phone number.

After, she called Aelita’s phone number, and they soon came to the factory, Kiwi in Odd’s arms.

“Ah, there you are,” Jeremie said.

Cassidy and Ulrich picked their card game up and put it away.

“What’s this program?” Aelita asked.

“Jeremie’s Multi-agent system, Marabounta. Mara for short,” Cassidy said. “It weakens XANA, and we get to the tower in peace. But Mara has its bad point; it—”

“Enough with that,” Odd massaged his temples. “You give me a headache giving us stuff like that.”

“Sorry!” Cassidy reddened.

“Odd, remember, Cassidy’s power is the one that makes her blurt out. She can’t psyche down,” Ulrich gave him a medium Gibbs-slap.

“I know that, I just don’t like it when she gives long speeches like that,” Odd growled a little.

“Not my fault!” Cassidy jumped in and shouted.

“STOP IT GUYS!” Jeremie’s voice was the loudest.

It was dead silence. Jeremie continued, “I don’t like it when you two or _however_ many of you guys argue about Cassidy’s power. It is here to stay! Deal with it. We had plenty of episodes where her power was needed and was provided for us to use. So stop the arguments.”

Cassidy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you Jeremie.”

“You are welcome,” Jeremie said. “Anyone want to go to Lyoko?”

Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy eagerly agreed.

“Okay, get to the scanners,” Jeremie smiled.

Aelita got a little worried. “If there’s the slightest problem, I’ll pull the plug, I promise.” Jeremie nodded calmly.

Aelita nodded a little and went down with her comrades to get virtualized.

They soon were on Lyoko.

A Krabe walked by. “Let’s follow it!” Cassidy smiled wickedly. “Let’s see its death.”

Everyone followed the Krabe and saw a lot of monsters’ demises. A Tarantula had got its laser leg trapped. Four hornets got sprayed with the black spheres. A Megatank got stuck closing its ammo hold.

**-Pool-**

“Shall we go? I’m getting cold,” Yumi said.

William nodded and they showered, got dressed, and left.

Yumi was happy that she got to go swimming. It left her in a great mood. However, it was also tiring.

She went home.

**-Lyoko-**

“Save your sympathies, Odd,” Cassidy said. “This, I feel, might not end well if it comes to it.”

Odd was about to open his mouth when Ulrich wielded his sword threateningly. “Say one wrong word to her and you are back to the scanner room _in a heartbeat_.”

Aelita gave Jeremie a visual.

 _“It’s working even better than I thought it would,”_ Jeremie mused.

Odd kept his mouth shut.

Aelita got scared. “Jeremie, I’ve—seen enough. I want to come in!”

Jeremie understood.

“A tower’s not too far from here,” Cassidy said. “Let’s go!”

They were about to go when Aelita was surrounded by the spheres. “Help!”

Cassidy turned her tube into a gun and shot at it, freeing Aelita in the process. “Jeremie, I think Mara has ASTIGMATISM and OCD at the same time!”

 _“This is no time for jokes, Cassidy. I programmed it to attack XANA’s monsters only!”_ Jeremie sounded serious.

“I’m telling you _the truth_ here, Einstein. GOD! Listen to me. Aelita is connected by that horrible link/virus and Mara seems to think Aelita is another one of XANA’s monsters. GOD! Even _when_ I sound serious, you think I’m _joking_!” Cassidy said. “And that’s what I was trying to explain to you, Odd and Ulrich, but we just _had_ to have that stinkin’ argument.”

“Oh,” Odd and Ulrich said together, in shame as they were running.

Jeremie was feeling conflicted. What was thought to be a good idea suddenly turned out to be a bad one.

He tried to pull the plug as promised, but couldn’t.

 _“Jeremie, calm down, we’ll need some extra back-up and then we’ll fight Mara like we do XANA,”_ Cassidy said.

 “What will XANA do?” Jeremie asked.

 _“Defend us and Aelita?”_ Cassidy squeaked a bit.

He looked to the computer as if it would explode.

 _“I’m not kidding!”_ she snarled.

Jeremie called Yumi.

**-At Yumi’s house-**

Yumi was studying when Jeremie called. “Jeremie?” A long pause and then…“Huh? What are you talking about? What do you mean, a Chattanooga?”

**-Back to the Lab-**

“Marabounta,” Jeremie said. “I can’t explain now! Just get here…”

**-Back to Yumi’s place-**

_“…ASAP!”_ Jeremie’s voice came on the other line.

Yumi nodded.

**-Back to the Lab again-**

“Odd, Cassidy, Ulrich, and Aelita are in big trouble.”

**-Back to Yumi’s place-**

“I’ll be right over!” Yumi promised.

**-Lyoko-**

Odd, Ulrich, Aelita and Cassidy stopped. “Hey,” Odd said. “Jeremie, I think we lost your monster.”

“I’m sensing it’s still right behind us, but it’s too far away to tell right now,” Cassidy showed a worried look.

“Now we’re kinda lost ourselves,” Odd said.

_“I uh, sorry guys, take off in the direction…due west. The Marabounta hasn’t hit that sector yet. In the meantime, I’ll find a way to stop it.”_

“Don’t blow it, okay. I don’t wanna end up as chewing gum!” Odd commented.

“That’s impossible. Mara can devirtualize you, not reduce you to an already massacred piece of gum,” Cassidy said.

Everyone headed in that direction. It turned out “Mara” already hit where they were heading.

Everyone backed up out of the way.

“We can’t reach the tower, Jeremie. Mara already got here. Tenemos mala suerte. We have bad luck!” Cassidy said.

“How do you know Spanish?” Ulrich asked. “You talk normal in public yet you slip phrases to us.”

“My Spanish teacher—Mr. Balding—taught me before I came here. I was as eager as Jeremie when he has the answer to a question to the questions and repeat phrases. I passed my tests and worksheets like a pro. He liked my enthusiasm.”

“Okay,” Ulrich said.

 _“This won’t take me long. I’ll find a way to stop it I promise,”_ Jeremie said. _“And Yumi is on her way!”_

“Okay,” Cassidy nodded.

Cassidy, Ulrich, and Odd decided to defend, which was a good idea, and tried to hold back “Mara”.

Aelita was then surrounded by it. _“Careful, XANA’s sending a monster!”_

“He’s helping us, Jeremie!” Cassidy said, shooting a bazooka missile at “Mara”.

A Krabe materialized onto Lyoko, landed, and extended its leg to Aelita. Aelita wasn’t sure what it wanted, but then she grabbed it and was flung to safety.

Odd caught her. “That’s crazy. That Krabe just sacrificed itself for you!”

“What’s going on?” Ulrich asked Cassidy.

“XANA wants Aelita alive as well as we do, but for different reasons as we. He wants Aelita’s memory, but we want her to enjoy Earth life as long as possible,” Cassidy said.

“They’re protecting me,” Aelita mused with a smile.

 _“Aelita and Cassidy are right!”_ Jeremie said. _“Use them as allies to defeat the Marabounta.”_

“Okay, Jeremie,” Cassidy nodded. “And Guys—” she meant Aelita, Odd and Ulrich—“Yumi’s on her way!”

**-Lab-**

Yumi came in. “Ah, at last!” Jeremie said.

“Mind telling me what’s going on?” Yumi asked.

“No time, go straight there,” Jeremie was worried.

**-Lyoko-**

Odd laser-arrowed his way. Cassidy shot her guns/weapons. And Ulrich was working on slicing and dicing “Mara”.

Yumi was then transferred onto Lyoko. She was about ready to disintegrate a Blok, when Cassidy came up to her and pressed Yumi’s fan to her chest. “XANA’s helping us, and I know that sounds like this world is upside down, but believe me. If the world was upside down, Jeremie wouldn’t be resident genius and Odd would.”

Yumi nodded and Cassidy let go. “The main enemy right now is not XANA, but Mara—the Marabounta.” She pointed at the black spheres.

“How are you doing, Jeremie,” Aelita asked.

 _“I’ll never make it. I’m probably the biggest loser to ever walk the face of the Earth!”_ Jeremie’s voice was sad.

“Hey, that’s no way to talk!” Cassidy said. “My mom has a saying back in America and that is I-CAN. The word American has I-CAN not I-CAN’T at the end! When you did the materialization program, you never gave up or gave in. You allowed yourself to work day and _night_ for it. You never gave up. And YOU CAN DO IT BECAUSE WE BELIEVE IN YOU LIKE YOU BELIEVE IN US!”

Odd and Ulrich ceased fire for a little bit to look at the cat-girl, like Whoa.

Jeremie felt even more confident for that pepped him up.

“That was beautiful, Cassidy,” Yumi said.

“Thank you Yumi!” to Jeremie she added, “And could you load a virus program into one of my ammunition?” Cassidy asked sweetly to the air.

 _“YEAH!”_ Jeremie yelled.

“Alright! That’s the proper attitude!” Cassidy smiled. Then she walked up to a Krabe. “You and I will have to work together on this one. I get on your back and we trudge through Mara like a horse in mud. We have to get to the queen. I’ll shoot with a scope. And we’ll terminate Mara once and for all!”

The Krabe seemed to nod as it allowed Cassidy on its back.

Odd barked an order. “Whatever you do, don't let it make any headway. It’ll attack from the rear.”

Yumi came up to him. “You’re a really good combat general, Odd.”

“It takes strategy, you know. The only thing stupider than a Blok, is two Bloks.”

 _“Okay, Cassidy, the virus is in, and you know what to do!”_ Jeremie said.

“Let’s just hope that we get out of this alive,” Cassidy said.

“We will,” Aelita called from below.

“Thanks Aelita.”

“Hi-ho Krabby!” Cassidy bellowed.

The Krabe stopped abruptly.

“Sorry.”

The Krabe then moved again into the spheres. It got to the queen. Cassidy did too. She didn’t do any pithy quotes, she aimed and shot.

Lyoko was clean as a platter.

**-Later on, back on Earth—Cassidy and Aelita’s dorm-**

“And so, the brave warrior, determined to make his lady his, totally humiliates himself, taking a misstep and falling face first into the pool,” Cassidy said in story.

Everyone gasped.

“ _But_ with a little help from his lady’s good friend, he was able to walk away from it!”

Aelita smiled. “You tell good stories, Cassidy.”

Everyone agreed.

“It’s all in the story, guys. It’s all in the story!”


	19. This is a Load of Common Interest

**Don’t own Code Lyoko. Own Cassidy.**

**-The Day before all Hell seeped through the Cracks…-**

Jeremie was working on Aelita’s breaker/antivirus when Cassidy walked in.

“Hey, Cassidy, what’s up?” he asked.

“Jeremie, I—have something to tell you! It’s urgent!” She sounded scared.

“Okay!” said Jeremie, pausing in his work, taking his shoes off and getting on the bed. Her expression looked worried. “What is it?” he asked.

Cassidy made sure Jeremie’s room was soundproofed before she started to speak. “It’s Aelita!”

“She hasn’t begun having visions again, has she?”

“No. _I_ began having visions about _her_ at a hospital. HN’s **(A/N:  HN’s are my [and others’] way of saying hypodermic needles. You could say I’m uncomfortable to saying the word. End A/N)** and CPR methods are on her. Jeremie, I fear her dying,” said Cassidy. “Tomorrow’s the day! My vision has grown stronger with each passing day and last night it came at its strongest!”

“Are you crazy? I saw her yesterday. She’s fine!” said Jeremie, proudly on defense.

“I’m serious!”

“How many visions of yours have come true?” Jeremie crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
“Partly none because I spent all my time _preventing bad things from happening_! Jeremie, listen! Aelita’s life is on the line!”

“What’s one bad thing, then? Tell me!”

“Remember when Aelita was materialized? I prevented the ONE adult _in the world_ from finding out, Jim! If it weren’t for me, you would have spent 45 minutes away from the supercomputer!”

“How would he have found out?”

“You would have told him!”

“I would not!”

“Not if you were in the infirmary with a broken ankle and had no other way to get there! Jim would have been your only choice!”

Odd opened Jeremie’s door, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita came with, and saw Cassidy and Jeremie brewing up a battle. “…And if it weren’t for me, Jim would have found out!” Cassidy yelled. Jim happened to walk by. _I would find out about what?_ He thought to himself.

“I wouldn’t have trusted him for the world!”

“Face it, Jeremie! Your girlfriend’s dying, and you won’t handle the truth! Wait until the math test tomorrow! Then you’ll see!”

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi gasped in surprise and shock. Aelita, agape at what she had heard, sidestepped to Jeremie’s bed. “Holy mackerel!” shouted Milly with a camera in her hand. “This sounds like an interesting scoop!”

Surprised, Cassidy looked up to see some bewildered and familiar faces. “Sorry, folks,” she told Milly and Tamiya. “Just a little disagreement. What I meant by ‘your girlfriend’s dying,’ I meant my friend is flying, right Jeremie?”

“Right,” said Jeremie, all signs of the fight gone.

“And Jim would have found out about my friend,” said Cassidy, covering the fight with something better. “But Jeremie said that Jim wouldn’t allow me to have my friend fly!”

“I WOULD SO!” shouted Jim.

“Honest mistake, Milly and Tamiya,” said Cassidy as the two girls left.

“What in the hoosegow!” Jim said.

“Oh don’t worry about it, Jim! Now, go do your exercise like you always do!” said Cassidy.

“Okay,” said Jim as he ran to the gymnasium.

“Holy mackerel, indeed!” Odd smiled devilishly. “You sure had those three on the run!”

“Oh, come off it Odd,” said Cassidy.

“I didn’t know what you were talking about when I walked in to borrow Einstein’s laptop!” said Odd **(A/N:  Odd’s internet dating)**.

“Cassidy claims that a certain person is going to the hospital tomorrow!” said Jeremie, careful not to let the mystery person slip.

“That’s because my vision is telling me that tomorrow’s the day of the event! It even said so in the calendar of my dream!” Cassidy held onto the subject.

“That’s for sure,” deadpanned Jeremie.

“I’m not ‘talking Indonesian’ here! I’m serious!” said Cassidy.

“My WORD!” shouted Yumi. “Can’t you two BEHAVE when you can?”

“Unfortunately, Jeremie and I are like cat and dog, night and day, two library books and a salami roll!”

Odd nearly cracked up at the “two library books and a salami roll” part. Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita showed looks of confusion.

**-The next day on Lyoko-**

A tower in the ice region turned red. A couple of Tarantulas were guarding it.

**-Police-**

A police transport van was transporting a criminal to prison.

 _“HQ Transfer calling Car Alpha!”_ the radio said.

A hand picked up the walkie-talkie. “Car Alpha, go ahead.”

_“In three miles you’ll meet up with Escort 2 as planned!”_

The van passed an electric fence which sparked and XANA came out.

**-Back to the van-**

“Copy that,” said the policeman, and then added to the convict in the back compartment, “You happy to be going home, huh, Duncan?”

“I don’t talk to cops so save your breath,” a gruff voice answered.

“Typical, that’s what you get trying to be nice,” breathed the policeman and he put up the walkie-talkie.

Duncan grunted in his cuffs. XANA came in fluid-like into his ear. Duncan was surprised. He didn’t know that he was becoming XANA’s puppet. He let out a few yelps and went unconscious.

“Duncan, hey Duncan, what’s going on? What’s up?” the policeman was getting worried. He turned to the policewoman, “Pull over, he’s had some sort of attack.”

She put her foot on the brake and the van stopped. The policeman got out and walked to the back to check on the convict. The policewoman got out the walkie-talkie. “Car Alpha to HQ Transfer!”

_“Go ahead Car Alpha!”_

He opened the doors. “Duncan, hey, you okay? What’s going on here?”

The bespectacled opened his eyes and with his newfound strength broke out of his cuffs, causing the policeman to gasp.

The policewoman was still talking to HQ Transfer. “Starting Procedure 3: Momentary stop to assess the situation.”

There was a scream from the policeman as his head went through the tiny window. The policewoman was shocked. “HEY!”

Duncan jumped on top of the hood.

_“Roger Car Alpha! Standing by for information!”_

She looked up in fright, dropping the walkie-talkie.

_“Car Alpha, what’s going on? Come in please, Car Alpha!”_

The eye symbol in his eyes was menacing.

**-Let’s check in on the Lyoko Warriors now-**

Two kids played soccer while Ulrich expressed his concern. “Peter Duncan escaped from a police transport van without _any_ outside help?”  
“I read it in the newspaper,” Cassidy piped up. “It seemed to hit the screamer today. Get this: Peter Duncan Escapes Unaided. Police Unconscious.”

“And that’s what they said on the radio,” Yumi was getting her drink.

“Ya know, ever since David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, nothing surprises me anymore, heh!” Odd said.

“What bothers me is the two police officers who were guarding him talked about a supernatural force,” Yumi came out of the vending machine room.

“You think XANA is involved?” Ulrich grabbed his sides as if he was about to hurl, which the samurai didn’t feel like doing, and wasn’t feeling it.

“Not a chance!” Jeremie came up the way, Aelita in tow. “The super-scanner didn’t detect any activated tower, I just checked.”

“Now that’s just weird. The doble ese doesn’t show any ah te and a criminal escaped a police transport van. That makes a connection, point blank. We have to do something,” Cassidy said.

“I hope you’re right,” Yumi said. “Imagine Public Enemy #1 under XANA’s control. Talk about double trouble.”

Odd perked up. “A public enemy? What does this Duncan guy do?”

Jeremie came in. “Oh, nothing much. Great art theft, safecracking, kidnapping, bank robberies…” Aelita grabbed her head in pain and dropped her bag.

Cassidy’s insides whirled.

“You okay Aelita?” Yumi asked.

“Yes, I—I just didn’t get any sleep last night,” Aelita recovered.

“And it wasn’t my fault,” Cassidy said.

Aelita picked her bag up as the bell rang.

“Don’t forget, we have a math test. You going to be alright,” Jeremie showed his concern ( _Very wise, Jeremie,_ Cassidy thought). Would the psychic be wrong for _once_ in their adventures, or would she be right?

“No problem!” Aelita said.

**-Forest-**

Peter Duncan was displacing himself from tree to tree, all without taking a step, the blatant XANA symbol in his eyes.

**-Test time-**

“As you all know, this test covers the principles of division. I hope you’ve studied hard,” Mrs. Mayer said.

Odd smiled, because he had Cliff’s Notes again. Cassidy was really good at helping him. He didn’t even ask Ulrich for the last digit of the power divisible by two.

Mrs. Mayer got worried after Odd was making good grades by not cheating. What was going on with Odd? Was he okay? Most questions would never be answered.

Jeremie got done with his test at the same time Cassidy put down her pencil. They both were great students. And so was Aelita. She was exceptional.

“Well, Jeremie, Cassidy,” Mrs. Mayer asked the two at their different tables, “is there a problem?”

Cassidy was across from Jeremie and Aelita.

“We’ve finished, Senora,” Cassidy said.

Mrs. Mayer took the tests away to look at them. “I see; good work! Excellent in fact, you two!”

There were collective groans and gasps of annoyance. Those two could finish anything in record time.

Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita nodded their approval at the two.

The two look up in pride.

**-Oh, no-**

Duncan grabbed his head and fell to his knees.

**-Things aren’t getting better-**

Aelita grabbed her head and started moaning in pain.

“Jeremie,” Cassidy whispered.

Jeremie took Cassidy’s lead. “Aelita, you okay?” **(A/N: Does anyone ever notice that when the camera settles on Jeremie’s side, he has a pink pencil that matches Aelita’s jumper and when it settles to Aelita’s side, the pencil disappears? Either someone _else_ noticed, or I’m just crazy! End A/N)**

**-Back to Duncan-**

The escaped convict yelled out in pain, his hands at the pain site (the head). His closed eyes opened and the XANA symbol disappeared. All that was left in his eyes were white.

He collapsed on his back unconscious.

**-Back to school-**

“AELITA!” Jeremie and Cassidy yelled together as the said girl collapsed.

The rest was in an uproar.

Jeremie looked to Cassidy with his eyebrows raised. She was right, again, but would she predict the verdict.

**-Hospital trip-**

Aelita’s life was slipping as she was driven to the hospital.

As the drivers got in, a doctor ran out, putting on a stethoscope. “Okay, what do we got?”

The paramedic listed the patient as followed: “Adolescent, thirteen years old, unconscious, very weak pulse, irregular heartbeat.”

The doctor grew concerned. “Put her in Bed 1.”

Jeremie and Cassidy followed them until they got to Emergency. That’s where they stopped.

“What’s the verdict,” he asked her.

“She’ll flat-line, but she’ll get up to norm, I promise you no more,” she said.

Jeremie nodded.

**-ER-**

_Beep, beep, beep, beep_

“She’s going into fribullation,” the first doctor said.

“Ten mills of injection,” the elderly, more experienced doctor deftly put it into Aelita’s IV.

The heart monitor was still going down. “Heart’s failing!”

The injection didn’t work.

“She’s going down. Cardiac unit,” the second doctor said.

As the second doctor got the bed ready, the first one went up to the paddles.

As soon as they were ready, the doctor said, “CLEAR!”

The shock went through her, but she flat-lined. “Nothing,” breathed the second doctor.

“CLEAR!” The first doctor said.

BEEP

The doctors were baffled.

**-Forest-**

Duncan woke up and sat up.

**-ER-**

_BEEP!_ _Beep, beep_

Aelita’s heart came up to normal ranges. The doctors were relieved.

“That kid’s got a real guardian angel, that’s for sure,” the second one nodded.

Aelita woke up.

**-Waiting room-**

“That’s who the mystery person is?” Ulrich’s eyebrows were so high up on his face that he had a hard time getting them to relax.

Cassidy nodded.

“That’s what you’ve been dreaming about for days, too?” Yumi asked. “Why didn’t you tell us a few days in advance?”

Cassidy’s eyes shut. “Because we were busy and I couldn’t tell you guys, because we were so busy with everything. The Schyphozoa attacking me, the necklace, finals, DJing, getting our vehicles, discovering Sector 5, Mara, everything I had an opportunity to tell you with, we were busy with one thing or another.”

The doctor came in.

Jeremie was worried. “So, how is she?”

“She’s fine, don’t worry. She’ll be alright, but it’s an extraordinary case,” he said.

“Can we see her?” Yumi asked.

“I don’t see why not. But not too much noise. She needs to rest.” The doctor put on his stethoscope to check another patient.

“Don’t worry, doctor, everybody knows I’m quiet and calm!” Odd said.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. _Yeah right! He’d probably yell if provoked._

**-Hospital Room-**

“How are your test results,” Yumi asked Aelita.

She checked. “Completely normal.”

Cassidy was then hit with another vision of Aelita. _How many of these visions will I have?_ She asked herself constantly. Her next constant question was: _Will I have any relief?_

“Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that you’re not really human!” Ulrich said.

“Ulrich, Aelita _is_ human. If she wasn’t, she would be something besides a human. And no. An AI who _feels,_ has _emotions_ , and could do routine tasks—mixing music, cleaning one’s room—is obviously _human_ ,” Cassidy held her ground nicely, just didn’t yell.

“It could be the link/virus that XANA implanted in me,” Aelita said.

“Find anything, Jeremie,” Yumi turned to Jeremie.

“Dead calm as far as XANA is concerned. No activated towers. Although, the super-scan seems to have reset itself, it’s not getting the right results!” Jeremie was typing on the super-scan.

“I guess it didn’t study,” Odd sighed.

“No class for me this afternoon. I’m going to pay a little visit to the factory to check it out,” Jeremie said.

Ulrich put his arm around Odd and pointed to Cassidy. “We’ll go with you!”

Cassidy’s heart sunk. “What? I want to stay!”

“Ulrich you don’t force a person to go with you if she or he doesn’t want to,” Jeremie said. “Cassidy wants to stay, it’s her choice.”

“We’ll stay here,” Yumi pointed to Cassidy as soon as Ulrich set his finger down. “We could have a girl-to-girl-to-girl talk for once.”

Aelita showed a full crested smile.

**-To the Uranium Truck-**

It was rolling along the road.

**-To the three Lyoko boy warriors-**

They got into the sewers and went to the factory.

**-Back to the Uranium Truck-**

It made a turn to find Peter Duncan standing in the middle of the road.

“What the—? This guy’s crazy!” The driver said.

Duncan was prepared thanks to his XANA-intelligence.

The driver tried to brake, but the vehicle didn’t obey. The convict ghosted under the truck and around to the back. The truck stopped then. He opened the door with an easy to follow code. (123456, then check) Guards aimed their guns. “Don’t move,” ordered one.

“Put your hands in the air,” barked another.

Duncan didn’t and incapacitated the two.

The driver, who was unconscious for a little bit, woke up and heard the noises, frightful of what was happening back there. He grabbed his gun, got out of the vehicle and sidled to the back. “HANDS UP!” He ordered.

All he saw was the two unconscious men and an empty slot where the Uranium cell was supposed to be.

**-Back to the Lyoko boys-**

The super-scan was setting and resetting itself. “That’s exactly what I was afraid of!” Jeremie was typing on it again and again.

“What?” Ulrich asked.

“The super-scan bugged up. I’ll find out why in a minute,” Jeremie said.

“The real question is can you fix it?” Odd asked.

“Well, normally yeah, but the debugging phase takes time. I don’t know if it’s a minor bug or something more serious—” Jeremie was talking a mile a minute.

“Okay, okay, if XANA’s activated a tower, we’ll find it much faster by going directly to Lyoko. Ya coming Ulrich,” Odd asked.

Ulrich agreed and went with him. Jeremie transferred the two to Lyoko.

Ulrich looked around the ice sector. “All clear here. We’re going to have to search all the sectors.”

 _“Don’t panic; I’m calling up your vehicles, guys!”_ Jeremie said.

In a flash, the guys’ vehicles showed up. They got on their vehicles and set off to find the activated tower.

“Jeremie, how’s it going with the super-scan?” Odd asked.

 _“Not too great!”_ Jeremie replied.

Odd was looking forward. “Well, anyway, you might as well forget it.” Then his eyes found something. “No, wait! We found it!”

“Activated tower, dead ahead,” Ulrich said.

 _“Right, I got it,”_ Jeremie said. _“Twenty-five degrees north, northeast. Nice job, you guys!”_

“Now, all we gotta do is bring Aelita here to deactivate it,” Ulrich said, stopping on his OverBike.

**-Lab-**

“Okay, I’m bringing you in!” Jeremie was about to when the holo-sphere disappeared. “That’s great! Now what’s up?” he looked to his left. Then the computer shut off. “Oh, no!” Jeremie tried to contact his friends. “Can you hear me? Hey! Ulrich, Odd!”

**-Lyoko-**

“Jeremie, not that we are in a rush, but uh—Jeremie, ya taking your time there. Jeremie?” Ulrich tried to contact him.

Odd saw a good opportunity to joke. “Must’ve forgotten to pay his phone bill!” he cracked a grin.

**-Back at the Hospital-**

Cassidy and Aelita were laughing. Yumi continued, “Right. The funniest part is, Hiroki says to my father, ‘Papa, when I grow up, I wanna look just like you…but with _muscles._ ’”

Cassidy snickered. Aelita chortled a little, then she flat-lined.

“Aelita?” Yumi said.

Cassidy pushed the button on the side of Aelita’s bed. “We need help! Necesito ayuda!”

**-To Duncan-**

Duncan collapsed and the battery rolled unharmed to a root, but didn’t shatter.

**-To Jeremie-**

“What’s wrong with this _darned_ supercomputer?” Jeremie took the elevator down to the super-calculator room.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

“Uh, Jeremie, are you going to bring us _in_ or not?” Odd asked.

“We’ll have to manage without him. Get ready!” Ulrich got his katana out as Odd cocked his arm.

“One…two…three,” Odd said.

Ulrich swung out with his sword as Odd shot two arrows from his arm.

The arrows hit Ulrich as his sword cut into Odd’s shoulder.

They both didn’t devirtualize.

Ulrich picked up his sword, the virtual snow crunching under his knees. Odd was shocked. “We—we can’t be devirtualized!”

“The scanners must be offline. What is going on around here anyway?” Ulrich sheathed his sword.

“I have no idea, but we got a _real_ problem!” the ninja frowned.

“That’s the understatement of the year,” the samurai frowned with him.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie went up to the power switch and tried rebooting it. “Ugh, this is really _bad_!”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Lyoko started to disappear.

Ulrich saw this. “Huh, what is that?”

“If Cassidy were here, she would have said something in her way,” Odd said. “But how about a gigantic invisible eraser?”

The disappearing ice was getting closer. “Let’s get outta here!” Ulrich said getting to his OverBike. “Jeremie, do something fast, huh, before it’s too late.”

They got on their vehicles and got moving.

The activated tower disappeared.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

He tried to get the supercomputer running. “Come on! Start up will you!”

**-Back to Odd and Ulrich’s dilemma-**

“Jeremie, can you hear us?” Odd asked. “We have a big bug here!” He noticed Ulrich’s OverBike disappearing.

“AH—HELP!” Ulrich yelled.

Odd corkscrewed his OverBoard and saved him.

“Thanks,” Ulrich said.

Odd was about to say “You’re welcome”, when his vehicle disappeared too. “Huh? NO!”

They both hurtled into the digital sea, screaming all the way.

**-Back to Aelita’s situation-**

The doctors were doing CPR on Aelita, as Cassidy and Yumi watched with anxiety.

Cassidy was then hit with a different vision. Aelita would get back up to normal ranges.

She whispered to Yumi about it, and she understood.

The doctors were trying their best to revive Aelita.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie was finally able to get the supercomputer online. “Whew, finally!”

**-Lyoko with the boys-**

Lyoko reappeared, saving the boys’ lives. Ulrich and Odd grabbed the ice, and picked themselves up.

Ulrich and Odd looked around. “Looks like Lyoko recharged its batteries.”

**-Back to Aelita, Cassidy, and Yumi-**

Aelita’s heart got up to the norm again.

“In all my years as a doctor that is the first time I’ve ever seen that!” said the elder doctor.

Aelita opened her eyes.

**-Back to Duncan-**

He reawakened, picked up the battery, and went on his way to the factory.

**-Jeremie-**

“Hey, we’re doing okay!” he looked to the battery. “Oh, no. The nuclear battery’s going dead!”

**-Hospital, everyone included-**

They were in a cell phone friendly area. Cassidy was given the spotlight. “The energy in the nuclear battery is almost gone, and the supercomputer will keep failing until it’ll be all dead.”

“Is that all? Then we just have to change the battery,” Odd said.

“Not so easy, Odd. There is no back-up battery, and we can’t buy one in a drugstore,” Cassidy said. “XANA is dying.”

“And so is Aelita, and all on account of that miserable link/virus,” Jeremie finished.

Everyone was getting depressed.

“I’m gonna get something to drink,” Jeremie was grief-stricken.

“I’ll get something too,” Cassidy’s eyes were filling up with tears.

So the two went to get a drink.

**-Going into Aelita’s room-**

Aelita didn’t hear the whole thing, so she didn’t know what was going on.

“Hey, Princess, is this the best TV set they could find?” Odd asked.

“Well, yeah, Odd,” Aelita cocked a brow. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Odd cocked his goofball grin, but there was something sad behind it.

“Odd, what’s going on?” Aelita was getting concerned.

“Nothing, Aelita,” Ulrich covered Odd. “He’s just joking around as usual.”

**-Back to the depressed duo-**

Cassidy’s tears dripped into her tea. She was going to lose a friend, a roommate, and a person she swore to protect at the same time. Her heart felt bulldozed in two, flattened with a steamroller, crushed with a hammer, bitten by a radioactive spider, and then smashed with a hammer…again.

Jeremie rubbed his hot chocolate. He was going to lose his princess, his sweetheart, and a person he swore to protect. His heart felt the same as Cassidy’s, sans bitten by the radioactive arachnid.

Peter Duncan came up. Cassidy sprung on him and poured her salted-tea on his head.

“Take that XANA!” She sniffled, and then sprang back into her seat.

Duncan was unaffected by this, and grabbed Cassidy. Jeremie watched in horror.

**-To Aelita’s room-**

Jeremie walked in with Yumi. “Cassidy’s been kidnapped by Peter Duncan!” Jeremie announced.

Ulrich looked worried. “He lived up to his crime?! That can’t be good!”

_BEEP!_

Aelita’s heart flat-lined again.

Yumi got worried. “Aelita!”

Odd’s cell phone rang. “Hello!”

**-Lab-**

“Odd, it’s me,” Cassidy panted in the hazmat suit. She was scared.

**-Hospital room-**

“Cassidy, what’s going on?! Aelita had another attack, thank you very much!” He practically yelled into the phone.

**-Cassidy-**

“I’m going to save Aelita’s life in a minute, and I shut down the supercomputer.”

**-Odd-**

“You did WHAT?!” Odd yelled, in his “Jim will KILL US!” voice. “Jeremie’s going to expel you from the group for this!”

**-Doctor Alert-**

“It’s room 117—little Aelita,” the doctor said. **(A/N: AELITA’S NOT LITTLE!!! End A/N)**

**-Cassidy-**

“Well aren’t you the ant’s pants,” Cassidy snorted. “Peter Duncan is under XANA’s control, and I’m going to replace the power supply. Get Aelita outta there and get to the factory with her so she can deactivate the tower.”

**-Odd-**

“Aelita’s heart won’t like this if this keeps up!” Odd said.

 _“HURRY UP!”_ Cassidy yelled, totally not in the mood for long-winded discussions at the moment.

**-Doctors are coming-**

The doctors rushed in to find an empty room.

**-The cavalry’s on the way-**

And they were, passing an unconscious Peter Duncan in a rubber dinghy in the river along the way.

**-Back to Cassidy-**

She carefully and successfully replaced the battery.

“Aelita’s going to be alive for this,” she breathed and turned on the supercomputer.

She got out of the hazmat suit and went up into the elevator. _Lucky me,_ she thought bitterly. _I get kidnapped, and I’m not a kid. I’m 14 for grievance sake._

She took it to the entrance and saw her friends and Aelita. “Glad to see that Aelita made it!”

Aelita, alive and awake, nodded with a smile. “What a day, right?”

“Yeah, Aelita, what a day, now to the tower!” Cassidy smiled.

“Yeah,” Odd said.

So Aelita, Cassidy, Yumi, and Odd went to Lyoko. Ulrich stayed behind to defend Jeremie.

The four came in contact with Kankrelats. “We haven’t seen you guys in a long time!” Cassidy smiled proudly. “Glad we could massacre you!”

She cocked her gun and shot two Kankrelats.

Odd and Yumi took three out on their own. They went to the tower and found the two Tarantulas mentioned earlier. Cassidy shot one. “YES!”

The other was killed by Odd and Yumi.

Aelita made it into the tower and entered the Lyoko Code.

“Tower deactivated!” she said.

**-Vending machines at school, the next morning-**

“Peter Duncan was found unconscious in front of police headquarters. The police are investigating but for the moment don’t have any leads on how the escaped prisoner ended up outside the police station,” Yumi read from the newspaper, the Kadic Herald.

“If we did give our names, we wouldn’t be believed,” Cassidy smiled.

Aelita smiled. Today was brilliant.

Jeremie was smiling too. “I just saw Mrs. Mayer.”

Odd’s smile flickered. “Hmm?”

“She gave me the results of the math test!” Jeremie said.

“Hey, great, what did I get?” Odd asked.

“One thousand minus twenty divided by ten minus nine minus two,” Cassidy said.

“You mean I got uh,” Odd took a minute to figure it out. “Wow! I got a hundred?” He had stars in his eyes as he looked up.

“No, 86%,” Cassidy smiled.

“That’s cool! Cassidy, I am really appreciative of your Cliff’s Notes. Keep ’em up!” Odd looked to her.

“Just helping you avoid a cero,” Cassidy had her hands in her pockets as she turned to Jeremie. “What did I get?”

“You scored a hundred, like Aelita and me,” Jeremie said.

“Great work, Cassidy,” Aelita put an arm around the psychic’s shoulder.

“Thanks.”

“What about me?” Ulrich said.

“An easy 78%,” Jeremie said. “You’re getting there, Ulrich. You’re getting there!”


	20. Jeremie's Temptation is Broken

**Temptation is here. Code Lyoko isn't mine. Cassidy is.**

Odd and Aelita were dodging trees and Hornet shots at the same time on his OverBoard.

"ODD!" A ticked-off voice shouted. It was Cassidy on her Over-Kartbed "That is the last time I allow you to persuade me to hand over Aelita!"

"What, and miss half the fun?" He shouted from above.

"Your idea of fun is just begging for a suicide and homicide note." Cassidy managed to steer so that Aelita could jump in the sidecar at any given moment. "If you want Aelita to fall in the digital sea, then—AELITA, JUMP!"

She did and landed in the sidecar. "Thank you Cassidy!"

"Attention all passengers, next stop activated tower!" the cat-warrior announced.

Ulrich pulled the autopilot on his OverBike, jumped, slicing two Hornets, and landed with perfect ease.

"Good job, Ulrich," Cassidy complimented the samurai.

"Is that Odd's idea of fun? Looks more like insanity to me," Aelita wasn't over the fact that Odd was a little reckless and almost killed the both of them.

"It looks like suicide and homicide at the same time, to me. But hey, if it's Odd, it's Odd," Cassidy faked a yawn.

They fought while on their vehicles, and soon Aelita reached the tower, thanks to Cassidy. But then the still-scarred Schyphozoa came.

Cassidy let out an unintentional mreow of fury. "Don't mess with Aelita, or me. My friend just left and the aftermath is still within me!" Hissing, she gave the jellyfish-like monster another wound to think about.

It fled. Cassidy roared. "We are the Lyoko Warriors, Destroyers of MONSTERS!"

"Great work, Cassidy!" Yumi came up on her OverWing.

Cassidy calmed down. "Thank you, Yumi!"

"You have a load of steam for a girl," Ulrich walked up to her.

"Lyoko's a punching bag, but the monsters are the targets!" Cassidy cocked her head to one side.

"Tower deactivated," Aelita's voice came from inside the tower.

" _Okay, I'll start the return to get you all home?"_  Jeremie said.

"XANA gets stronger with every return trip, and also are you  _loony in the head_?" Cassidy asked.

" _No! Why?"_ Jeremie's voice had an angry edge to it.

"Because you are about to do a stupid, nonsensical thing, and after the next one, you'll be unconscious!" Cassidy growled.

" _How do you know that?"_  Jeremie was getting increasingly ticked-off.

"Hello, I'm a  _dangerous_  psychic," Cassidy's eyebrows slanted. "I mean, where  _were_  you when I distributed my powers the first time? Sunbathing in the moonlight?"

" _It doesn't change a thing. That's my final answer!"_  Jeremie was angry now.

"Jeremie don't do this!" Cassidy's voice turned desperate.

" _Return to the past, now!"_

**-Back to the vending machines-**

"Jeremie is becoming a real pain. He just flies off the handle for no reason at all. He's like a time bomb," Ulrich said with his drink.

Cassidy sighed. "He's more addicted to the returns to the past like no other person than Franz Hopper himself. I have had a vision or two of him, but nothing nightmarish."

"And it showed an addiction to the returns such as this one?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, but it was to elude from his enemies, not to do it out of spite. Franz Hopper used the returns over 2000 times," Cassidy's eyes closed of their own volition.

Jeremie came up then.

"Well, speak of the man who argued with me not once, but twice in the course of three days. Hey, Jeremie," Cassidy was showing the cold shoulder easily.

"Just because your intentions are good, doesn't mean I have to follow every one of them to a tee! Next time I say I'm doing a return trip,  _don't stop me_!" Jeremie yelled at her.

Cassidy got really angry. "Well, if you'd allow my sage words into your head, instead of blowing them away, we would have gone back to school. Besides, XANA didn't have time to do any attacks here in the real world 'yesterday'."

Jeremie softened up a little, but nothing could divert his mood.

"Where were you?" Aelita asked.

"In my room, why? Is there a law against it?" Jeremie asked—Cassidy's mood worsened.

"Oh, bravo, Jeremie," Cassidy said sarcastically.

"What is it this time?" he rounded on her.

"You're yelling at your sweetheart!" her eyebrows slanted.

Jeremie realized his mistake and softened a bit more, this time his mood was calm. "Sorry, Aelita. I'll reword. I was in my room, researching the breaker/antivirus."

"Better," Cassidy smiled her mood also calming.

"We were worried," Yumi said.

"I'm so sorry for worrying you guys." Jeremie's eyes softened as well.

"Apology accepted," Odd said.

The bell rang and it was time for the younger warrior members to go to Mrs. Mayer's class and Yumi to go to Mrs. Hertz's class.

Mrs. Mayer was teaching length.

Jeremie was having a vision of his own and Cassidy along with it.

He was walking away from the black thing and trying to reach the light at the end.

Both boy and girl were disoriented. "Senora?"

"Yes, Cassidy, what is it?"

"Can we go to the infirmary?" Jeremie and Cassidy asked together.

"Oh, yes of course," Mrs. Mayer said.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Aelita asked the two.

"No!" Jeremie said.

"Jeremie, please, let her go with us," Cassidy begged, trying to hold her balance on her table.

"Okay, alright," Jeremie said.

**-Lunchtime-**

"Cassidy and Jeremie skipped history class?" Yumi asked.

"And gym class, too and now they're skipping lunch!" Ulrich said.

"Gym class and lunch I can understand with those two. But skipping history class is not Jeremie or Cassidy's style at all," Odd came in.

"I'll check their rooms!" Aelita was worried too. After giving Cassidy up to the infirmary, Jeremie took the chance to flee.

**-Infirmary first-**

Aelita went there first. She checked inside and found Cassidy laying there, knitting a scarf with purple and yellow yarns.

"It's for Odd when his birthday comes around. I already got your scarf and William's and Yumi's done, and Jeremie's and Ulrich's scarves are on their way," Cassidy sighed tiredly, knitting the last stitch and turning the knitting needles around to make the next row.

Aelita nodded. She could knit like a pro sometimes, and was careful not to get yarns tangled or the wrong stitch.

"And tell Jeremie that he's overworking himself and that neural helmet isn't helping either," Cassidy smiled a small smile.

**-Jeremie's room-**

There was a knock on his door. "Yes," he said in an innocent voice.

Aelita came in. "It's me. I brought the notes from the classes that you missed this morning." She carried a red binder.

"Put them down on the bed," Jeremie said.

"Cassidy says that you've been overworking yourself and the neural helmet isn't helping matters either," Aelita said.

Jeremie snorted in response. "Cassidy says a load of things, Aelita."

"She saved my life two days ago," Aelita shot back. "If it weren't for her, I would have ceased to exist. And now she's saving your life."

That spread a numb-feeling thing inside Jeremie's body. Cassidy did save Aelita's life. And he remembered.

"I'm so sorry, again, Aelita," Jeremie said.

"And she acknowledges the fact that XANA never takes a break," she nodded, as if Cassidy was there next to her.

"Aelita, there's something I have to tell you," Jeremie stood up. And before he could spit the words out,  **XANA activated a tower.**

"She also said that we already know XANA never takes a break," Aelita nodded.

**-Cafeteria-**

Rosa was picking up the salt and pepper shakers.

Odd was on his umpteenth helping.

Yumi was concerned and annoyed. "You sure you're done now!"

Ulrich's cell phone rang. "Hello!"

" _SOS, XANA!"_ Cassidy's voice rang out.

"On our way!" Ulrich said.

" _I've been discharged from the infirmary, so I can go to Lyoko or the lunchroom for this one. I think I'll pick Lyoko!"_  Cassidy said.  _"I'll meet Jeremie, Yumi, and Aelita at the lab!"_

"Are you crazy? Yumi's right—" Ulrich looked to see Yumi gone. He also noticed  **Rosa was possessed.**

"How'd she get out so fast?" Odd asked.

"I don't know!"

" _Also, don't wreck the cafeteria too badly. I think throwing tables is a good idea than throwing plates and forks and such,"_ Cassidy sounded stern.

**-TO THE FACTORY AND THE SCANNER ROOM-**

" _The activated tower's in the Mountain sector!"_  Jeremie said.

"Not bad," Cassidy commented nicely. "I was pining for a Mountain Sector mission."

"Is Yumi coming?" Aelita asked.

"She is." Cassidy warmly rubbed Aelita's shoulder.

" _What on Earth are they doing?"_  Jeremie asked as Yumi was joining Aelita and Cassidy.

"They're doing all they can. XANA has possessed Rosa," Yumi told everyone. "We'll have to make do without them."

"I already knew. And Jeremie, I think after the return, if you aren't unconscious, we should get rid of the neural helmet. I think we have a sledgehammer somewhere," Cassidy smiled wryly.

" _Okay!"_  Jeremie said.

Soon the three ladies were on Lyoko. They took the OverWing and the Over-Kartbed to the tower, but it was blocked by eighteen Kankrelats in a 6x3 formation.

"Yumi, use telekinesis. It'll divert some of these bugs away!" Cassidy said.

"Now that's an idea!" Yumi eagerly agreed.

Using the rock they were hiding behind, the geisha was able to get rid of almost all of the monsters.

"Great work. Now TO ZE TOWER!" Cassidy yelled jubilantly.

They got to the tower just in time.

**-Real World-**

Odd and Ulrich practically buried Rosa with the tables.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita entered the Lyoko Code.

"Tower deactivated."

**-Lab-**

"Return to the past now!" Jeremie typed on the program.

**-Back to the vending machines-**

Jeremie showed up with a sledgehammer. "I believe Cassidy already told you."

"She sure did. And we're all for destroying that thing," Yumi said.

So they destroyed the neural helmet on the red path.

Odd spotted something. A burnt piece of something. "Cassidy, what is this?" he picked it up.

"A burnt piece of Sissi's letter to Ulrich!" Cassidy explained.

"What did it say?" Yumi asked.

"Basically, 'I love you, signed Yumi!' I knew it wasn't your handwriting Yumi, so I snatched it, took it here, and let it burn," Cassidy said.

"Okay."


	21. Cassidy and Yumi swap? What A Fine Mess!

**Cassidy belongs to me. Code Lyoko doesn't. But who cares. This is a story! Also:**

**CY (Cassidy in Yumi's body)**

**YC (Yumi in Cassidy's body)**

**Just so you know!**

Ulrich was drawing names from on the floor. "Okay, if it says a C, Cassidy's first. Y, it's Yumi. Odd's a Z—not for zero, it was his choice."

Grabbing the little sheet of paper, Ulrich found a C. "C, Cassidy!"

Yumi came out of the scanner first. "Oh, Yumi, I lose!"

Yumi wasn't herself. She was looking about herself in a way that said, "This is not my body!"

Ulrich was concerned for his friend-turning-into-something-better friend. "Hey, Yumi, are you okay?"

Yumi was about to say something in a hair-raising panicked voice, when Cassidy and Odd came out of the scanner.

Cassidy jumped out of her scanner. "What am I doing over here, huh?" she said in Yumi's voice.

Yumi was panicking this time. She screeched in Cassidy's voice. Odd came over to her as soon as he could and tried to comfort her. He was successful.

Aelita, who came in as soon as she could, didn't hear CY's panic.

"I think we got a little problem here," Odd said.

"You call this a  _little_ problem, Odd?" CY growled.

"Uh, oh," Odd was not going to hear the end of it, he realized.

**-To the Lab-**

Jeremie scanned the results. Cassidy's DNA and Yumi's DNA didn't match.

CY was not calm whatsoever. "What do we do?" The line reminded her of a cute little girl character with blue eyes and blonde hair from a cartoon movie rated PG.  **(A/N: 20 cookies if you know the movie that has that line and the character I mentioned. Hint: 2002.)**

"Well," Odd said, trying for all of his luck to keep CY calm.

"I guess there is a little bug in the materialization program," Jeremie was sitting in the hot seat once again.

"You call this a  _little bug_ ," CY and YC said together. "We can't stay this way!"

"Well, why don't you two go back to Lyoko and get devirtualized all over again?" Odd asked. "Maybe everything will get back to normal."

"Do you want us to have  _no bodies_?" CY growled.

"Okay, bad idea," Odd said.

"No freaking duh," CY was sitting down now.

Jeremie gave the two girls a look of sympathy. This would not end well if it comes to it.

"Uh, so what do we do then?" Ulrich asked.

"We gotta fix the program," Jeremie said.

"And it will take all night, I suppose?" CY stood up.

"WHAT?" YC asked. "You mean we'll—"

"Yes, we'll have to sleep in each other's bodies," CY nodded solemnly then started to itch at something on her back. She went over to YC and asked, "Could I switch when we get to Kadic. I don't like those hooked things."

YC understood. "You can if you want to."

"Great," CY smiled with relief. "Oh, and I'm not that great with chopsticks. Could you stay with me?"

YC nodded. "That way you and I can stay out of trouble."

"Exactly."

"Hand me my cell phone," YC said.

"Here," CY handed YC her red cell phone.

"Thanks," YC started dialing for home.

CY gave YC her space, so she didn't eavesdrop.

YC nodded her approval at CY. She knew when to give people their space.

Yumi's parents picked up the phone.  _"Yumi?"_

YC got nervous, but had a strong will. "Hey, Mom and Dad, Cassidy asked if I could stay, and I want to know if it's okay with you."

" _Oh, Yumi, you know we will say yes. Cassidy is so responsible and keeps you out of trouble and dishonor. Yes, but first you have to pack your stuff,"_  Her dad said.

"Thank you, Daddy," YC said.

" _See you tomorrow after you pack your stuff,"_  her mom said.

"Thanks, Mom," YC said.

They hung up.

CY asked, "Well?"

"They said yes," YC said.

"Great," CY said. "But wait, I would have to go in and pack for you, and I don't know what to pack."

YC grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from her knapsack and started writing.

The items were super simple: a change of clothes, a couple hair ties, a vial of nail polish, and her hairbrush.

"Okay," CY said.

Aelita stayed with Jeremie to help him through the tough road ahead of them.

**-At the Ishiyama residence-**

YC smiled as CY neared the entrance. "I'll wait right here for when you come out."

CY smiled a little uncertain.

YC gave the other a look that said, "You can do it!"

CY nodded as she went inside. She walked up to Yumi's room.

Hiroki came around the corner. "Thinking about seeing  _Ulrich_  again?"

CY didn't know how to react.  _Just pack,_  she reminded herself in a command,  _that's your mission right now, just pack._

She stayed silent and went inside to pack.

"You're not embarrassed about it, are ya,  _Yumi_?" Hiroki kidded some more.

 _Aw man, I'm not Yumi. I'm Cassidy Rene' McGuire,_ CY's stomach twisted a bit.

CY had to think fast. Imitating Yumi's voice as best as she could, she said, "Beat it, Hiroki?" in a weak tone.

Hiroki stared at his "sister" and laughed. CY smirked.  _Glad I could make your day, kid._

She packed the last thing on her list and left the room.

"Have fun with  _Cassidy_  and  _Ulrich_  tonight,  _Yumi_ ," he teased again through chuckles.

CY ran out of the house and back to YC. YC could see her expression. "Are you okay?"

"One word, Yumi: Hiroki!" CY shook.

"Did you say, 'Beat it, Hiroki'?" YC guessed.

"Yeah, but I said it too weakly, and he just had a laughing fit on the floor," CY shook her head. "Just goes to show that I would be the worst Gazzy clone in the world."

"Okay, now let's head off for school," YC said.

So they did.

Jim came up as soon as the two entered the gates. "McGuire," he said. "Thank you for finding my stopwatch! If you didn't find it, I think that I would have to buy myself another one!"

YC didn't know what to say so she nodded and smiled.

"Thanks anyway," Jim was happy.

As soon as Jim left, YC got curious at CY. "What was that for?"

"Nothing, I heard from Jim that he lost his stopwatch. Luckily I found it near where the park begins. I gave it back, and there. He's happy." CY was honest to the core.

They went up to the girls' floor. "Well, I see the two loser girls are having another sleep over. What's the matter? Afraid the other's going to die if the one doesn't sleep over?"

"Beat it, Sissi! This is none of your business!" CY and YC said together.

Something didn't sit well with Sissi, but she backed off.

CY led YC into Aelita and Cassidy's dorm. "Take a load off before we have to go down to dinner. I believe it is mashed potatoes and gravy, Odd's favorite."

"Okay," YC said. "I believe that you said that you wanted to change the things, right?"

"That's right," CY said.

So they did.

"Ah, yeah, that is better," CY sighed with relief.

"Well, do you want to see Kiwi?" YC said.

"That diggity dog? Yeah I do!" CY said enthusiastically.

"You picked up on Odd's lingo, haven't you?"

"Just a little. Oh, get this imitation," CY let in a deep breath and said in an almost perfect version of Odd's voice: "What da ya think I am, a  _braggart?_ "

YC had to laugh. "That was really good."

"Thanks. And I think Odd will use that line in the future somewhere. I just don't know where," CY smiled.

Odd came in with two smack marks on his face.

CY flinched as a spark-flash came in. "Magali and Clare found out about each other?"

"Yeah."

"And they smacked you one at a time. One calling you a 'sneaky rat' the other calling you 'despicable'."

"Yeah," Odd said.

"Well you deserved it. A philanderer's path is no way to go," CY said sagely.

Odd nodded. "And what is a philanderer?"

"A boy with many girlfriends. Two in this case," CY nodded.

"And I'm sure I learned my lesson," he said. "You two coming for dinner?"

"Yeah," YC and CY said calmly.

"And since you, Cassidy, are dating William, you won't take the girl philanderer's route, are you?"

"Never, Yumi," CY said. "Soy fiel. I'm faithful."

"That's good," YC and Odd said together.

"Let's just hit to supper now, please. I'm sure that Odd's stomach will eat itself if we aren't careful!" CY got a little annoyed.

Odd nodded to YC.

**-Later on-**

Yumi in Cassidy's body was painting Cassidy in Yumi's body's nails on her left hand as Cassidy in Yumi's body petted Kiwi. "Here's a helpful hint. Don't bite your nails if you are bored or anxious." YC finished the middle finger's nail.

"I only do it when I'm bored or see that my nails are too long and I don't have a pair of nail clippers," CY said.

Suddenly CY's hand (petting Kiwi) and YC's (Holding CY's left hand) hands started to disappear and reappear as if by magic.

"I think that this is a problem," YC said.

**-The next morning at the factory-**

Jeremie was typing at the supercomputer. "I was right, Aelita. It's definitely a bug in the rematerialization program!" When he received no response, he said. "Aelita?"

Aelita was sleeping on the floor on a wire with a smile on her face, tired out from last night.

Jeremie smiled and went back to work.

**-Back to CY and YC-**

Kiwi woke up and walked over to CY's sleeping face. He gave her a few licks until she woke up. "Good morning, Kiwi," she yawned.

The gray dog went over to YC and licked her face. She woke up a little agitated. "Ah, please, Kiwi." She pushed him away.

CY yawned and stretched. Then both of her arms disappeared for two or three seconds more at the same time as YC's. Then they reappeared.

"It's getting worse," YC said.

**-The arches-**

"They only lasted a few seconds but our hands completely disappeared," YC explained to Jeremie. They were in their regular clothes.

"Strange," Jeremie said. "I'll be a lot happier when both of you are back in your  _own_  bodies. I fixed the program. We just need to restart it from Lyoko! We'll go to the factory at lunch time."

"Oh, gosh, pop quiz on linear functions today!" CY panicked. "I don't know anything  _on_  the subject. I'll fail!"

"I have some notes in my backpack," YC said.

They studied for a bit, and then the bell rang. "I'll see you near the sewers," CY said.

Jeremie and the others nodded.

**-During "Yumi's" math class-**

Cassidy in Yumi's body tried to remain calm as she sat next to her boyfriend. She gulped down a little.

William seemed to sense "Yumi's" nervousness. "You okay, Yumi!"

Trying to imitate Yumi's voice, she said, "Yeah, just a bit nervous. I studied but I am worried that I might fail."

Mrs. Mayer came in.  _Oh, no, I can't say my usual "Senora" routine to her. She'll get suspicious. Then the truth will come out and then Jeremie will have to do a return to the past. I don't like this at all!_  CY gulped a huge lump down her throat.

"Take a few deep breaths, Yumi," William advised in a whisper.

CY nodded.  _Yeah, that's right, stay calm, idiot. Oh, but why couldn't I have switched with Odd or Aelita or somebody younger so I wouldn't feel this way toward William? I hope class ends soon. I feel so conflicted sitting next to him._

"Take out your pens, please. Pop quiz on linear functions," the teacher said and passed out the quizzes.

_Okay, no problem here. I'll just zip through this test, then fake being sick and go to the infirmary. No! That'll never work; the guys are counting on me going to Lyoko. And I can't back out there by going to the nurse's office. I know, I'll just zip through the test, and then just doodle. Nothing to worry about._

What CY didn't know was that she finished the quiz with all the questions filled in correctly and that she got it turned in.

Mrs. Mayer smiled. "Okay Yumi, you may have the rest of the class to yourself for a bit."

CY nodded then went back to her seat next to William. She got out Yumi's drawing notebook, and saw some cool drawings.  _Let's see, a picture of a fan—good job. A drawing of Jeremie—probably from that Limbo experience, but overall nice job. A flower—exceptional. A drawing of me—Wow, that's neat. It looks as nice as Jeremie's drawing. Hey—that's Ulrich—Excellent—25 points for all the drawings. Ah, a blank spot. Now I can draw._

She drew a lovely outline of a horse. Then she added the detail.

"I didn't know that you loved horses, Yumi," William said.

"Uh, actually, my friend, Cassidy, loves them. She requested that I would draw one for me to keep," CY lied in imitation of Yumi's voice.

"That's really nice of her to let you keep the drawing."

"She didn't want it for herself. She just wanted me to do it to have something of my drawing collection," CY said, keeping the imitation in check.

William went back to his test.

CY put down her pencil to wipe some sweat off her forehead.  _How does Yumi stand to wear this sweater? Is she always cold? I'll never know. I'm not a stalker._

Then CY's hand started to disappear and reappear.

CY stood up. "Ma'am, I'm feeling some chills, could I please go to the infirmary?"

"Uh…yes of course, Yumi! Go ahead." Mrs. Mayer said.

CY nodded her thanks and left the room with Yumi's backpack and drawing notebook in tow.

**-To the sewers-**

"No one noticed anything in class?" Jeremie asked CY.

"No, I zipped through the pop quiz and drew a little in Yumi's drawing notebook, then that's where and when it happened," CY said.

"Nothing vulgar, I hope," YC said.

"Nope, just a horse drawing. Also you did a great job on those drawings. If I were my old art teacher, I would've given you 25 out of 25 points for each drawing that you had," CY smiled a bit.

"What do you think is the problem Jeremie and Cassidy?" Aelita came in.

"Complete disintegration because our atoms might split," CY answered in a depressed voice. "We're unstable!" She almost cried in Yumi's body.

That struck a lot of fear into the others' hearts.

"Great," YC said.

**-The Factory and then to Lyoko-**

"Yumi, I'm scared," CY said while in the elevator.

"Just stay calm, and we may get through this. Now how do you work your tube on Lyoko?" YC said.

"Just think 'Turn into a…' and add the weapon that you want—a fan, a gun, a sword, anything that may work to defeat monsters. What about your fans?" CY asked.

"Just toss them at the monsters and hit the target. And if you need telekinesis, use it—just put your fingers on your temples and allow the energy to move anything you want moved," YC said.

"Okay," CY nodded as they headed for the scanner room.

Soon, Odd, Ulrich and Aelita were on Lyoko and soon, CY and YC were in the scanners. "I hope we get back into our own bodies," CY was nervous, and wasn't afraid to let it show.

" _We will, Cassidy, just stop thinking negatively,_ " Jeremie said.

"Okay," CY said.

" _You'll have to get to a way tower due north of where you arrived,"_ Jeremie said.  _"Aelita will reboot the program from that tower and the nightmare should be over."_

CY started to hiccup a little.

YC noticed. "Jeremie, Cassidy's got the hiccups!"

CY showed a little defiance. "I—hic—am not! Just a little—hic—nervous that's—hic—all!"

" _Transfer: Cassidy. No I mean that is—uh—Yumi!"_

"Jeremie, just say CY and YC, will you?" CY got a little scared.

" _Transfer: CY, Transfer: YC; Scanner: CY, Scanner: YC, virtualization,"_  Jeremie said.

They got to the ice sector and CY was trying to balance with Yumi's virtual form. She was successful.

"And now, let's hear it for  _Catwoman_ ," YC said.

"I love that movie," CY said. "But there is no time for that."

"Well, let's go," Ulrich said enthused.

Everyone ran to the way tower. "Be right back," Aelita said.

"Okay!" CY said.

Then CY and YC started to disappear and reappear at the same time.

The attack stopped there. "I'm starting to get even more scared, Yumi," CY said.

"Just remember to stay calm and everything will be okay!" YC said.

"I hope Aelita makes it fast. This is turning into a big emergency here," Odd said.

Some Kankrelats came on the scene.

CY turned around. "Talk about a few unwanted audience members."

CY took Yumi's fan and tossed it at one of them. It disintegrated.

"Great work."

They all got down to fighting while Aelita was working on the materialization program.

**-Inside the tower-**

"Jeremie we have a big problem," Aelita said. "I can't do anything from here. The program's being run by inhibitors."

" _I'll have to deactivate them,"_  Jeremie said.  _"I'll try to find them."_

A few minutes later… _"Oh, no!"_

**-Back to the Lyoko warriors outside the tower-**

Everyone was fighting like professionals.

Aelita exited the tower. "Hurry, we have to get to Sector 5!"

CY nodded.

" _I'm bringing up your vehicles,"_  Jeremie said.

"The program's run by inhibitors and we have to shut them down, don't we?" CY sounded a little bored.

" _You guessed it, Cassidy,"_  Jeremie said.

"How do you work the Over-Kartbed?" YC asked.

"Just lay down on the bed that's there and ride it like the time we had a small Driver's Ed course," CY said.

"Oh, I see," YC said.

"I know how to work the OverWing, so you don't have to worry about anything so far!" CY got onto Yumi's vehicle.

**-Later on-**

"Are you absolutely sure we have to go to Sector 5," YC asked.

" _I don't have time to crack the millions of codes to find those inhibitors,"_  Jeremie said. "Remember…"

"I know. No getting back into our own bodies equals death," CY said in a sad voice. "And I don't want to die!"

"Just stay cool and everything will be alright!" Odd came up to CY.

"That's what people keep saying," CY almost stopped the OverWing. "But I'm scared."

Odd nodded. "Listen, we'll get through this, I'm positive."

_Oh, sure. Leave it to the Jinx to cheer me up._

CY didn't respond, but headed on their route to Sector 5.

Soon everyone was on Sector 5…except for Ulrich, who got devirtualized by a Megatank.

"I'm so glad that you didn't switch with Odd," YC said.

Odd was holding his stomach and looking sick.

"There wasn't any time to take some ginger, was there?" CY asked Odd sympathetically.

"No! I thought that this would be a regular non-Sector 5 mission," Odd said.

"It's okay," she patted Odd on the back. "Look the doors are opening."

And soon they entered the Core Zone.

But it looked like there wasn't any landscape.

"Yumi, hand me my tube, please," CY said.

"Okay," YC handed the object to her.

_Turn into a gun._

CY's thoughts made the tube turn into an ultra-powerful .22 caliber gun. "I see the key. I'm going to shoot at it."

CY took aim and fired two rounds. They both hit the key mechanism and the door on the other end opened.

"This is like zero point energy," CY said. "We'll be able to float across."

"Okay," Odd smiled. "Cassidy, I like the way you think!"

"I don't like the fact that soon Yumi and I will be dying," CY showed a sad look.

They got to the other side with no problems and into the celestial dome.

There was a slight attack with CY and YC.

"I hope we can get into our own bodies, too," YC said sympathetically.

"Okay," CY said.

Aelita worked on the interface.  _"Quick! Deactivate the inhibitors as fast as you can and don't hang around there too long! Things are going to get messy!"_

"Jeremie, she's got this, okay!" CY said. "She'll do it quickly, but if you keep bugging her she might as well not deactivate the inhibitors at all!"

" _Aelita, Hurry!"_  Jeremie said.  _"They're in the final stage of disintegration."_

"Don't SAY THAT!" CY commanded, though her voice had a sharp, sad note to it. "PLEASE don't say that!"

YC hugged CY as tight as she could.

" _Hurry up Aelita,"_  Jeremie was getting anxious.

Aelita finally deactivated the inhibitors. "That's it! Done, Jeremie. You can take over now!"

Jeremie started the reboot process. "I'll transfer it over to the rematerialization program."

Some Mantas shot at CY and YC.

"Yumi! Cassidy!" Odd shrieked.

" _I sure hope that the tweak on the materialization program worked!"_ Jeremie said.

" _I'm going down to the scanner room!"_  Ulrich's voice came through.

**-Scanner room-**

Cassidy and Yumi passed out in the scanner room.

Ulrich came in a second later. "Cassidy is that—is that —is that you?"

Cassidy woke up a bit disoriented. "Ulrich?"

"Yeah," Ulrich asked.

Cassidy smiled weakly. "Thanks for your concern the other day!" then she conked out again.

Ulrich checked Yumi.

"It's me," Yumi said. "I'm back to normal. And Cassidy is too."

"I think she's dazed." He checked the other girl again.

"Or her grief beforehand drifted into her energy and zapped it," Yumi said.

Odd and Aelita came out a few minutes later.

"Is Cassidy okay," Aelita asked.

"Just dazed, over her grief, or both," Ulrich said then shouted, "It's okay, Jeremie; we've got full recovery!"

Cassidy was out for a few minutes more. Then she awoke. She looked at herself before saying, "Yep, I'm in the right body for hopefully forever!"

Ulrich, who the gang was by her side, nodded.

Cassidy smiled. "I'm not so scared anymore. We aren't dying, and we will live another day!"


	22. We have an Ultimatum. Odd and Cassidy are Kidnapped

**We interrupt this story for a special Disclaimer. We’re going out to the field where the author has this to say:**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. But I do own Cassidy. That is all.**

Jeremie and Cassidy were explaining the EMP bomb.

“To make a long story short: We don’t have a mini-version yet, and once Big Boy, Jr. blows up the XANA person or thing is obliterated. It also affects anything electronic.” Cassidy calmed down.

It had only been a week since Cassidy and Yumi switched bodies. They didn’t avoid Lyoko. They were back on their feet in just a day.

“Is that true?” Yumi asked her.

“It is. And I believe that Big Boy, Jr. will be used today by Ulrich. And when that happens, Ulrich, drop your cell phone here and grab the walkie-talkie beside the elevator,” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Ulrich said.

“And now, let’s go to class,” Cassidy said.

Everyone agreed.

**-To Lyoko’s ice sector-**

The pulsations seemed to lead nowhere.

**-To the cafeteria’s entrance-**

Sissi, Hervé, and Nicholas strode up to Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie. “Oh, what do you know, Yumi isn’t here with you. Oh, that’s right, I just saw her with William. How stupid of me!” Sissi said.

“You do know that Cassidy is dating William, don’t you, Sissi?” Jeremie asked.

Sissi was thunderstruck. “But I thought that Yumi was going out with him.”

“They have—William and Cassidy—been dating for a few months now,” Hervé said.

“Shut up, Hervé. This doesn’t concern you!” Sissi yelled at him.

Ulrich smiled. “I can’t believe that someone who is so madly in love with me could skimp on a detail like Cassidy going out with William.”

Sissi blushed in shame and left, her cronies following along.

“That worked,” Jeremie said.

_BEEP_

_BEEP_

_BEEP_

“An activated tower—XANA’s on the move again. Too bad for our music class! Let’s get to the factory!” Jeremie stood up along with Aelita.

Jim stopped the three as Mr. Delmas walked by. “Where do you kids think you’re going? That’s the way to your classroom.” He pointed the way.

Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie couldn’t believe their luck. “Oh, no!” Ulrich said.

**-Let’s see where Delmas is going, shall we?-**

Odd and Cassidy were with William and Yumi. “Well, Cassidy and I’ve got to get to music class with the others.”

Cassidy gave William a peck.

William sounded half-bored. “Lucky you! We’ve got chemistry.”

“We’ll perfect our chemistry later, William, with ice cream. Tomorrow afternoon as it is a Saturday after all,” Cassidy smiled.

Mr. Delmas came up then.

Odd noticed. “Oh, the school principal!” he sounded grim.

“Odd, there’s something not right here,” Cassidy squeaked.

“Good morning Mr. Delmas. We were just on our way to class,” Yumi greeted brightly.

Cassidy looked up in the air. “Am I the only one that notices?”

Yumi went inside. “See you guys!” And she went into the class that she was supposed to go to.

Mr. Delmas grabbed Cassidy and Odd roughly. She screeched, “FIRE!”

That didn’t attract anything. Mr. Delmas dragged them.

William grabbed the principal’s shoulder. “What’s the matter with you, sir? You can’t treat students like that! Wait. What are you doing?”

“William, get help,” Cassidy commanded. “It’s our only hope.”

The principal looked back and kicked her boyfriend into the science building and into the bottom two steps.

He got up and limped over to where Cassidy and Odd were.

Mr. Delmas was near the gates.

“FIRE!” Cassidy yelled. “FUEGO! FIRE!”

“HELP!” Odd yelled.

“Let me go, please,” Cassidy whimpered. “This isn’t right!”

The principal shoved Odd and Cassidy into the backseat of the car parked near the entrance, then he got in the driver’s side and buckled his seatbelt.

“STOP!” William yelled.

He limped to the gates.

Mr. Delmas peeled out of the driveway and drove.

“Hey! Cassidy!” William shouted.

“WILLIAM!” Cassidy screeched.

**-Nicholas in the bathroom-**

He was playing his video game in the bathroom when he heard William say, _“Help, the principal’s gone totally crazy!”_

**-To the schoolyard-**

To Magali, Christophe, and Yumi, William continued, “He’s kidnapped Cassidy and Odd!”

The first word that came to Yumi’s mind was XANA.

**-To music class-**

The teacher was playing the flute when Nicholas came in. “Delmas has just kidnapped McGuire and Della Robbia.”

“XANA,” Jeremie said to Ulrich and Aelita under his breath.

Yumi came into the room and went to Aelita, Jeremie, and Ulrich. “This has XANA’s name written all over it!”

“No kidding,” Ulrich said.

“What kind of nonsense is this?” Mr. Alto asked Nicholas.

“But it’s true, sir,” Nicholas said. “He even beat up William Dunbar.”

That caused concern.

Mr. Alto was instantly swayed. “Don’t you move; I’ll be right back.”

Yumi felt instantly guilty. “If only I was kidnapped. That way Cassidy or Odd might have a fighting chance.”

“No, Yumi, it wasn’t your fault,” Ulrich soothed. “You had class and that’s okay.”

Yumi didn’t feel swayed by this, but kept her cool.

Jeremie received a text. He found his cell phone and saw that the message came from XANA.

He read the text out loud to Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich. “It’s a message from XANA. Aelita to the Ice Sector at 2:00 to give herself up to the Schyphozoa. If not, Cassidy and Odd will be liquidated.”

That panicked the four. Ulrich stood up. “We don’t have any time to lose!”

“We have to get to the factory,” Yumi came in.

Mr. Alto came back in. “I want everyone in their seats right now.”

Most of the students sat, but Ulrich and Yumi were the only ones standing. “How do people expect us to save the world if they don’t leave us alone?”

Yumi only shook her head in an “I don’t know” attempt.

“And quiet down.”

**-Later on-**

Cassidy woke up to freezing cold. “Tengo frío.”

“You can say that again,” Odd woke up too. “This feels north of Siberia.”

“Not even c-close Odd,” she shivered. “This l-looks like t-the freezing rooms near the wharf.”

“You are so clever, you know?” Odd put a hand around her to keep her from hypothermia.

“My _first n-name_ means clever,” Cassidy said.

Odd stood up and looked to Mr. Delmas, who was standing there.

“Odd, wait, this looks like an ultimatum. XANA wants to keep us here until 2:00 in the afternoon, then,” Cassidy trembled. “Odd, hug me!”

Odd nodded and did. Cassidy sobbed a bit. “This is not good.”

Cassidy shook her head. “No it isn’t!”

“And Delmas must’ve taken our cell phones,” Odd continued.

“He did,” Cassidy confirmed.

“In the intuitive words of our friend Yumi, we better get outta here before we freeze to death!” Odd said.

They both stood up and Odd neared him a bit. “Uh…Mr. Delmas, sir, uh…”

Mr. Delmas turned and shocked Odd.

Cassidy turned to him. “ODD!”

Then she turned to Mr. Delmas. “YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!” She ran up to him and shielded his eyes. “ODD, MOVE IT!”

Odd nodded and got up shakily running a few feet before Delmas overthrew Cassidy and sent her into her friend, sending them into the bars.

“Well, we landed ourselves in a heap of trouble,” Cassidy deadpanned.

“Well Plan A is out!” Odd did not smile one little bit.

**-Back to school-**

“Right then, everybody here?” Jim asked. “Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day! You can all go home!”

William had a little bitter thought. _And Cassidy wanted to go get ice cream tomorrow afternoon. Now she’s kidnapped. I hope she and Odd are okay._

Jeremie, Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita snuck past.

“Sissi and William, the detective would like to ask you a few questions,” Jim continued.

Sissi found Jeremie and the others and said, “Hey, what about those guys? You should question them too. They’re always scheming with Odd and Cassidy.”

“Stern, Ishiyama, Belpois, and Stones,” Jim called the surnames out.

Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremie, and Aelita stopped when called. Jeremie was struck with an expression that almost said “I’m bored”. “Definitely not our day!”

Jim had a contemptuous look on his face.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew something about what happened to my father,” Sissi continued.

“Come on, you four, follow me!” said the lead detective.

“Ready?” Ulrich asked his three friends.

“GO!” Jeremie shouted.

The four broke into a run.      

“What? Come on, get back here!” Jim yelled.

It was like a movie. Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi jumped the stairs, landing without injury and kept on running, climbing gates that the investigators and Jim had to go around.

 _Don’t go there!_ Cassidy’s words told Aelita and Jeremie when they were about to get around the science building. _That’s where they’ll corral you. Oh, and corral in verb form means surround, Aelita._

One look passed from Jeremie to Aelita, and they turned back around and confused them just a hair.

Yumi and Ulrich got away, thanks to their stamina.

But Aelita and Jeremie got caught.

Jim was determined to get Ulrich or Yumi, but **(A/N: LOL to infinity! End A/N)** he ran into a tree.

Yumi had to stop for a bit because she found a Euro on the ground. She picked it up, but got caught.

Ulrich got to the factory.

**-Cold-**

Cassidy started to shiver a lot more than normal. “My…friend is really cold. Hey, XANA…”

“Cold can kill too,” Cassidy managed to say without stuttering.

XANA-Delmas gave up his jacket.

Cassidy, with the help of Odd, wrapped it around herself. She felt a little warmer.

“Thanks, Odd,” Cassidy said. “If I wasn’t dating William, I would go out with you if necessary.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I love your jokes.”

**-Principal’s office…but without the principal-**

“Nice going, Sissi,” Jeremie said.

“Yeah, nice going!” Yumi played with the Euro she found.

Jeremie went on. “You really messed up this time. It so happens that we’re the only ones who can help your father.”

Yumi scowled at Sissi. “And you probably laid that Euro-on-the-ground trap so I could get caught.”

“What, I didn’t plant that trap!” Sissi was a little outraged. To Jeremie she added, “What do you mean?”

“Your father,” Aelita said, “has been p—possessed.”

“Oh, yeah right! Like in _Hospital of Horrors?_ ” Sissi spat sarcastically. “And he’s been taken over by some demonic entity that will make him do unspeakable things, huh?”

“Well, basically, that’s about it!” Jeremie said.

**-Back to the Wharf-**

Cassidy was shivering less and less in Delmas’s jacket. Then she heard something hit the tiles. “Our cell phones!” she murmured.

She grabbed her cell phone and dialed for Ulrich.

  **-To the factory with Ulrich-**

Ulrich opened the lid to the sewer entrance at the factory. Then he ran over to the entrance to the factory. As he swung on the rope, his phone rang. He landed and then answered his phone.

“Cassidy, are you okay? Where are you?”

 _“Near the cold rooms in the w-wharf and I believe the n-number is 56 and O-Odd and I are doing o-okay so f-far…”_ Cassidy’s voice was cut off.

**-What happened?-**

XANA-Delmas levitated the cell phones in the air and crushed them.

“Well, my parents are going to have giraffes when they hear that my cell phone was crushed,” Cassidy deadpanned.

“My parents wouldn’t mind it,” Odd said.

“That’s because they are way too understanding,” Cassidy muttered.

“What was that?” Odd asked.

“Nothing,” Cassidy said, and then yawned.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, Cassidy!” Odd said.

“Sorry,” Cassidy said. “Sometimes in freezing cold I get tired.”

“It’s okay, but I don’t want you to risk hypothermia,” Odd reasoned.

“Thanks, Svelte,” Cassidy teased a little.

Odd chuckled.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Cassidy? Cassidy?” Ulrich asked repeatedly.

He hung up. Then he turned his attention to the EMP bomb that Cassidy labeled Big Boy, Jr.

There was a note beside it. Ulrich went over and read it. It was instructions on how to operate Big Boy, Jr.

“Cassidy thinks of everything,” he smiled a little.

**-Back to where Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, and Sissi are-**

“So, in order to help my father, you have to go and deactivate a tower that’s in a virtual universe,” Sissi asked.

“Look, does Jeremie have to draw you a picture? That’s how we do things when XANA activates a tower,” Yumi was irritated.

“My last question: Why should I help a couple of completely whacko, pathological liars, huh?” Sissi was still not believing everything Aelita, Yumi, and Jeremie had told her.

“Keep it down!” one of the police officers that was one of the guards said.

“It’s not us you’ll be helping. It’s your father,” Aelita tried to reason. “You have to trust us. I’m begging you.”

William came out of the interrogation room. “Thank you, you can go home now!” the lead detective said to him.

William went along his way, still worried over Cassidy and Odd’s sakes and lives hanging in the balance.

The lead detective called Sissi in. “Elizabeth Delmas, it’s your turn.”

**-Let’s see what wild (Wild in the streets) tale she comes up with-**

“It’s true that my father’s been acting kinda weird for a while now. He’s taken into locking himself in the basement to tinker around and he says strange things, too. The other day, he told me he was fed up with life. I told him it was only natural for a school principal with such a heavy load to feel that way. And then he started laughing in a really crazy way, and said that he did have a heavy load but he hadn’t decided where to set it off, yet. And then I also heard him on the phone saying he gotten some material. I didn’t really get what he said. But it sounded like decorators or destinators or…”

 “DETONATORS?” The lead investigator/detective, listening to the story that Sissi said, stood up.

“Yeah, that was it!” Sissi seemed proud of herself.

**-Outside the office-**

“EVACUATE THE SCHOOL!” The lead detective commanded, exiting the room.

That swirled confusion to Yumi, Jeremie, and Aelita.

Sissi was so proud of herself.

**-Evacuation-**

Sissi, Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie ran off the campus grounds. Yumi went on ahead. “I’m going to back Ulrich up in case he needs me.”

Jeremie nodded in understanding and approval. When he, Aelita, and Sissi stopped, to Sissi, he said, “Thanks for trusting us, Sissi.”

“Don’t mention it. But if your story about a virtual world turns out to be phony, you’re going to regret it.” Sissi threatened, and Jeremie’s cell phone rang.

 Jeremie picked it up. “Ulrich, where are you?”

**-To Ulrich-**

“On my way to the refrigerated warehouses,” Ulrich was using his skateboard to transport Big Boy, Jr. “I’m going to try to set Cassidy and Odd free.”

Yumi came up to him. “You mean _we_ are going to try to set Cassidy and Odd free!”

**(A/N: Don’t ask how Yumi got over to Ulrich so fast, she just did! End A/N)**

“Okay,” Ulrich corrected himself. “We’re going to try to set Cassidy and Odd free.”

**-To Jeremie-**

“XANA’s ultimatum expires in fifteen minutes,” Jeremie checked his watch.

**-Back to Ulrich and Yumi-**

“We’ll go as fast as we can,” Ulrich said. “Meet you at the factory.”

**-The romp through the park-**

“Sissi,” Jeremie noticed, “What are you doing?”

“I’m coming with you,” Sissi panted. “Remember my father’s involved in this. And I want to check out this virtual world business you’ve been blathering about.”

“Oh, alright,” Jeremie conceded.

They made their way to the park.

**-Ulrich and Yumi made it; to the factory-**

“Wow! I feel like I'm in a James Bond movie!” Sissi said.

 “XANA doesn’t waste time!” Jeremie said to Aelita. “Your friend, the Schyphozoa, is waiting for you.”

“How much time before the ultimatum is up?” Aelita asked.

“Two minutes,” Jeremie said grimly.

**-Lyoko-**

The Schyphozoa was waiting for Aelita, alright.

**-Ulrich and Yumi-**

They got to chamber 56, but there was no one there. Cassidy was wrong, but she tried her best anyway.

Ulrich’s phone rang. He picked it up. “Hurry, one minute to go, Ulrich and Yumi.”

“But Jeremie, there are dozens of cold rooms here!” Ulrich said.

**-Back with Aelita, Jeremie, and Sissi-**

“I should have handed myself over to the Schyphozoa,” Aelita was getting to the point in which she might give up.

“NO! Ulrich and Yumi are going to make it,” Jeremie looked to the computer screen. “The ultimatum is up!”

**-To Odd and Cassidy-**

XANA kicked into action and turned around to Odd and Cassidy. He (Odd) was awake, but she ended up asleep. XANA-Delmas started over to Odd and Cassidy. The odd-balled boy noticed, but the dangerous psychic didn’t.

**-Ulrich and Yumi-**

They heard Odd scream in pain.

**-Back to Odd’s predicament and Cassidy’s terror-**

“ODD!” Cassidy woke up when Odd started screaming. She stood up and tried to make a move to XANA-Delmas, but got electrified too.

She ended up screaming too.

**-Ulrich and Yumi are on their way-**

They got to the right room and Ulrich said, “Jeremie, Big Boy, Jr. It won’t blow away the principal, will it?”

**-Back to the lab-**

“Uh…theoretically speaking, no,” Jeremie said.

**-Time to unleash Big Boy, Jr.-**

“Watch out!” Ulrich called out.

XANA-Delmas did and the bomb exploded. It was almost like a return trip, but without the going-back-in-time bit.

Cassidy came to when it was over. “We’re not dead?” she asked weakly. Then she realized. “WE’RE NOT DEAD!” She whooped for joy and gave Ulrich and Yumi the biggest hug they had ever received since the time that Aelita came back to life on Lyoko (“Jeremie, I’m ready for my materialization now!”).

“Let’s get outta here,” Odd said.

**-Jeremie-**

“Ulrich, Yumi, can you hear me?” He asked, then spotted a walkie-talkie.

He picked it up and said, “This is Jeremie calling Ulrich. Come in, Ulrich!”

 _“We’re okay, and Cassidy and Odd are too,”_ Ulrich replied.

Jeremie sighed with relief.

 _“We’re going to the factory now,”_ Cassidy’s voice came in.

That sent relief waves all around the Lab.

**-On their way to the factory-**

Cassidy saw Delmas coming. “Stop!”

Nothing happened.

“HALT! FREEZE! Go to the freezer! Fall into thin ice! Take anhydrous ammonia! Hibernate! Anything!” She called rapidly.

Time was still going.

“Darn it!” Cassidy was shocked. “It worked one time. And I was sure that it would work this time.”

“Maybe you can’t do it because it was for that one time,” Yumi said.

Cassidy was at a loss for words. “Then I’ll defend against Delmas, get going! I’ve got a clean slate.”

Yumi, Odd and Ulrich nodded. “See ya!”

Cassidy cracked her knuckles. “Show me what ya got, XANA. You don’t scare me.”

**-To the lab-**

“There you are!” Jeremie said. “But where’s Cassidy.”

“And what about my father? Is he all right?” Sissi asked the gang.

“Couldn’t be better. He’s outside playing with Cassidy?” Odd said. “And she tried to stop time, but this time it didn’t work.”

“To Lyoko!” Jeremie said.

The four Lyoko warriors nodded as they headed down to the scanner room. Sissi went up to help Cassidy.

**-With Cassidy-**

She was doing okay. She dodged another one of XANA-Delmas’s sparks. “You know, that ultimatum was really lame. Just like that supposed mud attack!” Cassidy insulted.

“BANZAI!” a voice yelled. There was a flash of pink and black mixed together and the person clearly had a bar.

“Sissi!” Cassidy smiled. “Even though I never really say this often, but am I glad to see you?”

“Let’s get going on this,” Sissi said.

**-Lyoko-**

The three defenders landed with perfect timing. Aelita came in last. “We’re ready to go!” Yumi said.

They looked for the activated tower, but they couldn’t find it.

 _Check the ice cave entrance at the top of the mesa,_ Cassidy’s words tiptoed into Aelita’s head.

“Cassidy’s paraphrased words say that we should check in the ice cave entrance on top of the mesa,” Aelita said.

“Cassidy sure is smart,” Yumi said.

“But she says she’s not a genius. She just does schoolwork and everything to get good grades,” Ulrich said. “And she is creative. One time, I caught her drawing a horse, but she didn’t know I was there.”

So they fought the tarantulas that were there and they descended into the ice cave entrance.

Aelita deactivated the tower in the nick of time.

**-With Sissi, Cassidy, and Mr. Delmas-**

Mr. Delmas passed out.

Sissi got worried over her dad. “What’s gonna happen to him now? I mean, with the kidnapping and everything.”

“He’ll be fine, but you and he and everyone else won’t remember anything!” Cassidy panted the signs of the fight gone.

“And you and your friends?” she asked.

“We’ll remember, but it’s complicated how we remember,” Cassidy was about to pass out.

“I bet you’ll remember this hug for helping?” Sissi gave Cassidy a hug.

“You can go ahead, Einstein. I wonder which would be worse… being blind or having to see this!” Odd had Sissi’s phone. He was devirtualized after the tower was deactivated. And he went to check on how Cassidy and Sissi were holding up.

Cassidy passed out in Sissi’s hug.

**-Two-step to the whole-green lab-**

Jeremie started typing.

Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich came up from the scanner room. “What’s going on at the bridge?” Yumi asked.

“Odd won’t say!” Jeremie pressed enter. “Return to the Past, Now!”

**-Back in time-**

Cassidy explained what happened on the bridge near the cafeteria entrance. “And so, she gave me a hug, and I blacked out! No big deal.”

Aelita nodded. “That’s good.”

“Better watch it. Sissi’s on the way!” Cassidy’s eyes got a little light.

“What do you know, Yumi isn’t here with you. Of course not, I saw her with William. How stupid of me!” Sissi strode up.

“Sissi, I’m dating him. Yumi isn’t, but that’s okay though,” Cassidy said. “You didn’t know, and that’s okay.”

Yumi came up after Sissi left. “What happened at the bridge?” she asked.

“Sissi hugged me for helping. No big deal,” Cassidy explained. “I passed out due to all the fighting.”


	23. Brr...It's Cold Outside Today

**Disclaimer: Please believe that I don’t own Code Lyoko.**

**Claimer: I do own Cassidy. And that’s the truth.**

**-Lyoko-**

A tower in the ice sector activated.

**-Jeremie’s room-**

Jeremie was sleeping when his computer beeped. He got out of bed, put on his glasses and saw that there was a weird-acting super-scan. “Something is not right here!”

But it disappeared and made a funny noise.

“What do you mean, _quack?”_ Jeremie asked his computer.

His cell phone rang. He picked it up. “Hello, you’ve reached Jeremie’s mobile. How may I help you?”

 _“I’m not sure what makes a computer quack, but go to sleep, Jeremie. TV’s coming, and we have to be in prime condition,”_ Cassidy’s voice was groggy.

Jeremie wasn’t sure if it was a TV or something else. He shrugged and they hung up without another word.

“An alarm signal and no activated tower? That’s weird,” Jeremie crawled into bed.

**-The next morning-**

Yumi was on her way to tell her friends that T.V. was coming.

**-To Jeremie’s room with Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

“And you are sure of the alarm last night?” Aelita asked him.

“He was a little out of it, but he heard it,” Cassidy stretched, giving Odd his film. “So that way you can stop going on a Man Hunt for your DVD film _I Guess our Guest is a Ghost_.”

Odd was excited.

Yumi came in. “T.V.’s going to be here in five minutes.”

“And Odd’s future career is not going down the toilet,” Cassidy smiled.

**-Outside Kadic’s administration building-**

A car pulled up. Its door opened to reveal Thomas Vincent. He had a hint of gray in his brown hair. His face looked strict, but not too strict.

Mr. Delmas and Jim greeted him and his camerawoman when they got into the door. “My dear T.V., on behalf of the students and faculty, we’re very honored that you—” Mr. Delmas was interrupted.

“Okay, okay, no big deal, uh—time is money. This is Edna, my camera—uh—woman, person, whatever—Never on time.” T.V. turned to Edna. “Show up late one more time and you’re finished. I’ve got 150 cameramen who’d kill for a chance to work with T.V.” He then turned to Jim. “You, Sweatshirt, park my car away from the kids. I don’t want them scratching it.” He threw his keys at him.

**-To Science Class-**

“Now let’s continue with our study of plant life. After our field trip last week, I asked you to calculate the yield of the field of corn that we visited. Now, who can give me the answer?” Mrs. Hertz spotted Nicholas’s head slam down into his desk and asked him. He jumped back up.

“Yeah? 1,527 tons!” Nicholas said.

“That’ll solve world hunger,” Cassidy cracked and everyone, including Mrs. Hertz, laughed.

Mrs. Hertz soon quieted the class down and T.V. came in.

She turned to him. “Yes?”

He didn’t pay attention to Mrs. Hertz. He gave an order to Edna. “Give a pan-around shot of the kids.”

Mrs. Hertz went up to them. Sissi stood up and joined her. “Ahem,” Mrs. Hertz said. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, get out of the shot!” He ordered.

Mrs. Hertz hmphed.

T.V. got in front of the camera after Mrs. Hertz reluctantly got out of the way. “Do our schools provide a future for our youth, faced with the teacher’s bland attitudes? We have reason to doubt. To see how bad it’s become—” He walked over to Jeremie’s table. Cassidy was beside him—“all you need to do is pick a student at random, and ask the student her grade point average. You for example?” He pointed the mike at Cassidy.

“89.23% for the term,” Cassidy sighed into the microphone.

“And how do you feel about the school so far?”

“I feel great about it. I have my friends, and my enemies, but more former than the latter I guess. And my roommate is great,” Cassidy faked a smile. She knew all about him before he arrived. But she didn’t have time to be rude and such.

“And does this school provide a future for you?”

“Yeah it does, this school was founded on the bases that we needed an education in France.” _So put that in your transcript and read it._

“Well, you’ve got a positive attitude off this school huh?”

“You got it! And to help one of my friends, Odd?” Cassidy asked for the DVD that Odd was about to look for. “He wants you to have this as a gift for you.”

“Well that’s really sweet,” T.V. seemed to soften before his old personality crept back on him. “So now you know about this school from one of the students’ mouths.”

**-After Class-**

“Oh, no!” Jeremie took out his laptop.

“Activated tower, oh joy!” Cassidy sounded bored out of her mind. “XANA really needs to decide where to plot his towers. Mountain or ice!”

Jeremie nodded. “And how’d you know it was—” he stopped himself, because last time he argued with her, he was sorry for it. **(A/N: Check the Temptation chapter)** “Never mind.”

“I’ll warn Yumi!” Ulrich had his mobile out and ready in a second.

“And we won’t miss Meatballs and Gravy day, I promise!” Cassidy nodded to Odd.

**-Lyoko-**

Everyone was ready to go to the activated tower in the Mountain Sector. They came across some Hornet problems, but no problems were too much for the Lyoko Warriors.

They took out eight out of nine Hornets, but the last one took a hike.

“BLOODY EVIL COWARD! RAVEN STARVER! BILGE RATS!” Cassidy shouted.

“BUNCHA CHICKENS!” Odd shouted with her.

“Weird, I guess XANA’s not up to snuff today!” Yumi commented.

“But he can’t be. We changed the battery, giving him and Aelita life. Aw, well,” Cassidy shrugged. “Odd’s favorite meal of the day is here.”

  _“Well, hurry up!”_ Jeremie’s voice sounded pleased.

Everyone headed to the tower…

But then…the tower deactivated itself.

“XANA! Make up your mind, ice or mountain!” Cassidy yelled to the virtual “wind”.

“Well, what does it mean, Cassidy and Jeremie,” Aelita asked them.

“My powers suggest that XANA is having a hard time choosing sectors—ice or mountain. He’ll choose ice, I believe, next time,” Cassidy said.

Aelita nodded.

**-Back to the lab then-**

A tower activated…again.

“Ice Sector,” Jeremie said. Then the tower deactivated…again.

“He’ll put his final pin on the Ice Sector again, and XANA’s mind will have been made by then,” Cassidy said.

Jeremie took Cassidy’s word for it. “Go to lunch, I’ll stay here and try to work all this out! If anything happens, I’ll give you a shout.”

“Rhyming person,” Cassidy muttered happily to Odd.

“I’ll stay with you. With the two of us, it’ll go faster,” Aelita said.

**-Lunchtime without Jeremie and Aelita-**

T.V. cut in front of the line and was about to order Rosa around.

 _“_ _¡Consiga en línea y espere su vuelta como el resto de nosotros, usted cerdo egoísto!”_ Cassidy yelled at Thomas Vincent.

Those not fluent in Spanish were confused. Even Hervé was confused.

Yumi pulled Cassidy back and whispered in her ear, “What did you say?”

“I told him to get in line and wait like the rest of us. And I called him a selfish pig,” Cassidy whispered back.

Yumi raised her brows in disapproval.

“I don’t like T.V. I like television, but not Thomas Vincent,” Cassidy explained. “I sensed every bad thing about him before his arrival. He cares only about himself. He thinks the world revolves around him, like Sissi.”

Yumi nodded.

Thomas Vincent was shocked to hear that a student at Kadic could speak Spanish…and yet so fluently, too. He translated what she said and moved to the back of the line as Cassidy commanded.

“It worked?” Cassidy asked. “I thought it wouldn’t work. It shouldn’t have worked. I mean, my gosh, I—”

“Cassidy, calm down,” Ulrich said. “If your plan worked, it worked. Nothing to get all worked up about.”

“But it—”

Odd gave Cassidy a Gibbs-slap. She stopped babbling like an idiot. “Thanks Odd.”

“De nada, señorita,” Odd smiled.

**-With Sissi, Nicholas, and Hervé-**

“Any guy who had wheels like this I’d go out with in a heartbeat,” Sissi put a finger on T.V’s car.

Nicholas went off saying, “Okay, I’m out of here. I’m starving.”

**-Back to the lab-**

The super-scan went to work. Jeremie and Aelita were trying to figure it out. Then a tower activated back up in the Ice Sector.

Aelita was getting a little worried. “It’s starting up again. Should I tell the others?”

“Hang on, it might deactivate by itself again,” Jeremie said.

The tower beeped and then…

**-The television satellites-**

**XANA flew from there into the sky.** The sky started to cloud.

**-Back to Ulrich, Odd, Cassidy, and Yumi-**

They were eating lunch.

**-Outside the cafeteria-**

A lone snowflake fell to the ground, followed by its comrades.

**-Back inside-**

“Look,” Ulrich looked up from his meal, “It’s snowing!”

Cassidy smiled and so did a lot of kids her age or younger or older.

“RIGHT ON!” Odd yelled—his mood was really getting good.

**-Factory trip :( -**

The super-scan was up again. The same tower had been detected for over an hour.

“Jeremie, the tower’s still activated,” Aelita said.

Jeremie looked. “Uh, oh, bad news. Maybe this time XANA _is_ attacking.”

**-NOW IT’S TIME TO HAVE SOME FUN :)-**

Everyone was having fun. Jim tried to trample the kids’ spirits but ended up whacked with a snowball, thrown by none other than the school principal.

Yumi raced by with two brown-haired chasers—snowballs abound—at her heels. They were laughing it up.

She answered her cell phone. “Yes, Jeremie.” A pause as the two chasers found her and Odd found her too. She hung up her phone and told Ulrich, Cassidy, and Odd. “XANA’s attacking.”

Cassidy half-whined. “And Ulrich and I were about to let you have it.”

The wind picked up. Then it was like everyone was hyped up on sugar and was on a mad dash to the boiler room.

Odd and Yumi found Milly and Tamiya and helped them inside the dorm entrance.

“Don’t say it, I already know. We have to go to you-know-where and stop you-know-who,” Cassidy frowned.

**-Factory-**

_“Jeremie, we’re stuck at school because of the blizzard,”_ Yumi called him.

“A NIGHTMARE!” Jeremie yelled. “XANA’s back to his old self.”

**-Sissi and Hervé-**

They tried the door. “Closed, now what?” Hervé asked.

“F-f-follow me,” Sissi stuttered.

They got into T.V’s car, and Hervé tried to start it.

Finally it kicked. Sissi noticed, “Cool, the Subsonics.” She put it in and Break Away played.

**-The dorm room entrance-**

Jim started handing out blankets and warm equipment. Joking to T.V. he said, “Here Mr. T.V. This will keep your hair in place.”

Edna laughed at the ridiculous hat that T.V. had on.

Cassidy came over to her. “I know he’s treating you like the worst behaved dog in history, but you don’t have to take that. When/if you quit, give him a Gibbs slap and chew him out. That should make you feel better,” She whispered gently.

Edna nodded.

Jim found his thermometer and showed it to Mr. Delmas. It was four degrees below zero outside and it was thirty-seven degrees inside.

“Thirty-seven?” Mr. Delmas was appalled. “Come on; let’s go down to the boiler room.”

Jim ordered everyone to follow suit.

**-Sissi and Hervé-**

“It’s—a scientific fact that if we huddle together, we’ll be warmer,” Hervé was so desperately in love with Sissi but she was too busy stalking Ulrich to care.

He earned a slap. “It’s a scientific fact that a good _slap_ will keep your cheek warm,” Sissi was outraged.

**-To Edna and the rest-**

She turned her camera on to film the kids. Mr. Vincent didn’t approve.

“Edna, stop wasting film—an unbelievable deep freeze has taken hold of the city and what are you shooting? Three br**s in a basement! **(A/N: I’ll tell you the word at the end of this chapter. End A/N)** It’s not even PG-13! People expect spectacular TV from T.V. So let’s get out of this _rat hole_ and go where the action is—the city!”

“Not with me! I quit!” Edna said. Then she took on the advice of Cassidy and Gibbs-slapped him and chewed him out.

After, she went to join Cassidy and the others. “Thank you. And yeah, I do feel better.”

Cassidy smiled.

T.V. took Edna’s camera and started to make his way out of the boiler room. “Can’t have cold feet on this job.”

Jim tried to stop him. “You can’t go outside; it’s forty below out there.”

“My car keys!” He demanded.

Jim couldn’t find them and T.V. got really angry and left.

“Did you hear that?” Ulrich said. “Forty below and there’s no reason for XANA to stop there!”

“The only solution is…” Odd said.

“For us to go to Lyoko,” Cassidy finished in her heavy white coat with fake fur around the hood. “We’ll scope the rooms for warmer equipment then we’ll try to go to the factory.”

Then a vision flashed in her eyes. She shook out of it and gasped.

“What is it?” Ulrich said.

“Um…nothing, just a bit of a cold chill—no joke,” Cassidy lied.

They snuck out of the boiler room.

**-With Hervé and Sissi-**

Hervé was getting unintentionally tired. Sissi got worried.

“I’m warning you now Hervé, if you fall asleep, I’ll slap you again,” she threatened.

Just then, the darkish part of Hervé’s hair turned white with snow and an angry T.V. came in.

“What do you think you’re doing in _my car?_ ” He demanded. “ _Get out_ _of here!”_

Sissi was shivering. “Hey, you’re not going to leave us in this blizzard are you?”

“Fine, I’ll drop you off. Get in the back and don’t get my soft, leather seats dirty, got it?” Thomas said.

He then closed the door and started driving.

**-Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Cassidy-**

They were running to the factory, but then stopped when T.V’s car crashed into a tree.

“Did you see that?” Ulrich asked his friends.

“None in the group are blind to this, Ulrich,” Cassidy said. “So yeah, we saw it!”

“We gotta go and help them,” Yumi said.

Everyone slid down to help T.V. and his unintentional passengers.

**-With Jim and everyone-**

“S-sir,” a boy named Michael asked.

“Yes, Michael?” Jim asked.

“How c-cold is it?” Michael shivered.

Jim held the hand holding the thermometer to steady it and said, “Fifty-eight degrees below zero outside. T-twenty-three degrees in here!”

That worried the principal.

**-Factory-**

“A deadly cold snap has hit the city, which was buried with ice and snow in a matter of minutes,” the news reporter on the screen said. “The authorities have put the emergency cold weather…”

Jeremie panicked. “Oh, no!”

**-To Ulrich, Odd, Cassidy, Yumi, Sissi, Hervé and T.V.-**

They helped Hervé and Sissi out. Then T.V. came out, cold and stuttering, “It-it wasn’t my fault!”

Cassidy interrupted him, “Get inside before I let you have my _anger_.”

T.V. nodded and led Sissi and Hervé inside.

Suddenly there was a sickening _crack_ and Yumi pushed Ulrich away at the same time that Cassidy pushed Yumi away.

Yumi and Ulrich were shoved into the snow. There was a sharp yelp and they found a minute later, Cassidy under the tree.

“Cassidy?” Yumi came over and rubbed some of the snow off her.

“Are you okay?” Ulrich asked.

“This is where I hate my visions,” Cassidy came up.

“We’ll get you out of there!” Ulrich said. The three pushed with all their might, but they couldn’t move the tree off her.

“Odd, get to Lyoko! Aelita needs you!” Cassidy panted a little. “Just think of hot things while you get to the factory.”

Odd looked to her as if to say, “Are you crazy?”

“Just GO!” Cassidy forced out her words. “I’ll be okay, just go.”

Odd gave Ulrich and Yumi a shivery “Good luck” and ran to go to the factory.

Ulrich went off and Yumi informed Cassidy what he was thinking about doing.

“Well, if I do survive this, let’s hope that my coat was thick enough,” Cassidy smiled a little.

Yumi nodded.

**-Jeremie and Aelita-**

“We have no choice, Jeremie,” Aelita said.

“But that’s exactly what XANA’s waiting for, Aelita. For you to go to Lyoko alone so he can steal your memory,” Jeremie argued.

“If someone doesn’t go and deactivate that tower, Yumi, Cassidy, Ulrich, and Odd will die of cold and the entire city with them,” Aelita sounded worried.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right, I’ll launch the virtualization process,” Jeremie turned to go to the computer.

**-With Ulrich and Yumi-**

Ulrich found a chain and made a pulley system with Yumi’s help.

Cassidy was still awake, though the two could tell she wanted to sleep. “You can sleep later,” Ulrich assured her.

They pulled on the chain. The tree lifted a little, but they slipped and it crashed on Cassidy, making her yell in pain. Her senses were knocked awake.

“This truly and utterly stinks on ice,” Cassidy groaned into the snow.

“Look who’s talking,” Ulrich muttered.

“Touché,” Cassidy said.

**-With Jeremie and Aelita-**

Aelita was on her way to the tower on the OverBike. _“Look out Aelita, Hornets on the way!”_

“I can’t see anything for now,” Aelita said.

A shadow passed over her. Aelita looked up and then saw two more monsters following its leader. “They’re not Hornets; they’re Flying Mantas.”

 _“Huh, but they never leave Sector 5,”_ Jeremie sounded appalled.

Aelita gunned the OverBike as fast as it would go. “We have to face facts. XANA is getting more and more powerful.”

 _“About face, Aelita, FAST!”_ Jeremie ordered.

The Mantas surrounded the tower, and as soon as Aelita about faced, she saw the Schyphozoa. “No!”

**-With Jim-**

He put the last piece of wood in the flames. “Well, that should do it.”

Mr. Delmas was not as sure though.

**-With Odd-**

He was doing a great job, thinking of hot stuff. He ran down the list a thousand times.

 _I’m feeling warm already,_ Odd smiled a little as he went inside the factory.

**-With Aelita-**

Aelita turned away from the Schyphozoa easily, but the Mantas were following her.

Then…

“Flying mines,” Aelita had to turn around again.

**-Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

The two pulled on the now white with snow chain, but then it broke.

Ulrich and Yumi pleaded with Cassidy to stay with her.

“Stay with us,” Ulrich sounded like he was whining.

Cassidy picked her head off the ground. “I’m not going anywhere!”

“Don’t be brave,” Yumi said.

“I’m not right at the moment,” Cassidy softly retorted.

**-Lyoko-**

The Mantas put a wall of mines right to the jellyfish-like monster.

Aelita then used her creativity to try to get herself out of the predicament she was in at the moment.

**-Jim and the other kids and faculty-**

“Okay, no sleeping,” Jim tried to keep the already tired crowd from falling asleep.

He decided to tell a story.

T.V. almost stole Milly and Tamiya’s blanket.

**-Factory-**

Odd was getting colder and colder as he neared the elevator.

**-Jim’s keeping a good story; and T.V just got served; next scene-**

Aelita got caught by the Schyphozoa.

**-Ulrich and Yumi-**

They were trying to keep Cassidy from falling asleep. “Please, hang on,” Ulrich begged.

“Odd’s probably on Lyoko already,” Yumi shivered.

**-Odd-**

He fainted he said the last word, “Magma!”

Jeremie noticed and helped him.

**-Aelita-**

She was running hard, trying to stay away from the jellyfish-like monster.

**-Odd’s where now?-**

Jeremie put him in the scanner and ran to the elevator to take it to the lab and virtualize Odd.

**-Aelita-**

Aelita got caught and her memory was starting to drain.

**-Jeremie-**

He virtualized Odd.

**-Lyoko-**

Odd landed on his OverBoard. “Oh, no—more ice.”

He was a little groggy, but he got out of it in no time.

He went over to Aelita and the Schyphozoa.

**-With Cassidy’s situation-**

“Leave me,” she muttered.

“You’re not getting rid of us that easily,” Ulrich cracked a bit.

Cassidy smiled.

**-To Odd’s quest-**

Odd stopped the Schyphozoa just in time.

Now it was time to evade the Mantas after he caught Aelita.

**-Jim’s story got interrupted; next scene-**

Odd swerved back and forth to avoid getting hit.

Then the Mantas surrounded the tower with more flying mines.

Odd told Aelita to hang on tight as he swerved around the mines.

**-Cassidy-**

“Please,” Ulrich and Yumi pleaded. “Cassidy, don’t give up.”

Cassidy was now trying to sleep.

“We need you to fight against XANA!” Ulrich said. “And to warn us if we are about to do a stupid thing or not.”

**-Lyoko-**

The two were avoiding mines and laser shots like pros. Aelita warned, “Odd, the Flying Mantas are behind us.”

Odd dove down to hover above the ground but below the fray. One of the Mantas got destroyed.

They got up again when it was better then another Manta got in the way. He used his laser arrow on one of the monster’s fins and it corkscrewed down and got destroyed, leaving a clear passage to the tower.

**-Cassidy’s situation-**

Yumi and Ulrich both let a tear fall from their faces, only to feel it freeze in place. “We need you!”

**-To Odd, Aelita and Jeremie-**

Aelita ran in the tower and deactivated it.

Odd got devirtualized by a Manta.

**-Back to Cassidy’s situation-**

The sun came and melted some of the snow away.

Ulrich and Yumi “woke up”. “Cassidy?”

They checked her breathing but it was too light to tell if she was breathing or not.

Ulrich tried his cell phone, but it was dead. Yumi’s was too.

They both cried out in anguish.

**-Back to the lab-**

Odd took the elevator up and said to Jeremie. “Jeremie, Hurry up. Launch a return to the past! Cassidy’s in trouble!”

Jeremie nodded. “Return to the Past, Now!”

**-Back in time-**

Cassidy was alive. “Just tired,” she muttered.

“I got us all excused from classes,” Jeremie said. “We can take care of Cassidy for a little while.”

“I can move too,” Cassidy smiled a little.

“Thanks for saving my life back there,” Yumi said.

“You’re welcome,” Cassidy yawned.


	24. Whoa! MAJOR Déjà vu

**Disclaimer: do I have to say it? Check chap. 23/22.**

**Cassidy is owned by me.**

Aelita was having another nightmare.

Some men in black suits were chasing her at the Hermitage.

Aelita woke up screaming. Cassidy did too. As Aelita walked over to the bathroom, Cassidy followed her to defend her against Sissi.

Splashing cold water on her face, Aelita was surprised to see Sissi come in.

“Was that you screaming, huh?”

“Sissi, leave Aelita alone!” Cassidy growled. “She’s having a rough night. Now go to sleep, unless you want Jim in the girls’ bathroom at four o’clock in the morning.”

Aelita hugged Cassidy and sobbed some relieved sobs. Cassidy smiled sympathetically and gave her a gentle-but-firm hug. Sissi left the two girls then.

Jim came in a minute later. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Nothing, Jim. Aelita is having a rough night right now, and I’m helping making her feel better,” Cassidy said.

“Okay,” Jim said.

Cassidy led Aelita back to their dorm room. Jeremie opened the door to his dorm. “Aelita, Cassidy, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing,” Aelita said.

Some of the students popped their heads out.

“Now, go to sleep or something,” Cassidy sighed. “We won’t be able to do anything tomorrow if we are out of energy.”

Soon it was lights out.

**-The next morning-**

Cassidy’s head was swarming with stuff.

“Still dating over the internet, Odd?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Odd said.

“My mom met my real dad over the internet, and from the word go they married in 1999 and in 2001 had my young sister,” Cassidy said.

“How do you know all that?” Odd asked.

“I was there for their wedding, and when my mom was pregnant with my sister, I went to my grandma’s house where the next morning she gave me the news,” Cassidy smiled, head still swarming with visions.

Meanwhile, Aelita was confiding in Jeremie. “It was daytime, there were these men in black coming after me. It was horrible.”

“I sensed this happening,” Cassidy sighed as if grieved. “It has something to do with the Hermitage. I know it!”

“You must’ve had a nightmare,” Yumi said. “You shouldn’t get all worked up about it. It happens to everyone.”

Cassidy sighed, feeling ignored.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Odd smiled. “Happens to me all the time. One night, I dreamt I was on a date with Sissi.”

“Watch it, Odd. It might happen today!” Cassidy said.

Odd’s eyebrows shot up. “WHAT? Are you SERIOUS?”

“It’s possible,” Cassidy shrugged.

“Okay, it’s time to get wet,” Ulrich said.

“And this time, Jeremie can’t get out of this one,” Cassidy sighed, even though she knew it would happen. “I can’t either.”

“‘No more dumb excuses, you hear?’” Jeremie said in the imitation of Jim.

“Great!” Odd smiled to Jeremie. “We’ll finally get to see that buff, athletic body of yours! I can’t wait.”

“You are going to be shocked,” Cassidy proclaimed.

**-Pool time—no, not billiards-**

Jim went on and on about the facts of water…with Cassidy helping him with the course.

“How much water is the human body made up of?” Jim questioned.

“50-70%, Jim,” Cassidy answered with her pink tankini on.

Odd and Ulrich were trying to find out Odd’s mystery girl.

“And what does Archimedes’ principal state about water?” Jim asked.

“That a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid,” Aelita answered calmly.

 “Well done, McGuire and Stones,” Jim nodded his approval at them. Then continued with the fact that no one should be afraid of the water then listed a scenario.

Then Ulrich suggested to Odd in a whisper, “What makes you think it’s a girl from our class? It might just as easily be from Milly or Tamiya.”

“Which reminds me of when I was a salvage diver,” Jim said.

“You used to be a salvage diver, Jim?” Nicholas asked Jim.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Jim said offhandedly.

“Azra, no,” Odd said in a whisper. “No way! She’s not a first-year student either I forgot.”

Ulrich smiled. “Maybe she’s in Yumi’s class.” He laughed a little. “Maybe it’s Anaïs Fiquet. Next to her, you’re a real shrimp.”

That got Jim. “Stern and Della Robbia, I’m sorry if I’m _boring_ you. Alright on deck. Let’s see what you can do.”

They got on the platform as Aelita and Cassidy, at the same time, grabbed their heads in pain.

Jeremie noticed. “You okay, ladies?” he asked.

Cassidy and Aelita opened their eyes. “Uh-huh!”

Odd and Ulrich got ready and, at Jim’s whistle blow, dove into the pool.

Cassidy and Aelita then had another chain-vision share. **(A/N:** **Check the Mister Pück Chapter)**

The Men in Black were chasing Aelita. She nearly made it to the outside.

In the real world, Cassidy tried holding onto the bench to keep from falling into the pool.

But her hand slipped…

Aelita and Cassidy both fell into the pool.

That caused a lot of panic.

“AELITA! CASSIDY!” Jeremie yelled.

He and Bastien jumped into the pool and rescued both girls.

**-Aelita and Cassidy’s dorm-**

“This time it was much more detailed,” Aelita said. “There were still the Men in Black, but I was at the Hermitage.”

“And somehow I slipped into Aelita’s visions when she slipped into hers, I had nothing to do with it,” Cassidy nodded. “I wonder why I slip into people’s visions, but I don’t have any answers. Not even Sector 5 knows.”

Jeremie authorized a Sector 5 mission to try to find out why Cassidy was psychic. There were no results, however, leaving the female cat-warrior devastated. “I’m psychic forever?” she had said.

“I’m sorry!” Jeremie sounded grim that day.

“Then I should have left when I found out I was too dangerous,” Cassidy had ran off and locked herself in the girls’ bathroom for two hours until Yumi calmed her down.

**-Back in the Present-**

“The doctor said you two passed out from the cold,” Yumi said.

“But we—in the group—know that isn’t true.” Cassidy bound off the last stitch in Jeremie’s scarf and put some baby-sky blue mix fringes on the ends. “Ulrich’s is now online,” She muttered to herself.

“That may be, but what about these visions? Where are they coming from, Jeremie and Cassidy?” Aelita wondered.

“One word: XANA!” Cassidy finished casting on the correct number of stitches for Ulrich’s scarf to begin.

Jeremie looked to her. _Sounds like I’m not the only one that gets crazy about XANA from time to time,_ he thought. “The best thing for you two is to get some rest now. We’ll talk about these things later.”

“Right, I got to go. I’m already late.” Yumi checked her phone.

“Us, too; Mrs. Hertz is going to kill us,” Jeremie said, checking his watch.

Cassidy nodded. “Plus, I have to cancel my date with William tonight. He wanted me to get an ice cream with him while we walked underneath the stars. I curse my vision-shares. They led me into the deep, this time.”

“Wait a minute,” Odd was internet dating.

“It’s Sissi, Odd,” Cassidy’s eyes flitted a little spark-flash.

“I thought you were _kidding_ ,” Odd said.

“Maybe,” she let that sound as if it was a longer word than necessary.

He looked at her with a growly expression.

“See you in a bit, girls. I’ll come back again to check on you two after science.” Jeremie let all the other warrior members out, but left Cassidy and Aelita in.

“Just remember to tell Sissi that a pound of mercury does not weigh a ton,” Cassidy said.

Jeremie shut the door as Cassidy and Aelita waved good-bye.

Something was still bothering Aelita, and affecting Cassidy too.

Aelita looked to Cassidy and she looked back at her.

“You thinking what I’m thinking,” Aelita asked her friend and roommate.

“You bet, Hermitage mission,” Cassidy seemed to smile a little as she put the rubber needle protectors on her project.

They both got up and got dressed.

**-Classroom-**

 “Hey, can’t you look where you’re going, you clumsy dork!” Sissi got slammed into by Odd.

“Oh, sorry, Sissi, I mistook you for a door post!” he said.

He got to his seat and started in on the internet conversation. He then said, “Wow, she’s in our class. She says she has science right now with Mrs. Hertz.”

Jeremie grabbed the computer away from Odd. “Odd, pass me the computer, I forgot to check something.”

Turned out there was an **activated tower.**

“Oh, no, activated tower,” Jeremie said.

“Cassidy’s plan?” Ulrich asked him.

Jeremie nodded.

Odd fake-fainted in front of the whole class and Mrs. Hertz.

“ODD!” Ulrich fake-screamed.

Jeremie and Ulrich got under Odd and Jeremie said, “We’ll take him to the infirmary, okay?”

Mrs. Hertz merely nodded as the two boys took the third away.

As soon as they were out of the room and out of the science building, Odd faked reawakening. “Who knew fake fainting was so much fun!” he laughed with the expression of “That was fun!” on his face.

**-Aelita and Cassidy-**

They were walking to the Hermitage on foot. None of them said a word as they walked.

Both of them saw what Aelita saw.

Cassidy and Aelita got to the Hermitage. A shiver went down their backs, but the two ignored it.

They went inside.

Aelita saw what it looked like from what may have been many years ago and back again. Cassidy held her friend’s hand.

“I don’t know why we share the same visions, Cassidy.” Aelita looked to her.

“Neither do I know. And I’m not even related to you.” Cassidy looked at Aelita with eyes full of sympathy. “It may be something to do with my accidental time stop or the time I defended you from Sissi that first time. I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Aelita and Cassidy looked around the rooms.

They went to the living room and they both got caught in a vision-share in the second time of the day.

The living room looked so clean in the vision. And someone was playing piano.

A gray-haired man sat at the piano. “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” was playing.

“That’s Franz Hopper!” Cassidy murmured so only she could hear it.

And along her visions, Cassidy swore she heard a little girl saying, “Daddy!”

She looked around and tried to find the so-called “little girl” then she realized something. But she didn’t know if she should tell Aelita and the gang or not.

The vision cleared from both girls and the living room was back to being dirty and unorganized.

“Calm down, Aelita,” Aelita commanded herself.

Cassidy’s stomach whirled. This was something to put in her visions notebook.

**-To the boys-**

“Warn Yumi,” Jeremie said to the two after they clowned around. “I’ll go get Aelita and Cassidy. We’ll meet up at the factory.”

**-Back to the two exploring girls-**

The two went up to the pink bedroom where they had found Mister Pück in a previous adventure.

They saw another vision. The pink bedroom was once clean.

Aelita put a hand to her head. “Calm down!” she commanded herself calmly.

Cassidy closed her eyes tightly. Maybe it would go away.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie knocked on the door. “Aelita, Cassidy!”

He opened the door only to find two empty beds. In Cassidy’s bed was the start of Ulrich’s scarf. In Aelita’s—Mister Pück.

He also noted that Cassidy left her cell phone at her room.

Jeremie dialed for Aelita’s cell phone.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita’s cell phone rang, bringing both girls back to reality.

Cassidy opened her eyes and smiled a little. It went away.

Aelita picked up her cell phone. “Jeremie!”

 _“Aelita, where are you and Cassidy?”_ Jeremie asked.

“At the Hermitage,” Aelita said.

 _“But you two should be resting!”_ Jeremie’s voice entered Cassidy’s ears too.

“These visions are haunting the both of us!” Aelita was feeling scared. “We have to know where they are coming from.”

 _“Right, anyway, listen, you two ought to know that XANA is on the offensive,”_ Jeremie said.

“I know, Jeremie,” Cassidy sounded a little ticked-off.

 _“The others are already at the factory,”_ Jeremie continued.

“And Aelita’s not a little child, Jeremie,” Cassidy said into the phone. “We’ll get to the factory. Not to worry!”

 _“Okay, but hurry!”_ Jeremie hastened.

Aelita hung up her phone.

At that moment Aelita and Cassidy vision-shared. The Men in Black were underneath the then-installed-and-clean window, causing the both of them to shriek.

They both backed up and the vision cleared, but it wasn’t over yet. Another share hit. “Aelita! Come quickly,” a voice beckoned the two girls. They turned around. It was Franz Hopper.

“Hello. Is anyone there?” Aelita asked as the share ended.

They went back to the start. Aelita froze and shouted with fear.

The Men in Black were there.

“THIS WAY!” Cassidy commanded and ran with Aelita like the wind.

“Don’t look back near the boiler; we need to get to the factory!” Cassidy panted.

They raced outside. Another vision share initiated. “This way!” said Franz.

As soon as the share was done, they went into the sewer shortcut.

As soon as Aelita shut the door, Cassidy smiled. “We made it. Whew, that was invigorating. Let’s _not_ do that again. Agreed?”

Aelita nodded.

**-Lab-**

“Just thirty seconds more and you can head for the scanners!” Jeremie said.

**-Factory entrance-**

Cassidy ran down the ramp while Aelita swung on the rope. Cassidy still wasn’t used to rope sliding yet, but the gang let her do the ramp route anyway.

“Nearly there!” Cassidy nodded.

Aelita had a flashback.

** FLASHBACK #7 **

_She had won a prize to do something. But she didn’t know what that something was._

** END OF FLASHBACK **

They headed down to the lab.

**-To the lab-**

“What are Cassidy and Aelita up to?” Ulrich wondered.

“They’d said they’d be right over. I should’ve gone to pick them up,” Jeremie was worried.

The elevator doors opened. “Oh, there you are at last. Hey Cinderella and Beauty, we sent midnight and Beast on the docks,” Odd joked.

“Aelita, Cassidy, are you two okay?” Jeremie asked.

“We had some more visions. We saw a man and it was…” Aelita got cut off.

“Who?”

“Franz Hopper!” Cassidy and Aelita said together.

“Huh? Are you sure?” Yumi asked.

Cassidy nodded. “I know what Aelita and I saw. We kept vision-sharing until we exited the Hermitage and into the sewers.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I was sure it was him!” Aelita came after Cassidy.

“What if this is XANA’s offensive?” Odd pointed out.

“What?” Aelita asked.

“I mean these strange visions and vision-shares.”

Cassidy put on her “Oh jeez, I’m in trouble!” face and squeezed her eyes shut. “We have to d—”

Jeremie interrupted her. “Exactly! XANA is perfectly capable of stimulating your cerebral cortex through the virus/link that links you to him, Aelita. And to stimulate your cerebral cortex with vision shares through your power, Cassidy.”

Cassidy sat down as if it were Story Time.

“And from that, he can paradoxically simulate in you two an artificial sleep, and involuntarily psychic powers that goes with it!” Jeremie said.

“In short, you mean, XANA’s showing you two free movies!” Odd smiled.

“Except that my powers came the same day I came to Kadic. I never had powers before Lyoko or before I came to Kadic,” Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut harder and stood up.

Jeremie nodded his understanding.

“But why?” Ulrich asked Jeremie.

“Let’s not hang around to find out. Let’s just go deactivate the tower!” Odd said.

Soon everyone was on Lyoko’s desert sector.

Cassidy had fear written in her virtual structure. “I have a bad feeling about this, guys.”

The ninja warrior patted the cat warrior and worrier on the back. “Oh, relax, Cassidy, we do this all the time.”

“At least No hace calor on Lyoko,” Cassidy sighed.

“No hace what?” Odd asked her.

“Calor, I just said ‘It’s not hot outside’!”

“I see,” Odd said. “So, tengo frío means…”

“I’m feeling cold or I’m cold.”

Odd nodded.

As soon as Jeremie materialized the vehicles, everyone, minus Aelita and Cassidy, got on his or her ride.

They were nervous. Yumi snapped the girls out of the thoughts. “Coming, Aelita?”

Aelita jumped on the OverWing with the geisha. Cassidy got on her Over-Kartbed.

They raced to the tower on their vehicles.

“What monsters are ahead this eve?” Odd asked.

“Um,” Cassidy concentrated. “Some Bloks and a Tarantula.”

“I see them,” Odd said.

Indeed they were there.

“Odd, you handle the Bloks. Yumi and I will take care of the Tarantula. Cassidy, protect Aelita from the Schyphozoa,” Ulrich commanded.

Cassidy nodded and got out of her vehicle to stand guard next to Aelita.

They turned to see the edge of the sector, looked each other straight in the eye and shared a thought. _We have to find out where these vision shares and visions are coming from._

Aelita and Cassidy nodded to each other.

 _“What are you two doing?”_ Jeremie asked.

“We’re playing Tic-Tac-Toe. What does it look like? I’m protecting Aelita from the Schyphozoa, Jeremie,” Cassidy said in a joking fashion.

 _“Sometimes, I swear that Odd rubs off on you, Cassidy,_ ” Jeremie’s voice seemed to smile.

“Welcome to Lyoko,” Cassidy sighed, half-sarcastic.

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were working to clear the path.

Odd got rid of one Blok using his OverBoard and his laser arrows.

Yumi and Ulrich worked together to get rid of the Tarantula. Ulrich used his Super-Sprint to confuse it and Yumi used her acrobatics and her fan to get rid of the Tarantula.

Aelita and Cassidy then started walking up to the edge of the sector.

 _“What’s going on?”_ Jeremie asked.

They got toward it and the Transporter came up.

 _“The Transporter!”_ Jeremie mused. _“But I didn’t call it up!”_

Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut. Aelita kept her mouth shut but comforted her nervous friend.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy, what are you doing?”_ Jeremie asked them.

“I’m sorry, Jeremie; but we want some answers. We have to find out where these visions and vision shares are coming from.” The Transporter engulfed Aelita and Cassidy and took them to Sector 5.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy, don’t do it! It’s a TRAP!”_ Jeremie said.

Ulrich got shot by the Blok and Odd and Yumi were trying to get rid of it. Finally, Yumi got rid of it.

 _“XANA succeeded. Cassidy and Aelita have gone to Sector 5. You have to get there fast!”_ Jeremie’s voice panicked over the Desert Sector.

As soon as everyone got to the edge of the sector (Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi), Jeremie entered the SCIPIO code and they were on their way to find their two comrades.

Soon they were in Sector 5.

 _“Holosphere system connected,”_ Jeremie announced.

Odd lost balance and was about to fall.

Soon the room stopped spinning and everyone ran to the Core Zone.

“The corridor’s still there!” Odd said.

“Of course it is, Cassidy and Aelita have already been through this part,” Ulrich said.

 _“And that’s because the countdown’s disconnected. Cassidy must’ve stopped it,”_ Jeremie said.

“Einstein,” Odd cracked, “Don’t worry about Cassidy, just worry about Aelita. Cassidy has a tube that can turn into a weapon, remember?”

 _“Oh, that’s right,”_ Jeremie sounded, _“I forgot.”_

“And she must be either in the Elevator room or the Celestial Dome!” Yumi said.

**-Where Cassidy and Aelita are-**

They were in the elevator room, but Cassidy stopped Aelita. “I am worried, Aelita. What if I get expelled from the group? What if Jeremie yells at me for being a bad protector? What if you get attacked by the Schyphozoa? What if—”

“Cassidy, calm down,” Aelita soothed. “We’ll be okay. We’ll get the answers we need and get out of here.”

Cassidy was about to respond when…

“THERE THEY ARE!” a voice yelled.

 _Yumi?_ Cassidy thought.

 _“What were you thinking,”_ Jeremie asked the two girls.

They didn’t respond, and jumped when the elevator was just below them.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy!”_ Jeremie shouted.

“Remember what I said, Jeremie; worry only about Aelita, don’t worry about Cassidy!” Odd tried soothing.

 _“The elevator will be open again,”_ Jeremie said. _“I’ve warned them not to collect any data.”_

“Okay,” Yumi said.

_“Wait a minute; they’re doing what I’ve asked them not to do!”_

“We’ll be there in a minute, Einstein,” Ulrich said.

**-With Cassidy and Aelita-**

Cassidy was on lookout for the Schyphozoa, any Mantas, the rare Creeper, and their friends.

 _“You know I see you!”_ Jeremie warned.

She clamped her jaws shut and blinked slowly.

“Found them!” Ulrich’s voice came into her ears.

Cassidy fought with all her might to not cry on Lyoko.

“What were you thinking,” Yumi asked the two, interrupting the data collection.

Aelita and Cassidy stayed silent, but the latter fell to her knees and hung her head guiltily.

“Cassidy?” Yumi was concerned.

“This is all my fault,” she said.

“What?” Yumi and Aelita raised their brows.

“If I never came into the group at all, this thing wouldn’t have happened,” Cassidy frowned.

“No!” Odd and Ulrich chimed in.

_“Cassidy, with or without you, we get along great. You saved Yumi’s life once!”_

“Thrice, Jeremie,” Cassidy didn’t put her head up. “The Schyphozoa was supposed to attack Yumi, but I stepped in. And she was supposed to be the one under that tree, but I pushed her out of the way.”

“See? You do wonders for the group. Who else would laugh at my jokes when no one else would?” Odd smiled.

Cassidy raised her head a little. “Me?”

“And who would help us avoid major blunders?” Ulrich asked.

“Me!” Cassidy got up, an edge more confident.

“And who would help us get an A, B, or C in our tests and worksheets?” Yumi asked.

“ME!” Cassidy was more confident. “LET’S go back to the Desert Sector and deactivate that torre!”

“Now you’re talking!” Yumi smiled.

Jeremie materialized the vehicles and everyone got out of Sector 5 and back to the Desert Sector.

Aelita then deactivated the tower.

**-Back to school, EVERYBODY! The next morning-**

Aelita and Cassidy got to the table. “Hey, Aelita and Cassidy, well? Anymore visions or vision-shares?” Yumi asked with a smile.

“Strangely no!” Cassidy said. “But I’m glad they—the vision shares—are gone! They’ve caused enough trouble as it was.”

“Gone!” Aelita smiled.

“You see? It was just a trap, made in XANA!” Jeremie said.

“I guess, but we would still like to know where those memories came from,” Aelita continued.

“I was up all night with my visions notebook. I had to draw them and write them down,” Cassidy smiled. “But I finally conked out by midnight.”

“I think that XANA seemed to make the whole thing up,” Ulrich inputted.

“I don’t think they were made up, Ulrich. I have a funny feeling about this. Something ‘too weird’ quoting Mathias!” Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut as she ate.

“Maybe Cassidy’s right. She is the psychic in the group!” Odd said.

“That is ingenious, Odd,” Cassidy nodded.

“The memories could have come from someone else,” Yumi suggested. “Implanted in you two by XANA in order to scare you, Aelita, or to drain your confidence, Cassidy.”

“That could be it!” Jeremie nodded a little.

“It was very strange though,” the pink-haired girl said. “We were under the impression that we were reliving the events that I was seeing.”

“That happened,” Cassidy nodded.

“That, however, can’t be,” Jeremie looked to the two girls.

“Yes, I know,” Aelita said for the two of them.

“I wasn’t kidding about yesterday, Odd, it _is_ Sissi. My visions are back to the present now!” Cassidy said.

Odd freaked out. “What a nightmare!”

Everyone laughed. If someone could predict something for Odd to freak out over, it was Cassidy.


	25. Someone has Vertigo

**Code Lyoko isn’t mine. Cassidy is mine. And that’s that. Simple enough, right? Anyone follow?**

**-Sector 5’s arena-**

The transporter arrived and dropped off the five Lyoko Warriors.

**-Lab-**

“Holosphere system connected,” Jeremie announced.

**-Back to the Arena-**

_“Welcome to Sector 5.”_ Jeremie told the warriors.

“I can tell by the mighty blue,” Cassidy sighed. “And we’re going to find something for the antivirus/breaker research, right?”

_“You guessed it, Cassidy!”_

“The wall’s going to open any second now,” Yumi said.

“We’re ready and willing.” The female cat warrior smiled with confidence.

Soon the wall opened up. “Let’s go!” Yumi smiled.

The five warriors ran to the corridor. “Ready for this, Cassidy,” Ulrich smirked.

“Ulrich, stop, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t make me devirtualize you before this Sector 5 mission is out. If you do, you’ll go back to Jeremie,” Cassidy threatened.

The walls opened.

**-Lab-**

The countdown was ticking and Jeremie was getting a hint worried. “Three minutes to find the key; GO!”

**-Sector 5-O-**

“We got this, Jeremie,” Cassidy almost rolled her eyes. “Like Ulrich said before Aelita was materialized, ‘it’s a piece of cake’!”

They ran down the steps and into the Core Zone, the key just out of reach.

The wall behind them rose, making everyone look. “Looks like SCIPIO won’t help us here,” Cassidy muttered.

“The doors are in the wrong place,” Odd added.

The Creepers came. “Here come our old friends,” Yumi said sarcastically.

“They don’t seem to recognize us,” Cassidy smoothly replied.

“Creepers, they just can’t stay away from us.” Odd lightly and playfully punched the brown-haired bespectacled girl in the arm.

“Definitely,” Cassidy nodded.

 _“Remember, guys, the clock is running,”_ Jeremie reminded the whole of the group. _“I found the key at 2:00 directly above Yumi and Aelita.”_

Everyone assumed their stances.

“That’s a job for a…” Ulrich almost finished his sentence, when Cassidy scowled at him.

“I’m going, but don’t blame me when your sense of balance catches up to you, Ulrich,” she growled. There was something behind her words, but Ulrich couldn’t quite catch it.

Cassidy turned her tube into a .22 revolver.

“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” she sighed. “A woman’s work is never done, et cetera et cetera.”

She began her ascent.

Odd got shot in the stomach, and Yumi did the false “lady in peril” trick with Ulrich. All the while, though, Yumi had a small feeling in her stomach. The same feeling when she did that trick reminded her of her friend.

She thought it was just her memories acting as a reminder to her.

Ulrich ran up to the Creeper, who was looking at Yumi at the moment.

Cassidy jumped up onto the next platform. _This is why I can be useful without using my visions. That is so swell._

She used a skill that she knew Odd would have used if he were the cat warrior and she the ninja to get up to a higher platform.

The Creeper came around to Ulrich and shot his katana out of his hand.

Cassidy came up to a narrower platform. She shot the Creeper about to shoot her without looking behind her. Unloading the virtual slug and keeping herself going, she was almost to the key mechanism. _Lucky for us, later on Jeremie and Aelita will deactivate this feature, therefore leaving us without stopping the countdown—for there will be no countdown feature._

Ulrich grabbed his sword, and the Creeper was about to fire when Yumi jumped up with a cry of, “Not so fast, dummy!” and got rid of it.

Cassidy jumped up the platforms and almost to the key mechanism. _“Cassidy, how are you doing?”_ Jeremie wondered.

“I wish you were in my place, but let’s just say I’m hopping to it, if you know what I mean,” Cassidy coiled up her strength for the final jump.

A Creeper came up from behind Cassidy. Aelita noticed. “Cassidy!”

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Cassidy shot the Creeper from behind her, jumped, and hit the key mechanism.

As soon as the door opened, Cassidy joined up with her friends. “Ulrich?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you ever set this up with me again!” She was still ticked-off.

“Okay,” Ulrich kept his trademark frown on. “I’m sorry.”

 _“Nice one,”_ Jeremie said.

“I’m not acrobatic, but thank Heaven there is Lyoko,” Cassidy smirked.

Everyone ran to the elevator room. As soon as Aelita spotted the elevator, Ulrich yelled, “NOW!”

The group jumped onto the elevator and headed for the Celestial Dome. Aelita went up to the interface. “I’m connected, Jeremie.”

 _“Come on, Aelita. We gotta gather data before the flying Mantas come!”_ Jeremie pushed.

“Jeremie, she will get the data as fast as she can go,” Cassidy said. “Besides, do you want Aelita to make a mistake, or get it right?”

_“The second one.”_

“Well, she might make a mistake if you keep bugging her,” Cassidy nodded.

 _“The Mantas are about to hatch in five, four, three, two, one, NOW!”_ Jeremie announced.

“We got this, Jeremie,” Cassidy muttered.

Three Mantas emerged from the wall. Odd was happy, even though he couldn’t see them. “Yvonne, Shirley, and Priscilla are born.”

“Since when are you naming the Mantas?” Ulrich asked.

“I have no idea,” Odd shrugged.

“Hey, Jeremie, I don’t see any flying Mantas,” Yumi looked around.

Cassidy closed her eyes and concentrated. Pointing her gun blindly behind her, she shot her gun at a Creeper and it exploded.

Casting her senses out further, her senses pinpointed and spotted the Mantas.

“They may come from the other end of the sector,” she opened her eyes. “It’s accurate, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Done, Jeremie, you can take over again,” Aelita sent the data.

_“Okay, I’m on it. I’ve uploaded the OverBike, the OverBoard, and the OverWing!”_

“Good enough vehicles for the five of us,” Cassidy smiled.

Aelita went with Ulrich, Cassidy went with Odd—though the female cat warrior was nervous ( _And I should be,_ she thought; _he nearly killed Aelita once with this thing_ )—and Yumi went by herself.

“Oh, relax, Cat-Girl, I won’t go bashing into the data screens,” Odd told his charge.

“I’ll try.” Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut and thought of positive thoughts.

And they were off.

The Mantas followed.

**-To the lab-**

Jeremie was typing on the data he received from Aelita and was working on opening the tunnel.

“Okay, the passage is open,” he said.

**-Sector 5-**

“Okay, Jeremie,” Cassidy still had her eyes shut.

“Jeremie, we have a problem,” Ulrich saw the Mantas. “We just found the flying Mantas.”

Cassidy carefully shot at one, blind.

“That’s Yvonne?” She heard one explode.

“Priscilla, actually,” Odd corrected.

“Where’s Shirley?”

“Beside Yvonne.”

“And Yvonne is…?”

“In front of Shirley.”

She shot Yvonne, and it exploded.

 _“You should be able to lose it,”_ Jeremie sounded.

Shirley dropped its mines.

“Let’s not make tracks,” Cassidy shouted to the team.

Everyone nodded and beat it out of there.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie was relieved.

**-A few minutes later-**

“Well, these are codes for XANA’s subsystems,” Jeremie went over the stuff. “I cracked them three weeks ago!”

He turned his attention to the screen. “Hey, yeah, this one looks like the source code to a virus!” He sounded overjoyed.

“Antivirus/breaker possible?” Cassidy purled two stitches to Ulrich’s scarf.

“I might be able to use it!” he ignored Cassidy’s fragmented question.

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” Cassidy knitted two stitches.

Jeremie turned to Aelita. “If the virus/link inside you is anything like this one, I might be able to free you from XANA.”

Aelita turned overjoyed too. “You mean, like soon?”

Jeremie smiled at his sweetheart. “Yeah!”

“Okay, we’re out of here. There’s a big climbing competition tonight!” Odd pulled on Ulrich’s arm.

“Odd, Ulrich’s not a huge fan of climbing.” Cassidy put on the rubber protectors on her project. “So will you stop pulling his arm?”

Odd nodded and dropped his buddy’s arm. “We got to practice.”

“And I already told you I’m not doing it,” Ulrich put his arms akimbo.

“Really? Why not?” Yumi came in.

Cassidy was about to jump in and save Ulrich, when something held her back. ( _If you do anything to save Ulrich, he won’t sulk,_ a voice told her.)

Ulrich almost melted. “Because…”

“At least come and watch me,” Odd begged then gave his smile.

“Come on, Ulrich. For once, Odd’s found a sport where being scrawny is a plus!” Yumi giggled a bit.

“Hey, I am not scrawny,” Odd began.

“He’s svelte; it’s French for slender,” Cassidy finished. “And since I know everything about everybody, Odd’s really sensitive about his high metabolism.”

Aelita giggled a little.

**-Gym Class-**

“Come on, keep it steady,” Jim ordered while Odd took the climb like a pro.

He and Hervé were going at it and the latter was getting tired.

“You should have left your zits down there, huh, Hervé; they’re too heavy,” Odd kept climbing like the rock climb was no big deal.

Hervé got distracted. “Della Robbia, I’m going to…” he fell, causing a certain brown-haired girl to laugh.

Cassidy looked at Odd go. _He’ll win, big time. I know he will. He’s tough and tuff._

Odd made it to the top, much to Hervé’s embarrassment.

“I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!” Odd shouted.

Soon it was Cassidy and Magali’s turn on the wall. Cassidy tried not to let her given fear of heights show. She wasn’t going to show to the others that she was weak too. She thought of positives, and tied with Magali.

“Rematch, McGuire and De Vasseur,” Jim called out.

 _How do people expect me to win if I keep tying with other students?_ Cassidy wondered.

Cassidy and Magali jumped down and tried over, Magali a little tired. Cassidy unexpectedly won.

Then it was time for Jim to call out the next competitors. “Okay, Stern, the wall!”

The female cat warrior’s stomach squirmed. _Jim should know that Ulrich has vertigo, but he shouldn’t know that Ulrich is a little shaky on the OverBoard. He will_ not _know about Lyoko._

“Um…you see Jim,” Ulrich got nervous.

“Eh?” Jim asked.

Ulrich stopped himself. He couldn’t say he had vertigo to his coach.

William got in front of him. “First one to the top?”

Cassidy wanted to intervene. ( _“Don’t do it! It’s not the right time,_ a raspy voice told her.)

Ulrich gave William a cold and nervous stare—more cold than nervous. “Sorry, I don’t climb.”

“Are you scared,” Cassidy’s boyfriend asked in a teasing fashion.

Ulrich looked behind William to Cassidy—she could tell he was pleading, but he didn’t show it. His eyes were the traitors. “Just say yes,” she mouthed. “Lesser punishments can occur.”

He seemed to nod—his head didn’t move but the look in his eyes told the story quite well.

“Hmm…?” Yumi’s eyebrows shifted a little.

“No, I’m not scared,” Ulrich said.

“Come on, Stern,” Jim ordered. “Show us what you’ve got. Get up that wall, hurry up!”

“Ay, ay, ay,” Cassidy smacked her forehead. To herself she muttered, “Why can’t I intervene?”

Ulrich looked to Yumi in a way that said “You owe me big time!”

Yumi was confused.

Cassidy came in next. She whispered to him when he was within earshot, “Just focus on your hand grips, and don’t look down.”

Ulrich knew that Cassidy knew of his vertigo, but she was a little wise to keep it well hidden.

Odd came in last, but not least. “Hey, man, humiliate this guy and let’s go eat.”

Ulrich looked up at the wall, and was a little disoriented.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie looked to Aelita. “Ready, Aelita.”

She nodded, feeling excited.

He pressed the enter key. It showed a small figure of Aelita, and it showed a few moments later that that test…

“Yes, the test worked! It’s _unbelievable!_ ” Jeremie got out of the chair and danced a small box step with his sweetheart a little.

Aelita was happy too. “We did it! We found the breaker/antivirus!”

They stopped their box stepping. “Jeremie, what if—what if you injected me right now? We could surprise the others.” She was excited.

“But isn’t that a little risky?” Jeremie asked, concerned.

“It’ll be just as risky in two hours, or two days.”

“Okay, go to the scanner. I’ll start the process!” He nodded.

**-Ulrich you better not be climbing up that wall-**

He was. **(A/N: Where the transition author is yelling a long and needed “NO!”)**

William was ahead.

Odd, Cassidy, and Yumi watched. Odd was champing at the bit. “What is he doing?” then he yelled, “HEY, COME ON, ULRICH! MOVE IT!”

Cassidy turned to Odd. “He’s not being chased down by wolves, boofhead.”

Odd turned to Cassidy. “And what makes you say that, Danger Psychic?”

“He has VERTIGO!” Cassidy practically screamed. Then she whispered, “And that’s why he’s slow in climbing. Now yell some positive words, or I’ll devirtualize you first chance I get on Lyoko forever and always, Ninja-Boy!”

Ulrich looked down and stopped. He was shaking.

“DON’T LOOK DOWN, ULRICH! FOCUS ON THE HAND GRIPS!” Cassidy yelled, fearing the worst.

“You can beat him. Go for it, Ulrich!” Yumi shouted.

Ulrich tried. Her boyfriend looked down at the samurai warrior. “Come on, huh, Spider-Man. Are you spinning a web or did you fall asleep?”

“I thought you’re afraid of spiders, WILLIAM!” Cassidy practically threw a hammer plus a washing machine at her boyfriend.

William looked down at his girl. “Huh?”

Ulrich focused on his hand grips and soon reached the top.

“YOU DID IT, ULRICH. GOOD ON YOU, WORLD CHAMPION!” Odd whooped for joy.

“Which world?” Cassidy asked lightly.

“Both of them, Cassidy. Both of them,” Odd smiled.

William was not happy. “Don’t ever repeat what you just said to me ever again!” he was angry at her even after his feet reached ground.

Cassidy was about to up and defend herself when Yumi stepped in her way. “Hey, lay off, William. She had a right to taunt you. But you had no right taunting Ulrich!”

William gave the two girls the cold shoulder and left.

“Thank you, Yumi!” Cassidy whispered to her.

“Hey, friends stick up for friends. Especially friends that save the other’s life over a million times,” Yumi smiled.

Cassidy blushed. “It was nothing, those saving-Yumi instances. Just my power kicking into overdrive.”

**-To the Scanner Room-**

The doors to Aelita’s scanner closed. Jeremie’s voice echoed in the scanner room. _“Ready?”_

Aelita had a determined look on her face. “Yes! Do it.”

**-Lab-**

Jeremie pressed the enter key and the antivirus/breaker program began.

About a minute into the program, he noticed something wrong. He ran down to the scanner room and pried open Aelita’s scanner. As soon as he got it open, Aelita fell into his arms. “Aelita, how do you feel? Say something.”

“Something,” Aelita joked.

Jeremie laughed. “If you can make jokes as bad as Odd, then you must be okay.”

**-Ulrich, Yumi, Cassidy, and Odd-**

They went up to Odd and Ulrich’s room after lunch. “Thanks for making that distraction.” Ulrich ruffled Cassidy’s hair.

“It’s the least I can do,” Cassidy said.

“Hey! We’ve got great news!” Aelita and Jeremie ran up the dormitory hallway.

“You did it.” Cassidy smiled. “You’ve found the antivirus/breaker. And you’ve also injected Aelita with it, did you not, Jeremie?”

“That’s so great!” Yumi was also smiling.

Ulrich ran off to the forest to collect his thoughts.

“All we got to do now is shut down the supercomputer and it’s _adios_ to XANA,” Aelita said.

Cassidy turned around, and Ulrich was gone. “I think our friend Ulrich went to the forest to gather his thoughts.”

“What do you mean?” Yumi asked.

“Turn around,” she deadpanned.

Yumi did.

**-Forest-**

Ulrich was walking around the forest to ease his mind a little. _Soon we’ll be forever free of XANA? I can hardly believe it._

He then heard a noise—they sounded like growls. Spinning around, he found that it was Odd and Yumi.

“Feeling okay?” Odd asked.

“Yeah, just thinking about the possibility that soon we’ll be free forever of XANA,” Ulrich nodded.

Yumi put an arm around him. “It may be a little different but we’ll be in our newest routines when it happens.”

**-To Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

“I don’t believe it,” Jeremie was typing on his Lyoko journal—which started with that day of October 9th. “I’m actually writing the final entry in the Lyoko Travel Log Book. Can you imagine?”

Aelita felt headachy all of a sudden. Cassidy noticed. “You feeling okay?” she asked.

She jumped. Jeremie turned around. “Do you think it’s the breaker/antivirus?”

The two girls got to their feet, the pink-haired girl using the brown-haired girl as support. “No!” Aelita said. “It’s just an energy slump. I’ll go lie down in our room for a minute or two.”

Cassidy then was hit with a twisted-gut feeling. _I’ve not had such a spell since the first failed shutdown of the supercomputer. Something must be wrong here._

The two walked until Aelita noticed her hands disappear. Cassidy noticed too. “We’ll go to Jeremie.”

Sissi came out of her room. “Oh, Aelita, Cassidy, I didn’t even see you two standing there. But that’s hardly surprising. You two are such wall flowers.”

“Well, we won’t be Elizabeth Proctor. We don’t want your speech. And if you DARE to insult Jeremie, you’re just out of luck. I do have my ways, and they play out well. Come on, Aelita, let’s go to Jeremie!” Cassidy’s words sounded just perfect to Aelita’s ears.

Sissi returned to her room in shock. Cassidy knew she was about to insult Jeremie? Was she delusional?

Aelita was already visually invisible, but Cassidy could see her. The two made it to Jeremie’s room.

Jeremie was already panicking over XANA’s tower.

“Jeremie, this is awful!” Aelita cried.

“Something’s gone wrong with the breaker/antivirus. Aelita’s become visually invisible,” Cassidy continued. “But I can see her through a seventh sense, somehow.”

Cassidy’s sixth sense was her psychic power. Her seventh sense was seeing invisible people and things. _If I were to see Sue Storm, she’d be careful around me._

“XANA is attacking!” Jeremie told them.

“We’ll get to L Y o ka o as soon as we get to the factory,” Cassidy spelled Lyoko out in Spanish, and then turned her brown eyes to Aelita. “It’s okay; we’ll get this sorted out.”

Aelita nodded.

**-Forest-**

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were walking together when the second boy stopped. He heard some more noises.

Then the three saw a wolf. “Uh-oh, what’s that? A nice little doggie I hope,” Odd was shaking a little.

“No, a big bad wolf, Odd,” Ulrich backed up some.

Several wolves came out of the trees, pupils glowing with the Eye of XANA and growling.

“Uh, when faced with a pack of wolves, what do we do?” Odd asked his friends, getting scared.

“We run!” Yumi yelled.

The three ran like the wind, and the wolves followed.

**-Sewers-**

Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy got to the factory. Jeremie tried calling Yumi, but there was a konichiwa from her voicemail saying to them to leave her a message.

“She’s being chased by wolves, I see it!” Cassidy’s eyes went to the lightest shade of brown. “Ulrich and Odd are in the running with her. We might have to launch a return trip after this attack gets finished. It wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Her eyes went back to normal brown.

Jeremie nodded. “Meet us at the factory, there is a bug and a XANA attack.”

He clicked off his mobile.

“The pack of wolves is the XANA attack. I can feel it, like I can feel my heartbeat,” Cassidy had a determined-almost-angry look on her face. “It’s payback time,” she snarled in a whisper. She never got off the fact that XANA tried to drain her confidence, once. Vengeance was set in her eyes. She was going to make XANA pay.

They stopped their modes of transportation.

**-With Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich-**

The wolves were still chasing them. They ran until they got to a small cliff. Ulrich groaned, “Oh, no!” and stopped.

“Let’s go!” Odd and Yumi ran up ahead.

Ulrich followed the two.

Yumi climbed up first, then Odd, then lastly Ulrich.

 _Take this handgrip by handgrip. And DON’T under ANY circumstances look down,_ Cassidy’s words buzzed in Ulrich’s head.

Ulrich followed the words more easily than not.

He kept climbing, until a wolf bit his heel.

Yumi panicked. “ULRICH!”

Ulrich kicked the wolf and kept climbing, but then, he looked down and got dizzy.

“Follow Cassidy’s words! Don’t look down,” Odd yelled.

His vision started to blur and shift.

“Concentrate on your hand grips, and don’t think of anything else,” Odd shouted.

Ulrich started to climb up faster and faster with each hand grip, and Odd yelling encouragement, until he reached Yumi’s hand.

“Just a little further,” Yumi said, reaching out with one of her hands.

Ulrich almost fell off, but she caught him just in the nick of time. “I gotcha!”

With Odd and Yumi’s help, they pulled Ulrich to the top of the cliff.

**-Scanner room-**

“We’re in, Jeremie,” Cassidy called out.

The scanner doors closed and Cassidy got to Lyoko.

Aelita was then scanned. _“It isn’t XANA, it’s a bug in the breaker/antivirus,”_ Jeremie’s voice sounded almost despondent. _“I have to deactivate it. But it’s going to take a little while.”_

**-Lab-**

_“Plus the ‘breaker/antivirus’ inhibits Aelita from deactivating the tower,”_ Cassidy’s voice sounded from the Ice Sector.

“I sometimes hate your power,” Jeremie groaned, the message from his friend making him feel worse.

 _“I sometimes hate it too. It dunked me in the pool, and stranded me under a tree trunk,”_ Cassidy groaned. _“Welcome to the club; we’ve got jackets. Transfer Aelita over to me so I can protect her from the Schyphozoa, and when you get the darned thing deactivated, so she can deactivate the tower.”_

Jeremie nodded and soon, Aelita was on Lyoko next to Cassidy.

Yumi came up. _“We’ve got a big problem, Jeremie.”_

**-Up on the Cliff top-**

“We’re in the forest with a pack of wolves possessed by XANA,” Yumi continued.

 _“Cassidy told me,”_ Jeremie said.

**-Lab-**

“Aelita and Cassidy are on Lyoko right now!” Jeremie informed Yumi and the others. “Cassidy will protect her while I get the antivirus/breaker deactivated.”

 _“I’ll keep you posted,”_ Yumi said.

**-Cliff top-**

“Your foot okay?” Yumi turned to Ulrich.

He turned to her and nodded.

“Good thing you weren’t wearing sandals,” Odd noted.

A wolf growled from behind them. “Ah, great!” Odd muttered. “A flying wolf.”

The three back up to the edge of the cliff.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy were at the activated tower, waiting for Jeremie to deactivate the breaker/antivirus.

“Well, it’s good to be visible again,” Aelita said.

“Yep, and hopefully, I don’t get an eighth sense, then things will really be messed up,” she nodded. “Odd and Yumi will get here soon, I can feel it.”

**-Forest-**

The wolf came closer with every step it took, determined to kill. Ulrich wanted to use Pencak Silat to get rid of it.

“This is when the kind hunters usually come to the rescue, right,” Odd asked the two, assuming a fighting stance.

The wolf ascended to Ulrich, making him flinch and fall off the cliff. Luckily there were some hanging trees that reduced the risk of injury for him.

He fell on a wolf, but, hang on, it dissolved into nothingness. Ulrich got up.

Odd at the top was stupefied. “But…”

Ulrich at the bottom was too. “Huh?” then he hit one. It went away too. “It’s a decoy. They—they’re just images.”

Odd kicked the wolf in the foreleg and instantly, the wolf disappeared. “That XANA’s even slier than I thought.” He put his arms akimbo.

**-Lyoko-**

“No Schyphozoa in sight, Jeremie,” Aelita informed Jeremie.

 _“Anyway, be careful!”_ Jeremie told the two.

Cassidy nodded.

**-Forest-**

Once safely down and four wolves to go. The next wolf was about to attack Yumi but she roundhouse kicked her wolf and it disappeared.

Ulrich tried his luck with the leader, but… “Uh oh, this one’s real!”

“So are these two.” Yumi and Odd backed up with Ulrich.

Her phone rang. She picked it up. “Jeremie,” she said.

 _“How’s it going?”_ Jeremie asked.

“It sure is no picnic over here,” Yumi answered.

 _“Aelita and Cassidy are at the tower but they are waiting for me to deactivate the antivirus/breaker,”_ Jeremie gave his news.

“Why aren’t you…?”

 _“Cassidy told me that the darned thing inhibits Aelita from deactivating the tower, so they’re waiting in the Ice Sector,”_ Jeremie said.

Yumi hung up her phone.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy were having a little staring contest on Lyoko. Eye irritation was not possible on the virtual world unless a sandstorm was on its way. But the two were in the Ice Sector, so a sandstorm was impossible, too.

Cassidy laid out her senses with her eyes open. _Okay, the Schyphozoa will be on its way, but I can handle it. I’m not Kim Possible but I can do it. A couple of Hornets to worry about, but Odd can handle them since he is on his way. A Megatank might take out Yumi, but I’ll try to stop it._

“How’re you doing, ladies?” Jeremie asked.

Without looking up, Aelita said, “We’re doing alright, Jeremie. We’re having a little staring contest.”

“Yeah, and I know the monsters of this mission,” Cassidy was not letting up. She was holding strong.

“Yeah, list them,” Jeremie and Aelita said together, the latter not blinking.

“The Schyphozoa, but I can handle it, a couple of Hornets, and a Megatank. The Megatank will get destroyed by Odd though, since he is coming,” Cassidy didn’t even blink.

“And Yumi?” Aelita cocked her head to one side, but kept her eyes open.

“She’s coming too,” Cassidy nodded, eyes open.

“What about Ulrich,” Aelita blinked.

“He’ll be up against the pack of wolves. And also, you blinked,” Cassidy blinked too.

“Darn it,” Aelita shook her fist a little.

**-Forest-**

“Aelita and Cassidy need our help,” Yumi turned to Odd and Ulrich.

“Glad to hear it, but how do you figure getting out of this jam,” Odd asked her.

Ulrich had an idea—his eyes didn’t brighten, but he did have his straight face on. “We split up. I’ll take care of them.”

“Are you crazy?” she asked him.

“Go on, I said, okay? I may have vertigo, but I can handle a few flea-bitten mongrels,” he picked up a stick. “On three, get going.”

“You mean one-two and go, or do you mean one-two-three and go?” Odd asked him.

“GO!” Ulrich told them.

Odd and Yumi ran while Ulrich stayed behind to try and defeat the wolves.

**-Lyoko-**

The Schyphozoa glided across the water. Cassidy rolled her eyes. _Is XANA stupid or what? Usually it’s like a chess game. Take out the defenders then go for the queen—note not the king for he is in the console chair. Lucky him. And I’m one of the_ defenders.

She shot her gun at it and the jellyfish-monster left. “Do you think I’m stupid, XANA? I know all your tricks, like I know Sissi’s tricks. Don’t you ever use your artificial intelligence?”

“Apparently not.” Aelita shook her head.

**-Forest with Ulrich-**

Ulrich broke his stick trying to club one of the wolves in the head.

**-Scanner room-**

“You can start the process, Jeremie,” Yumi and Odd got into the scanners.

Soon they were on Lyoko.

**-To where Aelita and Cassidy are-**

They were having another staring contest.

Two Hornets came on the scene, just as Cassidy predicted.

Cassidy raised her gun, but Aelita lowered her friend’s arm. “Let Odd get it,” she whispered.

Cassidy nodded, not even blinking.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was uploading the vehicles. “You know what to do. The vehicles are on their way!”

**-To Yumi and Odd-**

The OverWing and OverBoard were there in an instant. Odd jumped on his board, while Yumi got on her OverWing.

**-Jeremie-**

_“How’s Ulrich?_ ” Yumi asked as the two were on the trail.

“No news,” Jeremie sounded grim.

**-Ulrich-**

Ulrich was running on the Red Path trying to evade the wolves, but they trailed him.

He ran across the street, and the wolves were slowed a little by a passing bus.

**-Lyoko-**

The hornets threatened to get closer. Cassidy tried with her willpower to not raise her gun.

Aelita and Cassidy were at it like pros.

**-Odd and Yumi-**

They saw a Megatank. They fought but Yumi got devirtualized, and Odd lost his OverBoard by ramming it into the Megatank’s eye.

Odd took over on foot and ran to where the ladies were. He saw the Hornets and Cassidy and Aelita having a staring contest.

He shot one of the hornets, keeping hidden. The last hornet “looked” around and found him. He shot at the last one.

Cassidy blinked and saw Odd. “Good job Odd.”

“I win,” Aelita sang a little.

“Yeah, I know. The bugged up thing is removed now. Try deactivating the tower now,” Cassidy smiled.

Aelita went over and deactivated the tower.

**-Back on Earth-**

Ulrich was almost ran down by the wolves, but they—the wolves—fainted.

**-Return to the Past, NOW!-**

“First one to the top?” William asked.

“William, honey, um…Ulrich has vertigo,” Cassidy walked up to William. “I have kinda foreseen what may happen if Ulrich climbs.”

He understood and left Ulrich alone.

They met up with Aelita and walked over to the exit. “So, Aelita, what’s it like being invisible. I’ve always wanted to be like, you know Sue from the Fantastic Four!”

Everyone got a good laugh out of this.


	26. Basically, Is Anybody Out There?

**Time for a question: IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. The only things I do own are the plot, my OC, and my dog in real life.**

“A horrible tragedy may explain the rumor that there’s a ghost somewhere at the Kadic Academy. Back in 1905, while the building was under construction, one of the workers, Leon Corbet, is said to have been buried alive under the foundations, in the boiler room area to be precise,” Sissi read to Nicholas and Hervé. The two boys were kinda shocked.

Nicholas spoke first, to Hervé. “Ha, now do you believe me?” He was filled with pride.

The boys had an argument over if Kadic was haunted. Hervé, on one hand, was more logical. He didn’t believe that their beloved school (equipped with the Principal’s Daughter) was haunted. On the other hand, Nicholas was more adamant. He believed in the ghost or ghosts.

Sissi was able to help them end the argument, but it seemed to go on forever.

“Get real!” Hervé looked to his friend.

The bell rang.

**-In Class-**

“Emily, 77—good work,” Mrs. Mayer said passing out papers. “Cassidy, 100—excellent. Jean, 87—very good. Elizabeth, a quadrilateral is not a quadrant you do later—10!”

A note landed on Cassidy’s table as she looked at her results. “Huh?” she whispered to herself.

She put her paper down and picked up the note. She read it in her head. It was an invitation—from _Sissi_ —to go to the boiler room at around midnight. _Ulrich will get a message, too. I know it._

“Jeremie, 100—excellent,” Mrs. Mayer handed his paper over.

Jeremie grabbed it after it was handed.

“Ulrich, you earned an 87—good work,” Mrs. Mayer smiled.

Ulrich picked up his paper and a note fell from it. He picked it up, “‘Meet me at the boiler room at midnight, Sissi?’” He turned to the aforementioned person at the same time as Cassidy. He looked to her as well. “Same thing,” he mouthed.

Cassidy nodded. “Bad luck for the both of us,” she mouthed back.

Ulrich turned his attention back to Sissi who only gave the two a smile.

He then returned to her. “Why did you get one?” he mouthed.

“I think she thinks I’m supposed to be one of those paranormal investigators, but I don’t communicate with the dead. That’s witchcraft in the Crucible. It was a hanging error in Salem, Massachusetts, Ulrich. A hanging error,” she whispered.

He nodded.

**-MONSTER JIM RALLY (A/N: Oh joy)-**

“May I remind you that, in the evening, girls and boys are prohibited from straying from their respective floors. **(A/N: I ask you readers out there, isn’t it strange when this is going on, every boy is in their night clothes in the _daytime?_ End A/N)** Okay, for any of you who might be thinking of trying to pull anything, remember that the floors are different from each other and that they are either upstairs from or downstairs from the one above. **(A/N: Confusion much?)**   Girls are upstairs and boys—downstairs. Comings and goings from upstairs to downstairs and from downstairs to upstairs are strictly forbidden!”

Odd yawned, earning a yell-off from Jim. “If I catch anyone going _from_ downstairs/upstairs or anyone going from upstairs/downstairs, he or she is going to regret it stairs.”

The reason for the reinforced rule was that a boy and a girl **(A/N: Not from the group or from William either. End A/N)** got a little frisky. The boy invited the girl to his room and, when Jim went patrolling, he heard some overly-pleasant moans and groans. The couple got caught and now was serving some counseling time with Mr. Klotz.

When the rules were repeated to the girls, Cassidy yawned too, earning herself a yell-off, too.

Jim walked off. “You’ve been warned! Dismissed!”

**-Later that night-**

Ulrich and Cassidy set off at twenty-three thirty (or eleven-thirty) to the boiler room. She knew what would happen, and hoped for the best and not the worst.

They met up with the door. Ulrich knocked on it.

A high-pitched voice greeted them. “Password?”

“Let me guess. Ulrich Sweetheart?” Cassidy guessed.

“Correct!” Sissi let the two in and lead them through the dark hallway until they saw the Pentagram—circle with a star in the middle and candles all around the round edge.

“Isn’t this a bit square for you?” Ulrich asked a hint dull.

“It’s not a square; it’s a Tampa-gram,” Sissi told the two.

“Pentagram,” Hervé, who was sitting cross-legged with Nicholas, said.

“And why did you drag me into this, Sissi?” Cassidy yawned. “I was just in the middle of a terrific dream, full of action.”

“Because, the spirit will probably know you’re a necromancer,” Sissi stated.

“I have to tell you that—”

Sissi interrupted her. “Whatever!”

The three stepped into the Pentagram.

“Thanks to this and my psychic powers,” Sissi continued.

“Don’t you mean _my_ psychic powers,” Cassidy muttered.

“Shut up, McGuire,” Sissi commanded. “I’m going to conjure up the spirit of that poor Leon Corbet.”

Cassidy scoffed. “Go figure. Your cronies will act as cowards for this.”

Ulrich nudged her in the ribs.

“I’m sure if we communicate with him, he can finally rest in peace,” the raven-haired girl raised her hands to the sky.

“I have no idea if he is even earthbound, Sissi,” Cassidy said. “I’m not—”

“I can’t wait to see this,” Ulrich chuckled a little.

“Okay, now stand inside the pentagon with me,” Sissi told the two. “We will bring together our ping and pong energy…”

“I think it’s Yin and Yang,” the brown-haired girl quirked.

“…and summon up the dead man’s ghost,” she continued.

“You know what? I think you forgot the paddles,” he joked.

“And the net,” Cassidy continued.

Sissi grabbed the two of them as they were laughing—they stopped then—and told them to hold hands.

Cassidy held Ulrich’s hand and he held Sissi’s hand. She—Cassidy—held Sissi’s other hand.

“And now let the ceremony begin!” Sissi announced.

Nicholas and Hervé started chanting.

Sissi let go and put her hands together as if in prayer.

The chanting was enough to put Cassidy in a trance. She went white-eyed, which Ulrich took notice. Too long under her power and she could wreck the school by now by accident.

Hoping Sissi, Hervé, and Nicholas weren’t watching, he Gibbs-slapped her. Cassidy broke out of it.

The chanting went on.

“I summon you, Leon Corbet,” Sissi said.

 **XANA decided to play**. He went into the stove and closed the door.

The boys chanting stopped.

Cassidy shook a little. That was the first time in a while that her eyes turned white. It had been about a month since that happened.

“Yes, Leon, I’m listening,” Sissi had a kinda good feeling about this. Hervé and Nicholas stood up.

The stove door opened and a specter came out onto the floor. It wasn’t a polymorphing specter. Cassidy knew that much.

Just as Cassidy predicted, the two cronies of Sissi ran screaming. Only Ulrich, Cassidy, and Sissi remained.

“Don’t step out of the Tampa-long, Ulrich and Cassidy. It protects us,” Sissi told them in a whisper. “Uh…Leon Corbet?”

The specter leaped to the three then disappeared. Sissi was disappointed. “Darn it—” then she realized. “Cassidy?”

“I’m trying to tell you, Sissi, I’m not a—”

“Behind you, oh!” She pointed.

Ulrich and Cassidy looked behind them.

The specter was about to attack the two Lyoko Warriors, but they dodged. Sissi screamed, but Ulrich pulled her out of the way. “Let’s go, _quick!”_ Ulrich commanded.

Cassidy followed, too. “And you should know that—”

“Later,” her friend yelled.

She groaned. “Why is it always the psychic ones that get interrupted in this chapter?”

They exited the boiler room and Ulrich and Cassidy banded together to push the lockers that never seem to get used anymore to barricade the door.

They then grabbed Sissi and ran.

**-With Nicholas and Hervé—this ought to be good :) –**

The two were talking over each other in panic to Jim. He—the gym teacher—slowed them down.

Hervé said, “The ghost of Leon Corbet came after us in the boiler room, Jim!”

Jim didn’t believe it for even a half-second. “If anyone’s after you two, it’s a gym teacher in a tracksuit holding a red pen which he’s going to use to give you four hours of detention.”

Ulrich and Cassidy were watching from a window in the double-doors. “We better go upstairs, fast!” Ulrich whispered to the two girls.

  **-With the specter-**

The specter ghosted through the seemingly-unused lockers with ease.

**-With Ulrich, Sissi, and Cassidy-**

Ulrich got to his room, Cassidy and Sissi following, and opened the door. He looked to Sissi. “Sissi, you better get back to your room.”

She wouldn’t go. “No!” she half-croaked. “Don’t leave me all by myself, please.”

“Well, since you said por favor,” Cassidy winked, but on her face was a frown.

He hushed her and said, “Alright, come in then.”

She (Sissi) was pleased and relieved at the same time. Tiptoeing into Odd and Ulrich’s dorm, she heard Ulrich say, “Wait for us here, we’ll be back.”

Cassidy took Ulrich’s lead and went with him to Jeremie’s room.

**-With Odd-**

Odd woke up and saw Sissi. “Am I dreaming or what?” he asked, sitting up.

“I’m scared, Odd. ’Mind if I sit near you?” Sissi asked him.

“Uh-huh. It's just a nightmare and soon I'm gonna wakeup.” He leaned back on his pillow in an attempt that said “I’m not seeing this, am I”.

**-Cassidy and Ulrich in Jeremie’s room-**

Ulrich woke Jeremie up. “Jeremie, I think XANA’s just launched an attack.”

“I can feel the tower from Earth, too, Ulrich, it’s somewhere on Lyoko, but—” she tried so hard for the location. “—Darn it! My powers are jammed. Nice going, XANA. You are going to pay for this with your own demise, one of these days.”

“Huh? XANA’s going to die?” Ulrich turned to Cassidy.

Cassidy nodded. “I can’t give you an exact date yet, but he’ll die somewhere next school year.”

“The laptop,” Jeremie requested, putting on his glasses.

Ulrich retrieved the laptop for his friend.

Jeremie typed on the super-scan. “We’ll know in a minute.”

The super-scan showed nothing. “Nope, there are no activated towers.”

“But, I know you think I’m probably crazy, but I can feel the tower. It’s somewhere, but I just don’t know where,” Cassidy sighed in dejection.

“Hey, you did your best this time. Maybe your powers are overused,” Ulrich suggested.

The block suddenly dissipated from Cassidy’s mind. “ICE SECTOR!” she yelped. “It’s in the Ice Sector.”

**-Time to check on Jim-**

He was walking the halls while the specter stalked him. Paranoia set in and Jim whirled around. But there was nothing there, so he turned around and walked the halls again. The specter was following his every move. Jim was getting annoyed now. “Somebody around here is going to be in real trouble.” He turned around again.

Again nothing, but then the specter, invisible, lifted the hapless PE teacher by the ankle and he started screaming.

**-Time to check on Odd and Sissi-**

“So, Leon’s ghost came out of the boiler, and—and he was so _ugly_ that even Nicholas and Hervé started screaming, like Cassidy predicted,” Sissi confided in Odd, who was listening to her every word.

They heard Jim screaming and went to investigate.

So did Cassidy, Ulrich, and Jeremie. Jim was hanging in the air sounding strangled.

Sissi started screaming at the highest scream she could go. Odd flinched and closed his eyes.

That dropped Jim.

The Lyoko Warriors went over to check on Jim. Sissi ran off ( _It’s okay,_ Cassidy thought tiredly, _she’ll find a broom closet to hide in; I don’t mind it.)._

“You okay, Jim?” Odd asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright,” Jim panted.

Then Ulrich heard something. “What’s that noise?” He asked Cassidy.

“The so-called ‘ghost of Leon Corbet’,” she nodded.

“It’s getting closer,” Odd said.

“I know, but I’m not a necromancer—YES, I said it,” she was happy not to get interrupted that time.

Then Odd got pulled by the ankle and was dragged. Ulrich grabbed Odd’s hand and tried to break XANA’s invisible ghost’s grip, but was dragged too. Odd was screaming.

Jeremie knew just what to do. He grabbed the fire extinguisher and—though not at a distance—sprayed XANA’s invisible ghost. It let go of Odd fast and disappeared.

“Thank you George Manby,” Cassidy whispered under her breath.

“Who?” Ulrich turned to her.

“The inventor of the fire extinguisher,” Cassidy smiled.

“You saw right; the monster depixelized when I hit it,” Jeremie said.

“It’s one of XANA’s attacks,” she nodded. “Oh, we’ll not be able to sleep this night. XANA bugged the super-scan.”

“Let’s get Aelita!” Jeremie lead the two boys and the only girl up to Cassidy and Aelita’s room.

**-In the Broom Closet-**

Sissi was shaking and scared. XANA’s ghost came in through the door and made her scream. It went away and Sissi fainted.

**-Yumi’s house-**

Yumi was reading in her room when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up. “Hello!”

**-Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Cassidy-**

“It’s me,” Ulrich said. “There’s a big emergency. Meet us at the factory.”

 _“Got it!”_ Yumi half-yawned.

Jeremie and Cassidy entered the room.

**-The ghost is coming-**

Aelita woke up. “Jeremie? Cassidy?” She was a little confused to see Cassidy in her day clothes.

“Aelita,” Jeremie said.

**-Meanwhile-**

The ghost checked the empty room that was supposed to be Cassidy’s, but she was adamant about the roommate part, so it stayed an empty room.

The ghost jumped up into Aelita and Cassidy’s room.

**-What happens now?-**

Cassidy and Jeremie were in the crosshairs of doom and they were both attacked. Aelita watched in horror. Ulrich and Odd saw this, too. Ulrich turned off the light and saw the specter holding its victims down. He grabbed Aelita’s ruler, ran up, and stabbed it.

It released them and Cassidy and Jeremie sat up to catch their breaths. Cassidy drew a shuddering breath and looked to her savior. “Thanks, U-Ulrich.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ulrich smiled and deadpanned at the same time.

Cassidy smiled, remembering the day of October 10th where he had said the same thing.

“This is no time to hang around,” Ulrich pulled Jeremie to his feet.

Cassidy was helped by Aelita. The former then had an equilibrium attack and fell to her knees. Aelita pulled her friend to her feet again.

“Do these attacks always happen when you stand up?” Odd asked her as soon as they were running to the factory.

“Sometimes,” Cassidy panted.

**-The specter is not happy; next scene-**

The three boys and the two girls ran to the sewer cap. They went in one at a time, Odd and Ulrich going last. Ulrich said, “Hurry, it’s coming,” and covered the sewers.

**-Lab-**

Yumi was there already. The elevator doors opened to reveal the rest of the team. “What took you so long?”

“We had a slight delay, Yumi,” Cassidy blinked. “Jeremie and I got attacked by the so-called apparition of ‘Leon Corbet’. XANA also bugged up the super-scan.”

“Do you believe in ghosts,” Ulrich asked Yumi.

“No,” Yumi said.

“Wrong answer,” he told her.

Jeremie got in the cushy chair and started typing almost endlessly until he noticed something. “Hey, that’s weird. XANA’s managed to corrupt the super-scan.”

“We better hit to Sector 5, ladies,” Cassidy nodded.

“You take the lead this time,” Ulrich smiled at the female psychic.

“Okay, Ulrich, you defend Jeremie against that ghost. Odd you guard the Ice Sector tower to the best of your abilities. Yumi and Aelita, we will go to Sector 5 to uncorrupt the super-scan,” Cassidy gave the orders well as if Ulrich possessed her.

Soon Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy were on Lyoko’s Desert Sector.

Yumi looked to Odd. “Nice to see you without your pajamas on.”

Odd posed as if tying a Windsor knot. “Nice of you to notice.” He then looked around for any vehicles, but there were none. “Jeremie, I’m going to need a—” as if Jeremie read his mind, Odd’s OverBoard came up in front of him. “Okay, forget it!”

Cassidy was given the OverBike. And the other two ladies were given the OverWing.

Odd jumped on his vehicle and went to the Ice Sector.

Aelita and Yumi got on the OverWing while Cassidy got on the OverBike and they went to the edge of the sector.

Odd looked behind him to call to the three ladies. “’Later!”

“¡Hasta luego, Odd!” Cassidy yelled back in Spanish.

As soon as Odd was out of sight, Aelita asked, “What’s hasta luego mean?”

“See you later, I told Odd,” Cassidy smiled.

Aelita and Yumi nodded. Soon the three stopped at the edge of the sector and Jeremie entered the code SCIPIO. The transporter took them to Sector 5.

The transporter landed the three to the Arena.

“We’ll stop the countdown when we can, Jeremie, but first the wall has got to open!” Cassidy said.

As soon as the walls opened, the three girls ran to the Core Zone.

**-The lab-**

The two heard something. Ulrich got worried. “Jeremie!”

The ghost came.

Jeremie got worried. “What do we do?”

“Come on!” Ulrich told him.

And the two started their on the run track.

**-Odd-**

Odd was on his way to the Ice Sector from the Desert Sector.

**-Jeremie and Ulrich-**

They were running from the ghost from the boiler room. Jeremie looked back. “We can’t shake him! There’s no point in running; he’ll catch us every time.”

“You got a better idea?” Ulrich asked him.

**-Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

They were running to the Core Zone through the long corridor. They stopped in that room.

Yumi and Cassidy looked around for any traps. Aelita found the key. “I see the key.” She pointed in the direction of it.

“No sweat!” Cassidy said, pointing her gun-turned-tube at it. She shot once and the bullet found its target. The countdown stopped.

“Wow,” Yumi exclaimed.

“This time I didn’t use a scope,” Cassidy nodded. “Now let’s get that super-scan debugged and we can get to the Ice Sector to deactivate that tower.”

The two girls nodded.

**-Odd-**

Odd went to the Ice Sector.

**-Cassidy, Aelita, and Yumi-**

The two got to the elevator room and jumped at the right moment.

**-Ulrich and Jeremie-**

They had a plan.

The ghost went into the computer monitoring center. It got to Jeremie and was about to attack when Ulrich came in with spark plugs and shocked the beast.

**-Odd-**

He found a Tarantula walking on the ground below him. “Where there’s smoke…” he muttered to himself.

**-Aelita, Cassidy, and Yumi-**

They were already in the Celestial Dome. Aelita started the process while Cassidy turned her tube into a little help center.

**-Odd-**

He followed the Tarantula to the activated tower and found a second Tarantula there too.

He fought hard.

**-The three girls-**

They debugged the program and Cassidy helped upload two vehicles: The OverWing, and the OverBike.

They were ready in an instant, and Cassidy opened up the portal to the Ice Sector.

They joined Odd. “Hey, ladies!”

“Glad to see you, Odd!” Cassidy smiled.

The three guardians worked on the Tarantulas and soon Aelita was able to reach the tower. She entered the Lyoko Code.

Jeremie’s voice came back on. _“How did you do?”_

“We got the super-scan back online and Aelita just deactivated the tower,” Cassidy said. “Can we all go home now?”

She swore that she heard Jeremie nod. And soon she saw Earth again.

Then Jeremie activated the return trip.

**-Back to the séance-**

The boys chanted, but Cassidy was able to not go into a trance.

“I summon you, Leon Corbet,” Sissi said.

Odd’s voice—though Sissi, Hervé and Nicholas couldn’t detect the tone—sounded throughout the boiler. “Who dares call my name?”

“Well, I do,” Sissi said, almost panic-stricken.

“Beat it, Ms. Delmas; you don’t know who you’re dealing with. SCRAM! And Ms. McGuire is not a speaker of the dead!” Odd did a mighty good job of scaring Sissi, Hervé, and Nicholas off.

After the three left, Cassidy smiled. “Odd, come on out! We done scared them half to death. And thank you for being my words, too.”

Odd did. “No problem, Cat-Girl. It was the least I could do.”

“And they’ll think twice before talking to the dead too,” Ulrich joked.

Cassidy and Odd nodded.


	27. Of Franz Hopper and Jeremie's Birthday

**These disclaimers: always annoying. Never giving the author entertainment.**

**Jeremie: But what is it doing here?**

**Me: it says that Code Lyoko isn’t mine. Cassidy and the plot are. And some of the italics are Cassidy’s hostile thoughts against XANA-Franz Hopper.**

Yumi was at her house when her phone rang. “Uh huh!”

_“Yumi, it’s Jeremie. We need you to come to the factory right now.”_

**-Jeremie’s room-**

“The super-scan has just picked up an attack from XANA, and this one looks like big trouble,” Jeremie was typing away.

 _“Why?”_ Yumi yawned.

“Believe it or not, there are _five_ activated towers,” Jeremie explained.

**-Factory-**

Jeremie was getting worried. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this one.”

“Yeah, I do, too, Jeremie,” Cassidy yawned a little.

“Oh, relax, Einstein and Danger Psychic,” Odd said. “We’ll take out the five towers in no time.”

Aelita was smiling and Yumi arrived.

“I got here as quickly as I could,” Yumi panted.

Ulrich gave her an approving look and they piled into the elevator to go to the lab.

When the six arrived there, someone was sitting in Jeremie’s chair and it wasn’t Odd.

“Ah, there you are.” The chair swiveled around to face the six friends. “I’d been expecting you.” It was Franz Hopper. He turned back around to face the computer. Cassidy felt instantaneously suspicious of the newcomer. _Something’s not right. I can feel it._ Then she realized. _XANA. I’ve not any surprise on you, you confidence-draining, power-blocking, plot-planning, pig-stealing VIRUS!_

Jeremie noticed Cassidy’s hostile gaze to the chair, so he pulled her inside the elevator, cocked a brow and asked, “Is something the matter?”

“Something is not right here, I can feel it,” Cassidy said in a low voice. “It feels like betrayal and double-crossings. I’m not sure. But you mustn’t trust almost everything this man says.”

Jeremie gave her a short nod. Then the two went back to where they were.

“That XANA…locks the door, but leaves the window wide open,” Franz Hopper was typing.

Jeremie was shocked. “But—” he was stammering. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m…deactivating the towers, of course,” Franz replied.

Cassidy was still staring at the man with such hostility that if looks could kill, he’d be depixelized in a matter of just a half-second. Something wasn’t right. And she knew the whole truth.

“Without going to Lyoko?” Jeremie asked, almost half-appalled.

Franz chuckled a little. “Of course.”

Aelita was next to talk. “But, uh, who are you?”

The man stopped typing.

“I, even though I’m suspicious of this man right now, believe his name is Franz Hopper, Aelita,” Cassidy felt a tug at her heart to say more. The same tug that told her to tell the others, but she didn’t know which moment was right. She drew it down in her visions notebook, but she had no idea where to spring the confession of a lifetime.

That shocked the others.

“I’m the one that created Lyoko, and XANA, too, but then I lost control of it,” Franz Hopper continued after Cassidy. “In the very beginning it was a program I design to counter a military project.”

“Project Carthage,” Cassidy realized in a whisper to herself.

He seemed to have heard her as he gave a nod. “It was based on a multi-agent system.”

“Well, what about me?” Aelita asked the two.

“Huh, I created you to be the guardian of Lyoko.”

Cassidy was still staring at him with such an unfriendly stare. _Franz Hopper didn’t_ “create” _Aelita. He_ had _her with his wife. Boy, am I going to tongue-lash him until his pixilated ears turn to dust._

“But I’d never thought I’d see you one day in flesh and blood,” he continued.

That deepened the cold stare on Cassidy’s face.

Aelita smiled though.

“But then where have you been for these last few years,” Ulrich asked.

“Well, let’s say I was a kind of prisoner, but finally managed to escape,” he turned his attention to the screen.

 _You haven’t escaped anything,_ Franz! _Not yet!_

Yumi gasped though, but she regained her composure. “What now then?”

“We’ve got to destroy XANA once and for all,” Franz Hopper’s voice had an edge to it.

“Franz, Aelita has a link/virus that our old friend XANA gave her. Killing XANA equals adios Aelita,” Cassidy explained in her calmest voice.

He looked to Aelita with concern. “We’ll find the antivirus/breaker, you’ll see.”

“Sure,” Jeremie said, “but how?”

“Well, that, young man, is why I came. I’m here to help,” Franz laid a hand on Jeremie’s shoulder.

 _Don’t you dare touch him! Or I’ll go over and, I don’t know how, but I’ll_ deactivate _that tower you set up, XANA!_

Jeremie was confident.

**-Jeremie’s room with Jeremie, Cassidy, and Aelita-**

“He’s very fatherly. Actually, in a way, he is my father. He’s the one that created me,” Aelita told Jeremie.

 _Or had you, Aelita._ After leaving the factory, Cassidy’s hostility stopped. Now her thoughts were kind of warm.

“That’s true. I adore my own dad, but he’s sure no genius,” Jeremie explained.

“I love my dad, too,” Cassidy said. “He was in the marines, but he retired years ago.”

“This Franz Hopper guy is a real live genius,” he continued.

“Well, that’s it for me, I’m going to go to bed,” Aelita was tired.

“Okay, goodnight.”

Cassidy nodded. “I’m going to stick around to talk to Jeremie for a little bit.”

Aelita nodded and left. “Goodnight, Jeremie.”

“Goodnight, Aelita. I’ll be upstairs in a minute,” Cassidy promised.

After she left, Cassidy got in a few words with Jeremie. “I know I know things that are about to happen and I don’t think that Franz Hopper is who he says he is. We have to be careful.”

He nodded. “Goodnight, Cassidy.”

“’Night, Jeremie,” she yawned.

**-The next morning (get excited)-**

Jeremie woke up to his phone ringing. He picked it up. _“Jeremie, it’s me.”_

“Franz…?” He was still in a kind of daze.

 _“No, Michael,”_ said that same voice, _“your father. Do you know why I’m calling?”_

Cassidy and the others came in carrying the biggest grins in the whole school.

 _“Happy birthday, big guy!”_ his dad said.

Jeremie turned around and there were his friends, and Kiwi. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EINSTEIN!” they all yelled.

Cassidy gave him a hug that nearly lifted Jeremie up off the ground. Then she set him down, and let the others join in with their part of the birthday.

_“By the way, your mother’s worried about you. You should call us more often. Now have you thought about that school for Gifted Children?”_

Aelita gave Jeremie a kiss on his head.

_“Jeremie?”_

“Uh, yeah, sure. Um—okay, Dad, sure. Um, listen, I have to go, my friends just came in. Talk to you soon,” Jeremie said to his dad and hung up on him.

He put his cell phone away.

Odd came up to Jeremie with his gift. “Here, a present!”

Jeremie looked at it.

“What are you waiting for? Go on, open it,” Ulrich half-urged.

He opened it, much to Odd’s pleasure, and found a drawing of the gang. From left to right: Cassidy, Odd (holding Kiwi), Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi were standing and sharing a smile.

“Wow!” Jeremie exclaimed. “It’s great!”

“And the best part? Odd did this drawing directly from memory.” Cassidy smiled her quirky smile. “I just helped him with the details.”

“So you can imagine the effort it took,” Ulrich joked lightly.

Everyone, minus Odd and Cassidy, had a good laugh out of that one.

Cassidy gave him a package. It looked a bit…weird. Jeremie opened it and found a blue and yellow scarf. “And check the fringes,” she teased lightly.

He looked and saw some pink and green threads mixed in with the blue and yellow ones. He smiled. She could make anything go into existence.

“Thanks everyone!” Jeremie said.

“It’s your party! Take it anywhere. Heck, take it on the Midnight Train or to Lyoko or wherever,” Cassidy dramatically said.

Yumi giggled a little. If someone could be _that_ good at jokes and dramatics and it was _not_ Odd, give it to Cassidy.

“Hey, speaking of Lyoko, how about going over to the factory now? I sure can’t wait to see Franz again!” Jeremie said excitedly.

“You’re the leader and birthday boy on this one, Jeremie. We’ll follow you like Jesus’ disciples,” Cassidy nodded and everyone agreed.

**-Factory-**

“You use the scanners to virtualize human beings?” Franz sounded shocked when Jeremie told him.

“Well, yes,” Jeremie explained.

This time Cassidy felt both hostile and scared at the same time.

“It’s our way of deactivating towers when and if found,” Cassidy nodded, a frown crossing her features.

“The virtualization process was not ready for that, yet,” Franz said, gazing at the both of them.

The psychic girl wanted so badly to say, “And how do you know that, XANA?” but kept her mouth shut. She knew that XANA wanted to drive wedges in the group on Jeremie’s birthday. She knew the truth.

“It’s a very dangerous procedure,” continued he, “with dangerous side-effects.”

“Everyone used the scanners and no one had any side-effects. Not one of us had cell degeneration,” Cassidy scowled.

**-Everyone’s tested, time for the results-**

“Odd seems okay,” Franz told Jeremie and Aelita. “Ulrich, too. But, Yumi and Cassidy…”

There were two alarms for the both of them. Both seemed to have a neurological degeneration.

That panicked Aelita and Jeremie.

“No!” Jeremie yelled. It couldn’t be possible. It just couldn’t be. “It can’t be!”

**-In front of the school-**

“I can’t believe it,” Yumi was really shocked about it.

Cassidy wasn’t. “The test results could have been faked.”

“ _Could have been faked!_ Listen to yourself, Cassidy. You’re in denial!” Ulrich shouted to her.

“I’m not in denial, Ulrich! I’m quite sure that the results were faked to make it look like Yumi and I have some neurological degeneration or something like that,” Cassidy yelled back.

“What a nightmare!” Yumi sounded like she was ready to cry.

“Nice one, Einstein. Dr. Shrank transplants animal limbs onto human beings. But compared to you, he’s small time,” Odd said to Jeremie.

“Odd, cut it out!” Cassidy told him.

Odd turned to her. “No! This is too big a problem.”

She sighed. No one believed her except for probably Jeremie.

“I couldn’t have known,” Jeremie was still shell-shocked. “I’m sorry, Yumi, Cassidy.”

“You’re _sorry?_ That’s not going to help cure Cassidy and Yumi,” Ulrich defended them, even though Cassidy didn’t need defending.

“Lay off, Ulrich,” Cassidy told him in a warning voice.

Jeremie came up to the two. “Yumi, Cassidy, I—”

Yumi stood up. “Leave me alone, Jeremie. I need to be by myself. ’Coming, Ulrich?”

She left with Ulrich.

**-That night, cafeteria-**

“I’m sure there is a way to cure Cassidy and Yumi,” Jeremie said to the others.

“We don’t know exactly what’s wrong with them.” Odd refused to eat a single bite of his favorite: spaghetti and meatballs.

“Nothing, Odd,” Cassidy held her strong front quite nicely.

“You see? Still in denial after the diagnosis,” Ulrich yelled at her again.

“How many times do I have to tell you: I’m not in denial?” Cassidy shouted.

“I’ll work it out. I promise, I will,” Jeremie promised.

“I think you’ve done enough damage as it is,” Ulrich turned his attention to the genius.

“What do you mean by that?” the genius was befuddled. “That everything’s been my fault since the very start.”

“Yeah!” Cassidy defended. “Don’t start taunting Jeremie. He has done some good for this Earth. He’s really meant.”

“Quoting Subsonics lines, is that it? Or are you defending him for good luck?” Ulrich switched from him to her.

“No!”

He turned from her to him. “You’re the brains in this outfit, _Einstein!_ ”

Cassidy’s anger amped up by two degrees. “Don’t you dare call him that in that tone!”

That was it. Jeremie couldn’t take it anymore, so he stood up and took his tray up.

Aelita stood up, too, and said this before leaving, “You know Ulrich! If it weren’t for the scanners, I wouldn’t be here!”

Cassidy stood up and, before she took her tray up, “And if it weren’t for the scanners, I would still be on Lyoko until Jeremie found the materialization program for me for when I was in the digital sea. And I would probably have been directly disintegrated for when Yumi and I switched bodies. Plus, as an added burn, if it weren’t for the scanners, we wouldn’t have been able to save Aelita on a daily basis. Thanks, Ulrich!” she left.

**-At Yumi’s house-**

Yumi’s parents were concerned for their daughter. Her mom was the first to speak. “Yumi, are you okay?”

“I’m—not very hungry, tonight.” Yumi’s head was full of thoughts and concern.

Hiroki laughed. “Oh, Ulrich, I _love_ you!”

Yumi and Hiroki’s mom was not happy with the latter. “Hiroki.”

“I’m going to bed,” Yumi was kind of sad. Not for the tease, but for what she’d been, as Cassidy said it, “so-called diagnosed” with.

She left without another word.

Cho (Yumi’s mom) stood up. “That's it then, we're in the thick of it now.”

Takeo looked up from his dinner. “Of what?”

She looked to him. “A teenage crisis.”

Hiroki ignored them and kept eating.

**-Jeremie’s room-**

Jeremie stared at the picture. All in one day, it seemed that the world would work out for him, but now it turned upside down with Cassidy, Aelita, and him still sane.

He turned away from it. It was not fair to him. First his birthday was all good, then it turned out to be cold prickles from the tests on his friends.

**-Cassidy and Aelita’s room-**

They both were staring up at the ceiling. Cassidy was thinking of her tongue lashing speech to XANA and what to put in the recipe.

Aelita was thinking of Cassidy and Yumi’s fate. What would happen?

An owl hooted outside.

**-Odd and Ulrich’s room-**

They were thinking of Cassidy and Yumi too.

Kiwi slept peacefully, snoring as he did so.

**-Yumi’s room-**

She was still awake too. Then her cell phone rang. “Hello,” she said into the mouthpiece.

_“Yumi, it’s Franz.”_

**-Lab-**

“I have some good news,” he was typing away and talking at the same time. “Tell the others and meet me first thing tomorrow at the factory.”

 _“Okay, we’ll be there!”_ Yumi came through.

He hung up the inter-communications unit.

**-The next day at the factory-**

The gang was piled into the elevator. Cassidy was prepared with her tongue-lasher speech. She had a quiet, but determined look on her face, mixed with just the right mix of hostility, with no added fear.

The elevator opened to the lab.

“I now know how to program the antivirus which would free Aelita. All I need now is the data from Sector 5,” Franz announced as they all surrounded him.

 _First, I’ll separate you from your chair, then we will battle._ Cassidy solidly nodded as if she understood him.

“Great,” Aelita said.

Cassidy stayed with Jeremie to keep him company. He looked to her. “Do you have a plan?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Plus I know who this imposter’s identity is.”

“Who?”

“This time I’m going to let you figure it out,” Cassidy smiled a little.

Jeremie nodded. She sometimes didn’t want to spill out the attack when told to do so.

“We’ll go and get it then,” Aelita told Franz.

Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd smiled.

“I thought the scanners were too dangerous to use.” Jeremie and Cassidy came up to him as if by a secret bondage.

“If we want to get to Sector 5, then we have no choice,” Franz said.

“It’ll be our final mission,” Odd rejoiced a little.

“Okay, what are we—” He meant himself and Cassidy—“supposed to do?”

“If I was you two, I’d stay out of the way,” Franz didn’t know that Cassidy was getting a little more hostile when he said those words.

“Oh, no, I’m going with my friends to Sector 5. There’s no way that I’m sitting out this mission,” Cassidy pushed her glasses back into place.

“Perhaps…but you’re the one who is the dangerous psychic. You’re the one who put your friends’ lives at risk. And you’re the one who almost destroyed the factory the second time that you were in the scanner room,” Franz used the words, and Cassidy’s scowl deepened.

“It's not fair! Everyone blames me for everything! And after all, we all turned the supercomputer back on together!” Jeremie went next.

Franz turned to Jeremie. “Perhaps... but you were the one who played the Sorcerer's apprentice. You're the one who put your friends’ lives at risk. And you're the one who almost let XANA _destroy my diary_!”

Jeremie was majorly ticked off. “Fine, I get it!” He turned around to leave. Cassidy stayed put. She wanted to give XANA the fullest extent of her wrath.

Jeremie went into the elevator. Aelita tried to stop him. “Jeremie…” She ran off after him, but the elevator doors shut before she had a chance to talk him into staying.

She was devastated in some ways.

Franz turned to the others. “Right, shall we?”

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi smiled as if to say, “Yes.”

Cassidy smiled. Some alone time with the enemy. _Perfect._

Franz turned to the computer screen.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was contemplating his place as he looked at the picture Odd gave him yesterday. He felt turned against. Cast off in some ways.

He turned the frame over and put it on the table. He then called his dad.

 _“Hello,”_ said his father’s voice.

“Dad, it’s me,” Jeremie said.

 _“Jeremie,”_ asked his father.

“You know that school for Gifted Children that you were talking about,” Jeremie asked him.

_“Yes.”_

“I want to go,” He said to him. “Can you come and get me?”

_“When?”_

“As soon as possible,” Jeremie said.

 _“Okay, I’ll be there tomorrow,”_ Michael said to him.

“Oh, right, alright then,” Jeremie said to him.

He hung up the phone.

**-With Franz-**

He virtualized Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd. One half of Cassidy wanted her to go to Lyoko, amid the consequences, but the other half told her that she had a prior commitment to work on with Franz.

**-Sector 5-**

The three Lyoko Warriors landed in the arena. “Hey, we’ve arrived directly in Sector 5,” Ulrich noticed.

Cassidy was allowed some contact. _“Franz thinks the Transporter is a little_ outdated.”

The walls opened up and the three friends went over to the Core Zone.

**-Jeremie-**

He was sitting at his desk recounting what Franz had said to both him and Cassidy.

_“And you’re the one who almost destroyed the factory the second time that you were in the scanner room.”_

_“And you’re the one who almost let XANA_ destroy my diary!”

He flashed back to the day that they went to the train station and found the suitcase with the engraving FH. “Franz Hopper,” Cassidy had said. “This is his diary!”

“But how could he have known that the diary was almost destroyed?” Jeremie asked himself back in the present.

“Maybe we’ll find out more about the mysterious owner of the Hermitage,” Yumi had said that day.

“Everything’s encrypted. I’ll have to decode it,” Jeremie remembered saying.

Then he flashed back to the day that Odd was first virtualized. And how Cassidy inadvertly almost destroyed the factory by using an earthquake in a hidden power.

“And how could he have known the factory was nearly destroyed?”

But Jeremie stopped the power in its tracks, even though Cassidy had a little amnesia from the event.

_“And you’re the one who almost destroyed the factory the second time that you were in the scanner room.”_

Jeremie went over to look at the suitcase with the engraving on it. It was still in one piece, and so were the CDs.

 _“And you’re the one who almost let XANA_ destroy my diary!”

“How could Franz Hopper know that?”

“XANA did it. He zapped my back and now it’ll be an ugly scar for the rest of my life,” Cassidy had scowled when they stopped Jeremie’s XANA possession.

Later, Cassidy had said this, “Luckily, XANA didn’t destroy Franz Hopper’s CDs this time,” though she had no clue what she had said.

 _“And you’re the one who almost let XANA_ destroy my diary!”

That last bit made Jeremie realize. “XANA!”

**-With Franz and the others-**

“The countdown has begun. Clean up and I’ll send Aelita over,” Franz told the three fighters.

 _“Alright,”_ Yumi’s voice sounded.

He cut off the communications from there. Cassidy was still frowning. “You know, Franz, everything was okay before you came. You deactivated around four out of five towers, told everyone that you created Lyoko and XANA—both of which are true—and Aelita—but that sir is untrue.”

“Oh, and what makes you say that?” Franz turned to address her.

“You didn’t create Aelita by using Lyoko. You created her using your wife, Antea. She had pink hair, too. You are Aelita’s father, not creator!”

“Is everything okay, you two?” Aelita asked from the scanner room.

“Yes, Aelita, we’re fine,” Franz covered it up.

**-Jeremie-**

He was coming to his friends’ rescues.

**-Back to Franz and Cassidy-**

As soon as everything was still, Odd’s voice broke out, _“Franz, I don't mind cleaning up, but we're gonna need some industrial strength detergents.”_

Franz turned to the computer screen.  “No problem! I programmed each of you new weapons.”

 _“I don’t see what’s new about this.”_ Odd said.

_I’m not done giving XANA-Franz a tongue lash._

Soon six Creepers were done, out of the way, finished.

 _“Cool! Homing darts,”_ Cassidy could hear a grin.

**-Jeremie-**

He was at the factory.

**-Back to the others-**

Ulrich took out two enemies by using some sort of energy field from his sword.

Yumi’s fan took out three Creepers while they travelled a farther distance than their original length.

Ulrich took out Creeper #12 while it was in close range. He then located the key. “There’s the key! Leave it to me!”

Odd kept shooting his homing laser arrows at his enemies and Yumi took out two from behind him.

“Ulrich, how are you doing?” she asked him.

Ulrich dodged two lasers. “It’s a done deal.” He then took out the two Creepers and got to the key mechanism. He pressed a hand on it and landed.

 _“Well done, Ulrich,”_ Franz said to him.

The door opened.

**-Jeremie-**

He pressed the down button for the scanner room. He was with a plan. But with a little worry, he hoped that Cassidy was smart to keep her mouth shut on his location.

**-Sector 5-**

The door went up again as two more Creepers started shooting at Yumi but she used her fan as a shield, checking her virtual nails as she did so.

Odd jumped in, shot a laser arrow up into the air and got rid of the two Creepers.

He back-flipped and longed for more. “It’s almost too easy…I want more Creepers.”

**-To the Lab-**

“Don’t worry Odd. It’s not over yet. I got more surprises in store for you,” Franz told him.

He uploaded something in the blink of an eye.

“You think you’re so tough, XANA?” Cassidy scathed.

“Very clever, Cassidy. How do you know such things?” Franz’s voice took an undertone to it.

“My first name means clever. And plus I’m psychic,” Cassidy growled.

“Oh, then you must tell me everything you know.” XANA-Franz kept typing.

“No!” she ran up to do a high kick on him, but he electrocuted her with his powers.

“You must tell me.”

“In your complicated motherboard’s dreams!” She spat out.

“Aelita, are you ready for virtualization,” XANA-Franz’s voice lost the undertone.

**-With Aelita-**

“Yes,” Aelita said.

She was about to go into the scanners when Jeremie made it down to the scanner room.

She was about to say something when Jeremie shushed her, making her a little confused.

**-XANA-Franz is starting up the virtualization process-**

“Here we go!”

Soon Aelita was on Lyoko’s Desert Sector. “Yumi? Ulrich? Odd?” She was stranded on a piece of plateau, with no means to get toward any other land. “Franz, I’m not in Sector 5. What’s going on?”

**-In the lab-**

“Everything’s under control,” Franz said.

The elevator opened to reveal Jeremie. Cassidy was happy, though in a little pain at the same time.

“Thank goodness you came,” she mouthed, the look in her eyes looked a little glassy, but she was still conscious.

Franz turned around. “Jeremie, what are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to see how you’re managing, XANA,” Jeremie accused correctly.

Cassidy nodded. Someone figured out the name.

“Very clever, Jeremie,” Franz commented.

“Well, he is the brains in the group, XANA,” Cassidy shakily got up to her feet, but her knees buckled and Jeremie had to catch and steady her before he went up to attack.

XANA-Franz shocked him and bowled him over to her. “Very clever, Jeremie,” He repeated with the undertone. “But you’re too late.”

Jeremie turned to Cassidy. “Did you reveal where I was?”

“Nope, besides I can be trusted to keep locations safe and sound,” Cassidy smiled a little, but frowned again.

XANA-Franz went back to typing.

Jeremie got off Cassidy, breathing a “You better not repeat this to anyone, understood?” to her.

“My lips are sealed, mi amigo,” Cassidy’s eyes were back to normal.

Jeremie nodded. She was using Spanish again, a sure sign that Cassidy was coming into normalcy.

**-Lyoko-**

The three were surrounded by Creepers. Odd decided to make a challenge of this. “Hey, want to make this a contest?” Ulrich agreed. “Whoever gets the most wins.”

Odd tried using his laser arrows but they didn’t come out. Ulrich and Yumi unsheathed their weapons, but they disappeared in a show of pixilated dust.

“What’s going on?” Yumi asked. “Franz?”

A Creeper shot Ulrich in the stomach and this time it hurt.

“Something’s wrong!” Odd said.

Another Creeper tried to shoot Odd, but he jumped onto another platform, almost losing his balance, but he caught himself just in time. He looked up to his friends. “Let’s get out of here!”

They had no choice but to run. “I get the feeling we’ve been double crossed,” Yumi said.

“And Cassidy’s not responding,” Odd said.

“No kidding!” Ulrich replied.

They went into a different room, and Odd said, “Bye,” to the Creepers following them.

**-To XANA-Franz, Cassidy, and Jeremie-**

“Your friends are in trouble. I fixed things so that they could never rematerialize! No more life points! And it’s bye-bye! And now for the grand finale!” XANA-Franz said.

“Not quite,” she whispered to Jeremie. “Did you fix it with Aelita?”

Jeremie nodded. “The decoy’s ready.”

“Good.”

**-To the so-called “Grand finale”-**

The decoy Aelita saw the Schyphozoa and started to panic. Nowhere to go. So her memory was at the jellyfish-monster’s disposal.

**-Sector 5-**

“What now?” Ulrich asked.

“Well, there’s only one thing to do. Franz, we need help!” Odd called out.

“No, not Franz. XANA,” Yumi saw the activated tower. It was a trick all along.

Odd and Ulrich saw the tower too.

“This must be the surprise,” Odd said.

“If Cassidy were here, she would have told us that Franz Hopper was XANA all along,” Ulrich half-mourned.

“No wonder!” Odd snapped.

The Creepers came in and tried to shoot at them but they dodged.

**-Desert Sector-**

The decoy’s memory was being drained right down to the last drop.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie and Cassidy pretended to wear shocked looks.

**-Sector 5-**

The three temporarily defenseless Lyoko Warriors faced their three Creepers. Ulrich with his, Yumi with hers, and Odd with his.

Odd showed off some rad boxing skills.

Yumi got rid of hers and helped Ulrich out with his whom then helped Odd.

“Ciao!” Odd saluted his literally fallen enemy.

They turned around to see Yumi surrounded by three more Creepers.

**-Factory-**

The decoy (but not in XANA-Franz’s eyes) was draining and draining fast.

“Admit you’re defeated, Jeremie, and Cassidy,” XANA-Franz told them.

They gave him a look that said, “No,” but in a smiling way.

“No, not this time,” Jeremie had the platform.

XANA-Franz turned his attention to the screen again.

**-Desert Sector-**

The Schyphozoa let go of the Aelita decoy and started to do a crazy dance.

Inside the bruised-by-bullets membrane, it was alive with electricity and the decoy watched.

**-Let’s see the results-**

“What is the meaning of this?” XANA-Franz asked the two.

Jeremie and Cassidy smiled and said together as if they had rehearsed it for years, “A decoy!”

**-The scanner room-**

It turned out that the real Aelita was working on the decoy’s basic functions on Lyoko. She smiled because she knew it must’ve worked.

**-Back in the lab-**

“What? NO!” XANA-Franz yelled at the both of them.

They both laughed with the look of success in their bespectacled eyes.

He dissipated in a swirl of static and ghostliness (to which Jeremie said, “Wow!”) and went up to the ceiling. Jeremie was in the hot seat again. He worked the programs back over **(A/N: YAY LIFEPOINTS)** to normal.

Cassidy watched with a smile on her face and no hostility. She knew the truth and she knew everything was semi-right in the world until later.

**-Lyoko-**

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd were about to admit their defeat. “I often wondered when this would all end. Now I know.” Yumi was feeling defeated in that claim, too. “This is it.”

**-Lab-**

But, what they didn’t know was that Jeremie was in the cushy chair once again, with Cassidy watching beside him.

**-Lyoko-**

The three Creepers fired. Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi dodged easily.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie was typing on the programs and with the push of the enter key, replaced the programs everyone needed.

“Good work, Jeremie,” Cassidy was about to slip out of consciousness.

He steadied her again. “Just wait until the attack gets over, we do another test, and then you can sleep.”

“I can agree to that,” Cassidy smiled.

**-Lyoko-**

The Creepers fired again, and this time they didn’t miss. Then Ulrich got devirtualized.

“It can’t be!” Odd said.

 _“Come on; don’t be so pessimistic, Odd,”_ Jeremie’s voice rang true.

That put smiles on both Yumi and Odd. “Jeremie?” Yumi asked for just verification.

 _“Yes, it’s me, come on, let’s start over,”_ Jeremie was there.

Yumi’s fans and Odd’s arrows went back to their proper owners. Yumi shot a fan over to one of the Creepers and it exploded.

 _“And he’ll send Aelita in a minute, guys, just to let you know,”_ Cassidy’s voice came in, too.

Odd shot a laser arrow to another Creeper and got rid of the other as well.

“Nothing like my trusty old gear,” Odd rejoiced in his way.

 _“Yep,”_ Cassidy said.

“What about Ulrich,” Yumi asked.

 _“He’s back on Earth,”_ Cassidy explained. _“Don’t worry!”_

**-Lab-**

“Ready Aelita?” Jeremie asked the lone female in the scanner room.

**-Scanner Room-**

“Yes, Jeremie,” Aelita went into the scanner and got virtualized to the Ice Sector.

**-Ice Sector-**

_“Virtualization.”_

Aelita landed professionally and went to the edge of the Sector.

**-Where Odd and Yumi are-**

Yumi got hit by a Manta, and Odd was about to defend her when he got hit by a Creeper. **(A/N: How ironic is that?)**

Yumi got rid of the Creeper.

**-With Aelita-**

_“Aelita, I’m entering the code SCIPIO!”_ Jeremie told her.

The transporter came and took her to Sector 5.

**-The lab-**

The ghost came back and switched targets from Jeremie to Cassidy. It entered Cassidy and blocked her windpipe. She pulled out her notepad and wrote in big letters: CAN’T BREATHE!

Jeremie looked at it and panicked. If Cassidy died, a return in time couldn’t stop it.

**-Sector 5-**

As soon as the Transporter landed and dropped Aelita off, Jeremie said, _“Aelita, hurry and deactivate that tower. Cassidy’s in trouble.”_

“On it, Jeremie!” Aelita nodded and when the walls opened for her, she ran as quickly as she could to the direction her friends took.

**-With Jeremie and Cassidy-**

Cassidy was wheezing for air as Ulrich came up in the elevator. “What’s going on Jeremie? Is she alright?”

“XANA blocked her airways. If Aelita doesn’t deactivate that tower, then Cassidy will die,” Jeremie explained quickly.

 _“Jeremie, I’m in the core zone,”_ Aelita said.

“Aelita, hurry. If Cassidy dies, a return trip won’t help,” Jeremie told her.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita ran in and said, “Hurry! Cassidy’s in trouble!” She found the gap between the tower and the platform then backing up a few, she ran, jumped, used the Manta as a springboard and deactivated the tower in a hurry.

“Tower deactivated.”

**-Lab-**

Jeremie and Ulrich were trying to help Cassidy in the best way they could until the ghost exited her and she could breathe normally. She looked around at her friends.

“Don’t worry, girl. Everything’s okay, now,” Ulrich smiled.

She got up and hugged them. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ulrich smiled a little wider.

**-Later the next day in Jeremie’s room-**

Cassidy was still snoozing a little, but she deserved it.

“Of course, I’m not angry at you! What’s more, I checked out you and Cassidy’s bio-schematic during your materialization phase. There’s no sign of alteration, whatsoever,” Jeremie explained.

“Oh, what a relief!” Yumi smiled.

Cassidy opened one eye and said to Ulrich, “Told you so!”

“Sorry about that, Cassidy. Go back to sleep,” Ulrich told her.

She did as she was told.

“He really had me scared, that Franz Hopper,” Yumi said.

“That _false_ Franz Hopper. The real one is still somewhere on Lyoko,” Jeremie said.

There was a knock on the door. Everyone, minus Cassidy, looked to see Jeremie’s father—a man with golden-brown hair and a smile that matched Jeremie sometimes. He was wearing a brown overcoat with a black zip up shirt and red pants.

“Dad!” Jeremie kind of almost yelped.

“Are you ready, son, let’s go,” said Michael.

“Wait, things have changed. Let me explain,” Jeremie took his father outside.

Odd poked Cassidy awake and asked her, “Is he going away?”

“No, Odd.” She went back to sleep.

**-With Jeremie and his dad-**

“You sure you’ve thought it over,” he asked his son.

“Yes. I’m really sorry that I made you come all the way out here for nothing,” Jeremie said.

“Don’t you worry about it,” he said to him. “And don’t forget to give us a call from time to time.”

Jeremie smiled. “I promise.”

His father left him and Jeremie smiled. He was going to stay at Kadic with his friends.

He went back to his room to four expectant faces.

“Hey, what’s going on here? Where were you going?” Odd asked him.

“Nowhere,” Jeremie said to him.

“Your father seems like a really nice guy,” Aelita said.

Jeremie smiled. “Yeah. I love him. He's great!”

“Like father, like son,” Ulrich teased a little.

The genius of the group didn’t have to say a thing. He went over to the drawing that Odd gave him and turned it back to where it was, causing some laughter in the group.

Cassidy saw the photo being put back it its spot and smiled. The group was now whole again.


	28. Someone's Out To Contact Us

**(If you could read the following disclaimer, then congratulations, you figured that it is backwards)**

**.okoyL edoC nwo t'nod I**

**.ydissaC nwo od I**

**(If you couldn't, then Here is the forward disclaimer)**

**I don't own Code Lyoko.**

**I do own Cassidy.**

Jeremie was working on the breaker/antivirus for five hours, but there was no sign of a break or an antivirus. Frustrated, he tried again.

Yumi, Cassidy (who was smiling and wasn't tired), and Ulrich came from the elevator.

Cassidy was holding something behind her back. She wanted to show the shape of whatever was behind her back.

Ulrich was curious. "What's that behind your back?"

Cassidy's eyes looked innocent. "Nothing."

Ulrich shrugged. It's probably nothing lethal if it looks like a scrap piece of paper. He turned to Jeremie.

"You look awfully down today. What's the problem?" Yumi asked.

"He's been working a little too hard on the breaker/antivirus, and decoding Franz's diary," Cassidy answered for her. "He hasn't moved a centimeter though."

"Just a question of time." Yumi smiled. Cassidy was the lead psychic in the group. She was good.

"And you?" asked Ulrich.

"The same nightmare that happened before Jeremie here went to Limbo," she sighed. She handed over the paper.

It looked clearer, but it didn't show any more detail. It looked a little off.

Ulrich looked up from the paper. "Uh, oh, okay, I think I know two people who need to air out their neurons a bit. And here's how we do it!"

"Odd's film?" Cassidy guessed.

Ulrich got a hint annoyed.  _For once will you give up on the psychic predictions?_

"Nope." The now-the-same-age-as-Yumi girl smiled.

"Did you read his mind again?" Yumi asked.

"Am I that obvious?" she rolled her eyes.

"Hey! That's my line!" Jeremie smiled.

"Not for the moment," Cassidy teased.

"By the way, who's in the film?" Jeremie asked.

"No one knows. Even Cassidy clamped down on her psychic thoughts. She had gone off doing who-knows-what with Odd," Ulrich frowned.

"The director would like everyone in this factory to know that he does not like any of his workers to spoil," Cassidy spat back at Ulrich.

**-Let's see what happens next-**

Everyone was talking about Odd's newest film. Milly and Tamiya asked Cassidy a bunch of questions about the film but she kept her mouth firmly closed, but gave this little tidbit: "The director wants me to keep the film's plot, characters, et cetera, a secret. I'm sorry, girls, but Odd does not like a spoiler."

Soon everyone was in their seats.

Cassidy squirmed with excitement. She had a sparkle in her eye. Odd noticed right away and said to her, "'really excited about this, Cassidy?"

She nodded. "This will be totally cool," she squealed in a whisper.

Odd shushed her. One slip and the whole film's secrets would be the talk of the school, thus ruining it.

Chardin came up to the podium. "Welcome to the Kadic Academy's film club short film night!" He went on to list names  **(A/N: That the author does** _ **not**_ **know how to spell thanks to Chardin's accent)**.

Odd smiled at Cassidy. This was it.

Ulrich sat next to them. "How's it going, Odd? No butterflies yet?"

"Nope," Odd answered with zest.

"You'd never guess," Ulrich cracked.

The brown-haired girl had her bangs up in a clip. "Shhh! Chardin is talking."

"…into full length features," the aforementioned man continued, "which is why…"

Cassidy smiled and said to Odd, "It's coming! I can feel it!"

"You know it, Cat-Girl," Odd smiled.

"This short film is, was, and always will be an important out form," Chardin was babbling on, as happy as a clam, "which can say as much as full-length feature. Our first film is by Odd Della Robbia."

"It  _is_ coming now, just you wait, Odd," Cassidy spark-flashed.

"…and is titled, rather poetically, Natural Grandeur," He continued. "No one has seen it yet, but it is enough to imagine…" something "…on the fragility of our ecosystem, which…" He stopped when the film started to roll.  **(A/N: *As Niles* PRAISE THE LORD)**

Odd was onscreen first, running down the dormitory hallway, in a panic. He was running away from something, but was stopped by a cosplay of Jim.

"What's all this racket about, huh?" Romain, playing Jim, asked the Odd onscreen.

Everyone started laughing, including the  _real_  Jim until he realized who he was laughing at.

"We have to get out of here," the Odd on the screen had a close-up. "She-she's coming! I tell you: She's—she's bigger than life! We gotta get out of here! Her almost-correct Southern accent is a horror. She can knit a GIANT SCARF!"

Cassidy smiled and laughed. Odd could make anyone laugh, well, except Ulrich, but she still laughed at his (deemed bad by Ulrich) good jokes.

"Are you crazy, Della Robbia? Do you know how tall that would make her?" Romain kept his Jim accent from slipping. "I think you've lost your senses. Alright, let's go to the infirmary."

Everyone was laughing, even Odd (the director) himself. The comedy in the film knocked everybody's socks (or shoes) off.

Odd onscreen tried to resist Romain's grip. "NO!" The two went outside the dorm building. Then the ground began shaking underneath their feet.

"It's too late! SHE'S FOUND US!" Odd onscreen yelled.

Cassidy came onscreen as a giantess. She had a pair of knitting needles in the shorts pocket and a skein of yarn in one hand.

Odd and Romain backed up.

Cassidy off-screen was laughing so hard her glasses came off. Jeremie, in between chuckles, grabbed her glasses and helped put them back on.

The Cassidy onscreen looked at one hand. "Oh, shoot! I think I broke a nail. Darn them trees." She used her almost-correct Southern accent.

Off-screen everyone was in stitches, laughing super hard at the film. Cassidy and Sissi were too.

Onscreen, Cassidy's big hand reached for Odd and Romain.

But then Jim, who was now laughing again, accidentally slipped and ended up cutting the film shorter than usual.

Cassidy was trying for recovery but none came for her yet.

Sissi, who was still laughing came up to Odd as he recovered. "ODD, that film was—" A ghost similar to XANA's was circling around her—"the—was the—" the ghost entered. Sissi tried to make words come out of her mouth, but all that came was gibberish.

Cassidy recovered then. She blinked a few times to clear the tears of laughter from her eyes. She stood up as if she left her brain in the chair and grabbed Sissi's arm.

Cassidy's eyes went blank as if she was seeing something, but she wasn't. Together they walked toward Jeremie and Cassidy started speaking backwards. Sissi translated: "I can help you. I want to enter into contact with you now! I'm Franz Hopper. I can help you."

"I think they've lost their senses," Jim said aloud.

Cassidy gasped. She said something backwards, and Sissi said, "No. No."

She tried speaking with Spanish, but utterly failed as Sissi did not know that language.

"Atilea  **(1)** ," Cassidy tried saying Aelita's name.

Aelita's eyebrows rose. "What?"

Cassidy whispered something backwards to Sissi. The girl gasped and slapped the psychic across the face.

"What did she say?" Aelita asked Sissi.

"She insulted me."

"Ti ot desu teg llew heay," Cassidy muttered.

"What?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, well, get used to it," Sissi translated.

Yumi whispered to Cassidy, "Do you think it could be  _XANA?"_

"Eimerej ksa," Cassidy muttered.

"Ask Jeremie," Sissi translated.

Just then the presence caught up with the two girls and Cassidy was able to let go of Sissi's arm.

"I think it must be the one who must not be named here in the auditorium," Cassidy said, back with speaking forward.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"Nothing sir," Yumi told him.

Sissi started speaking backwards then.

"Is something wrong, Sweetheart?" Mr. Delmas asked, hands on her shoulders.

She kept speaking backwards. And it seemed to be the same message over and over again.

Jim came forward. "I'll take care of this, Mr. Delmas." He took Sissi in his hands. "I think you've lost your senses. Alright, let's go to the infirmary."

Everyone started to laugh. Odd's film was reminiscent in their minds.

That didn't help matters. Mr. Delmas waved his hands around trying to calm the students down. "Alright, children, I want each of you to go quietly back to your rooms." He turned around to Jim. "Jim, you take care of the students. I'll take Sissi to the infirmary."

Yumi then repeated the question to Jeremie. "Do you think it's  _XANA_?"

**-Jeremie's room-**

The super-scan was up and Jeremie was running it. "Nope, no activated towers—XANA's got nothing to do with it."

"I can hardly believe that Sissi and I were like a sound wave," Cassidy shuddered.

"No kidding, Danger Psychic. By the way, you did wonderful in Natural Grandeur. You really hit it off," Odd nudged Cassidy in the arm.

"Thanks, you did too. Great job on the panicked look," Cassidy complimented.

"Hey! It was thanks to your help that I looked natural," Odd shot back with a smile.

"And it was thanks to yours that I didn't look at the camera," Cassidy smiled.

Yumi walked in. "The nurse said that Sissi received an electric charge. She's in shock but fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"Good, but the way that I received her backward talk," Cassidy shuddered again.

"Ah, poor Sissi. I have to admit that she would have been the giantess if Cassidy didn't step in," Odd sighed.

"Right, false alarm. We can all sleep easy now," Jeremie reassured the gang.

Ulrich stretched. "Yeah. That works just fine because tomorrow is Sunday and on Sunday…"

Odd and Cassidy chimed in as if in perfect harmony. "WE SLEEP IN!"

"Dormimos el domingo," Cassidy shouted in Spanish.

Aelita laughed. "What?"

"We sleep on Sunday," Cassidy said in translation.

**-That night-**

Jeremie was woken up by Sissi coming in speaking backwards. "Sissi!"

Cassidy came running in. "She came to get me too. I was too scared to scream out."

Aelita came rushing in, almost bowling Cassidy over. "Cassidy's panting scared woke me up."

"Sissi, what has gotten into you? Huh? **!** " Jeremie was startled by Sissi walking over, picking up a pencil, and writing on a sheet of graph paper some sort of code.

Cassidy's eyes went white and Aelita, who took notice as this was the first time she saw this, didn't know what to do.

Jeremie knew exactly what to do thought. He made the "Watch and learn" gesture to the pink-haired girl, who nodded, and backhanded the psychic across the face.

Jim came in after Cassidy mouthed a "thank you" to Jeremie. "What's all this racket about, huh?"

That startled the fourteen year old and she started stammering about what happened as if she'd been given the third degree.

Jeremie stared at his psychic friend in shock. She'd been that way before. He held back a snicker as after Cassidy was done saying what had happened, she started quoting School of Rock's "The Man" speech. **(A/N: School of Rock is 2003)**

Jim only noticed Sissi. "Sissi, you should be in the infirmary. Your father's going to have my head again."

Cassidy stopped quoting right then. She shooed Aelita and herself to their room, leaving Jeremie to look at the paper. It said:

H (Lower cased with a triangle pointing in the east direction) Q W O A / 1 g / M 8 Q 6 N l heap

 B (Lower cased) s f j z | 1 u IE (both lower cased and spaced out) U Q G J g 258 B |

M O R FF 7 Q J l / R 7 G K L N

K 3 t J R Q M F N P 6 3 7 A K M N

B A J u m I (the I is lower cased) w r e a N (backward though) H T h r M

\--KK s l 337 M a t 4 65

O d G z V r g 8—6 45 Z MN

H 8 F P—64 | G o p 2 u/432/

(Slight indent) K L M—6 P9 L C

**-That's enough code for me thanks; the next morning-**

Ulrich was covered up from his head to his does in his blanket, all warm, when his phone rang. He groaned and grabbed the now-annoying device from the floor. "Jeremie, it's  _Sunday_. Okay, we're coming," he groaned to his friend.

**-Factory-**

"A message in code?" Ulrich was now wide awake. "Written by Sissi?"

"Yep," Cassidy yawned. "Jeremie, Aelita and I were witnesses."

Odd noticed. "Why are you tired?"

"Sissi, that's why I'm tired," Cassidy snapped.

"I ran the supercomputer all night to translate it," Jeremie said, typing on the keyboard of the said computer.

The words rearranged to a message. "And look at what it turned up!" the genius pointed to the screen.

Sissi's backwards talking was there, but a deep distorted voice was in front saying, "I can help you. I want to enter into contact with you now…"

" _I can help you?_ " Yumi repeated the first line.

"It's gotta be a trap set by XANA!" Ulrich snapped to conclusion.

"Not by XANA, Ulrich," Cassidy said grimly. "It's Franz Hopper. I know it! And…"

"Stop talking right now," Ulrich told her. "Anyway, he must've managed to possess Sissi without activating a tower."

"Will you stop acting as if I'm a bad person, Ulrich?" Cassidy said. "I never betrayed you."

"Okay, sorry, I get so annoyed by your predictions. It's like Professor Trelawney," Ulrich felt better after saying that.

"I don't think so. Cassidy's right. Otherwise, Sissi would've gone after me. She would have tried to get me out to Lyoko, so that the Schyphozoa could steal my memory," Aelita inputted.

Cassidy nodded. "I bet it's Franz Hopper."

"I still bet it's XANA!" Ulrich said.

"If I lose, I'll clamp down on my psychic blurt outs for a week at most."

"And if  _I_  lose," Ulrich challenged.

Cassidy leaned in and whispered in Ulrich's ear. A few seconds later, he flinched. "WHAT? **!** "

"With a megaphone, with a happy face, and with Take Me Home Tonight playing," Cassidy crossed her arms in front of her chest, proud that she was betting against Ulrich.

"Okay," Ulrich groaned. "Sheesh materialism does not play games with you!"

"Aelita's right! If you ask me, someone or something want to contact us through Sissi, but it's not XANA," Jeremie told the group.

"I feel I'm winning," Cassidy sang to Ulrich.

"Don't make me eat my hat yet," Ulrich smiled to her.

"Well, then, who is it?" Odd asked.

"No idea," Jeremie said. "To find that out, we'll have to talk to Sissi again."

Yumi had a smile on her face. "Okay, I'll bring her over. Anyone care to join me?"

"I have to go to Lyoko, sorry, Yumi," Cassidy frowned.

"It's fine," Yumi nodded.

Odd perked up. "I will! I'm your man Yumi! I mean… you know what I mean!"

Ulrich and Cassidy looked to Jeremie. "We better look around Lyoko. I wanna make sure that XANA isn't setting some sort of trap," the boy put a hand on Jeremie's shoulder.

Cassidy smiled. Oh if he only knew that she was winning inside, and that tomorrow he would be doing her bidding.

"I'll go with you two," Aelita said.

"With the Schyphozoa and everything? It's too risky," Jeremie told Aelita.

"Jeremie, stop worrying about me," Aelita took matters into her own hands.

That made her knight in glasses glare at her a little.

Soon the two girls and the only boy were on Lyoko. Jeremie also materialized the OverBike and OverWing. Cassidy didn't mind it. "I'm used to other vehicles."

"Great timing! Nice work, Jeremie," Ulrich said.

"Ulrich, get ready to eat your hat!"

"I'd rather not!" Ulrich shouted back playfully at Cassidy.

She hopped on the OverWing. "Coming Aelita?"

Aelita shook her head. "I'd rather go with Ulrich."

The psychic cat didn't mind it. "I'll go on my own then."

" _Thanks, okay, make it fast. This is just a reconnaissance mission,"_  Jeremie sounded from Lyoko.

"We'll be careful," Cassidy balanced herself on the OverWing.

"Relax, we won't go crazy," Ulrich reassured Jeremie.

They both headed off to scout XANA activity.

**-With Odd and Yumi-**

Odd and Yumi headed back to school and found that Sissi was being taken to the hospital.

Odd called Jeremie. "Jeremie, bad news: Sissi's going to the hospital."

**-Lab-**

"Oh, no, we have to bring her back here," Jeremie sounded worried.

**-Back to Odd and Yumi-**

"No sweat," Odd sounded confident, even though a frown crossed his features. "I've got an idea."

He hung up on Jeremie. Yumi was a little suspicious. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"Yeah, good thinking!" Odd smiled.

**-Jeremie-**

"Ulrich, Cassidy, Aelita, everything okay with you guys?" Jeremie asked.

**-Lyoko-**

"To tell you the truth I have no idea. Has the super-scan picked up an activated tower?"

"Nope, Ulrich," Cassidy said. "But I do see something that'll make you do the thing that I whispered to you!"

" _What is it?"_  Jeremie wondered to Cassidy.

"A white tower!" she told the sky. "Is that a XANA sign, Ulrich? It isn't to me."

Ulrich raised his brows.  _She'd better not make me do that thing tomorrow._

"I'll send you a visual," Aelita told Jeremie and she did.

" _What the heck is that white tower supposed to be?"_  Jeremie said.

"It's Franz Hopper's tower, Jeremie," Cassidy kept her balance on the OverWing very well.

"How do you know that?" Ulrich sounded shocked.

"Psychic forces, Ulrich. Psychic forces," she told him.

"Do you think this tower has something to do with Sissi? Or with the being who's trying to contact us?" Ulrich dropped the subject on Jeremie.

" _Ask Cassidy!"_  Jeremie told Ulrich.

"What do you think, Cassidy?" he stopped the OverBike as she stopped the OverWing.

"It is," Cassidy nodded. "We have to protect it."

"Why?"

"Because then we won't get the message," Cassidy's brown eyes turned a little light brown.

"And I want to see this close up," Aelita told Ulrich.

The three went on their way.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie saw two red dots on the screen. Red dots meant danger.

"Ulrich, Cassidy, behind you!" He warned.

**-Lyoko-**

Two Megatanks were tailgating the three. Luckily, Cassidy was up in the air.

The two drivers gunned their engines as fast as they would go.

"Faster," Aelita panicked.

Ulrich tried to go faster, but couldn't. "I've got it floored."

Aelita then thought of something and tapped Ulrich's shoulder. "Go left!"

"Whoa! Are you sure about that? There's nothing to the left."

"Not yet, there isn't," Cassidy smiled. "Aelita, the honors are yours."

The pink-haired girl used her Creativity to make a path to the left. The two went to the left until they met an edge. Ulrich slammed on the brakes and a small rock fell into the digital sea. Cassidy stopped and hovered on the OverWing.

The two Megatanks kept going to the white tower.

The three looked to the Megatanks.

" _Well done, Aelita. But it's really weird how they didn't come back to attack you! Something's not right."_

"The white tower is a clue," Cassidy muttered.

Aelita realized something. "Jeremie, it wasn't us they were after!"

"They are trying to destroy the white tower," Ulrich said.

" _Hold them off!"_

Cassidy was on her way. "No sweat, like Odd said. I'm ready for anything."

" _How did you know that I was on the communications—never mind, just go!"_

"Okay," she smiled.

Ulrich turned to Aelita. "Feel like a little game of bowling?"

"What?" she was confused.

" _Forget about it! It's a bad joke,"_  Jeremie said.

"Sometimes I really crack myself up!" Ulrich smirked.

"And you've really confused Aelita there, Mister!" shouted Cassidy from the OverWing.

The two went over to where Cassidy was. She was off her OverWing and in fighting mode. She growled. "You want to turn this Tower off. Well, good luck, XANA!" she smirked too. Firing two rounds at the 'Tanks, she avoided shot after shot of the 'Tanks' fierce elliptical lasers.

They were destroyed and two more came in to take the two's places.

Ulrich took out his sword. This was going to get good. Cassidy didn't lose a life point. She was really good at keeping her life points at a good level.

**-Hospital-**

A nurse and Mr. Delmas held Sissi's hands. She was looking blankly ahead. Her heart rate went from sixteen to eighteen. Her father was worried. "Well, what's wrong with her?"

The nurse looked at the heart monitor then turned her attention to Mr. Delmas. "I haven't the slightest idea. We'll keep her here under observation for a couple of hours then we'll see."

Mr. Delmas felt that there was nothing he could do for his daughter. "Oh, very well. Let me know at the first sign of a change in her condition."

"Of course," The nurse (Named Sue Murphy) said.

Jean-Pierre came off the bed and went to get a drink. This was too much for the principal to handle.

A doctor and nurse were talking about a patient. "Such a sweet patient, he was really lucky."

Odd and Yumi passed by. He asked her, "So, what did the girl at the reception say?"

Yumi gave the info. "Room 237."

**-Back at the Lab-**

Jeremie typed on the super-scan and found  **an activated tower.**

**-Hospital-**

Yumi's phone rang and she picked it up. "Jeremie?"

**-Back to lab-**

"I just located an activated tower. XANA is on the offensive," Jeremie sounded happy.

**-Back at the Hospital-**

A scream jolted the two teens. It was Sissi's scream in the forwards direction. Yumi hastened this reply, "Jeremie, we'll call you back."

They ran into Room 237 and found that Nurse Murphy was attacking Sissi. She had the eye of XANA in her eyes. The patient, on the other hand, was frightened.

With a cry of "Stop" Yumi was about to lunge forward and fight the nurse. But the nurse punched her.

Odd ran behind the nurse. Murphy picked Yumi up by the sweater and glared at her with blatant eyes. Then the nurse dropped her. In the middle of her stomach was nothing. Just an invisible stomach. She dropped to her hands and knees.

Odd was standing there with the defibrillator paddles in his hands, looking devious. "Poor thing. She had hypertension."

Yumi got to her feet, smiling. "Not anymore. Quick."

A few minutes later, they were out of the hospital room with Sissi in a wheelchair. Yumi called Jeremie. "It's okay Jeremie! We've got Sissi."

**-Lab-**

"Great," Jeremie was glad. "Bring her over to the factory and hurry up!"

" _It won't be that easy!"_  Yumi's voice came to his ear.

**-Hospital-**

"There's a doctor possessed by XANA who doesn't seem to like the idea," Yumi, Odd, and Sissi were out of the hospital by then.

**-Lab-**

"Ouch," Jeremie was typing.

**-Outside the hospital-**

Odd and Yumi were still walking Sissi.

**-Lab-**

"Ulrich, Cassidy, I've got some bad news!" Jeremie told them.

**-Lyoko-**

"A doctor possessed by XANA?" Cassidy guessed.

" _You are always on the ball there, Cassidy."_

Ulrich was now sitting behind Aelita on the OverBike, dragging his katana on the ground.

Aelita drove in the middle of the two 'Tanks. They fired their lasers, causing a V-shaped formation, missing the two warriors in the middle, and missing the one outside the laser fire.

Cassidy fired at the Megatank on the right, destroying it instantly.

Ulrich jumped off, ran up the white tower and jumped the one on the left, and killed it.

" _Activated tower in..."_

"The Ice Sector," Cassidy and Jeremie said together. The female cat warrior took charge immediately. "Ulrich, you lead Aelita to the activated tower. I'll protect the tower here."

"Are you nuts? You would be devirtualized by the time we get back," Ulrich shook his head.

"Stop underestimating me. You saw me one time stopping two Megatanks with only a sword like yours and one hand. I know that. You told me after we materialized Aelita," Cassidy spat back, shooting her fifth round at another Megatank. "Don't tell me I can't do it. American has the words I Can at the end, and I CAN do it. I dare to try."

Ulrich nose-sighed a growl. "You're as stubborn as a mule."

"Takes a person to know a person, Ulrich," she smart-mouthed back.

Ulrich had no choice. "Fine, but don't come running, crying to me when you come out of the scanner, devirtualized by a Megatank."

"Steer clear of the Schyphozoa," Cassidy told him.

"I know what to do!"

They left off, leaving Cassidy to work on her own.

" _Cassidy, are you sure you know what you're doing?"_  Jeremie asked.

"Yes, Jeremie," Cassidy shot a bullet at another Megatank, destroying it before it opened its shell.

She set to work immediately after that.

**-With Odd, Yumi, and Sissi-**

They were running fast because of the XANA-possessed doctor. She (Murphy) was in an ambulance, driving recklessly to the three.

Odd looked back, still pushing the wheelchair. "Let's get out of here. Here comes Dr. Doom."

 _Good use of Fantastic Four, Odd,_  Cassidy's words complimented him. Somehow, without her, she gave compliments without throwing them out.

"Look out!" Yumi's words drug Odd out of his thoughts and he grabbed Sissi.

They got out of the way just in time.

Odd and Yumi surveyed the scene from above. "I hope she was wearing a seatbelt," he said.

Sissi, however, found her feet and slid down the rope. The two forward-speaking friends looked to each other in curiosity tinged with a slight suspicion.

**-Lyoko-**

Cassidy was faring well with the Megatanks. She dodged three laser shots and those three went to the ones firing. They combusted and Cassidy was growing confident. "Well, slap my vision journal and call it a success. This is getting good!"

" _I believe you,"_ Jeremie was proud.  _"Ulrich was wrong. You_ aren't  _devirtualized yet."_

"Just goes to show." Dodging, Cassidy shot another one. Megatanks were easy to manage at either close- or far-range. She managed at far range while the others did it either that way or close-ranged.

Another one fired at her and she jumped out of range. The fire went at a fifteenth Megatank. It forced that poor 'Tank right off the face of Lyoko into the digital sea.

 _Just like my visions,_  Cassidy mused.  _Only with a hint of Ulrich._ She chuckled at that. She paid close attention though as a seventeenth 'Tank came in. "You never give up, XANA," she muttered in a chuckle as she shot her tenth round at it.

**-Elevator-**

Yumi pressed a button on the elevator. Then she and Odd both noticed the nurse clambering out of the busted ambulance.

She tossed a hubcap at the teens. They dodged it. They got into the elevator just in time and the door closed. XANA-Murphy punched a hole in the elevator door but that didn't stop the two Lyoko Warriors and Sissi from going down to the Lab.

Odd looked to Yumi. "Whew."

**-Lyoko; let's see how Cassidy's doing-**

Cassidy shot her twelfth round at the twentieth Megatank.  _Jeepers, you are laying them on. But I like cracking them_ like eggs. _Get ready, XANA, because I'm never giving up._

She was destroying Megatank after Megatank.  _If Ulrich could see me now._

Bayonet, rifle, redneck gun. She was ready for it all using whatever she could.

" _Cassidy?"_

"I'm fine, Jeremie," Cassidy smiled. "These monsters are a piece of cake."

She shot hard at the twenty-third Megatank.

The monsters were not gaining ground as Cassidy was a real tough person when it came to Lyoko monsters.

**-Elevator-**

The nurse jumped on the elevator and Yumi and Odd looked up. She turned to Odd. "Quick!"

The elevator opened up and Odd and Sissi walked out. Jeremie was about to get out of his seat when he heard Cassidy's voice.  _"Get Odd to Lyoko, Jeremie. He needs to help Ulrich and Aelita in the Ice Sector."_

He did so and said to Sissi, "Ah, finally." He got out of his seat.

Yumi went up. Jeremie asked, "What are you doing, Yumi?"

"I'm buying time," Yumi said as the doors closed.

He turned to Sissi. "Sissi, I believe that-that—HEY!"

" _Now what's the matter with Sissi?"_  Odd asked from the Ice Sector.

"She's typing, but I won't stop her," Jeremie told Odd. He monitored the Lyoko Warriors standing beside Sissi.

Sissi typed codes up on the computer screen.

"Cassidy, what's your status?" Jeremie asked.

" _If you ask, me, it is as good as, well, good can be. Shooting Megatanks feels like a second nature,"_  Cassidy told Jeremie.

"Thank goodness you have that tube, Cassidy," Jeremie smiled.

" _Well, I nearly lost hope when I saw no weapon for the first time,"_  Cassidy said.

**-Ice Sector-**

Aelita, Ulrich, and now Odd were getting to the tower. Ulrich looked to find Odd on his OverBoard. "Odd, when did you get in?" he asked.

"Jeremie sent me to Lyoko first, then let Sissi type," Odd said.

"And Cassidy?" Ulrich dreaded the worst.

" _She's doing really well, Ulrich. She's slain over twenty Megatanks,"_  Jeremie sounded proud.

"WHAT? **!** " Ulrich sounded appalled. "She couldn't have managed that many without  _some_  life point loss."

" _She still has one hundred life points, Ulrich."_  Ulrich was amazed.  _"Wait a second. Over THIRTY now!"_

"She's Queen of the Megatanks!" Odd cheered. "Good on her, Jeremie."

" _She's defending the white tower easily,"_  Jeremie said.  _"And she's_ solo."

"I know I'm going to regret this tomorrow morning," Ulrich sighed.

"Why?" Odd asked him.

"I called her nuts and underestimated her."

"Like the time you thought that my name wasn't one?" Odd remembered.

"That time, I didn't  _know_  her as well as now," Ulrich answered.

" _Well, it goes to show,"_  Jeremie told the two boys.

"I'm proud of her, Jeremie," Aelita beamed.

"We all are," Ulrich reminded her.

A Krabe fired at Ulrich, but it missed him by mere centimeters.  _"Ulrich, look out!"_

**-With the XANA-nurse and Yumi-**

XANA-Murphy opened up the top elevator door and jumped inside. Yumi was already at the entrance when she did. She backed up and got grabbed.

**-Ice Sector-**

The chase was on. Two more Krabes joined the first and it was an all out fight. Ulrich stopped his vehicle, jumped on the first one and stabbed it in the eye.

Odd got into far range and shot three arrows at the second one.

There was one more Krabe to go.

**-Forest sector-**

Cassidy was doing fine. She dealt with the 'Tanks like it was no big deal.  _Protect the tower, protect the tower. Protect the tower. Franz Hopper needs it to keep connected. Keep protecting the tower. You still have one hundred life points. Keep going._

She shot at the thirty-eighth 'Tank. "You ain't going to bring me down, XANA."

Her tube was not out of ammo yet. She kept going.

**-Elevator; the score is…?-**

Yumi was about to get hit, but she kneed XANA-Murphy in the stomach. She started to run from XANA-Murphy.

**-Forest Sector-**

Just then, the same sensation she had before came on her again.  **(A/N: Check the Code: Earth Chapter)**

 _You can do it Cassidy,_  A voice told her, and she inwardly nodded.  _Let me help you._

She put a hand in front of the fortieth Megatank. "Stop! Leave here. NOW!" She sounded normal but her voice had a small growl to it.

The 'Tank started to move strangely backwards into a tree and exploded. Another Megatank came and took its brethren's place. Cassidy moved in front of it. "Leave this. Tower alone. NOW!"

It too backed up and exploded as it hit a tree.

" _Cassidy?_ _ **!**_ _"_  Jeremie sounded worried.

"Just worry about Sissi, Jeremie," Cassidy said. "I'm doing fine on my own."

**-Ice Sector-**

" _Guys, we have a problem!"_  Jeremie warned his friends.

"Did Cassidy get devirtualized by a Megatank?" Ulrich asked his voice half-expectant.

" _No, she's acting strange and saying things in one- or two-word sentences. She sounded normal when I called her, but when she talked to the Megatanks…"_

"It's like the time before Aelita was materialized the first time," Ulrich realized.

"She did the same thing," Odd was shocked.

"No one's possessed her," Ulrich said. "Her eyes were normal."

" _Deactivate that tower, QUICK, and get back to Cassidy!"_  Jeremie told them.

**-Forest Sector-**

Cassidy drove off five Megatanks with her voice.  _Don't give up, Cassidy. You can still do it._

She inwardly nodded.

**-With Yumi-**

She ran until the nurse caught her by her ankles and she landed on her hands. She rolled over and Murphy pounced on her and tried to punch her two times, but Yumi dodged.

**-Ice Sector-**

Ulrich let Aelita off and she ran to the activated tower to deactivate it.

He took off to take care of another Krabe. But it was too late. The monster hit him twice and he devirtualized.

Odd took another hit.  _"Odd, watch it, you just lost eighty life points. One more hit and it's game over!"_

He lifted a fist to the air. "Relax, it's all a part of the plan."

Then he avoided two lasers from two more Krabes. They were firing at the comedian while he was waiting for Aelita to deactivate the tower.

_I would like to know how Cassidy's doing. Sounds like she's been having fun._

**-Let's see, Odd-**

Cassidy was not back from her sensation. She was making Megatanks roll backwards from her with her words.

Thirty minutes later, Odd and Aelita came in from his OverBoard.  **(A/N: Aelita has deactivated the tower and Yumi and Ulrich are okay)**

Inwardly, the psychic was thinking,  _XANA should have sent in Kankrelats, because they are unpredictable._

The duo came to a halt next to her. "How many Megatanks has she been defeating since this began?" Aelita asked, concerned.

" _Over 80. What a record!"_  Jeremie was amazed.

Odd hooted in raucous, joyous zeal. "I wouldn't be able to beat  _that!_ "

Cassidy lost the sensation then. She looked to her right. "Odd, what happened to Ulrich?"

"One word: Krabe!" Odd told her.

"The tower…?"

"Deactivated," Aelita said.

A laser blast came in between the duo and psychic, cutting the tower connection.

"NO!" Cassidy cried. "SISSI and the tower…"

She roared into the sky and shot that last Megatank.

Jeremie cleared his throat.  _"Cassidy, you have managed a record eighty-seven Megatanks."_

"I wasn't even planning to count them all," Cassidy was in a little anguish, but the record cheered her up some.

" _Great job, Aelita and Cassidy!"_

**-The next day-**

Jeremie rushed to his room. He wanted to show the gang something. He saw Sissi open the door. "Huh, everything okay, Sissi?" He asked her.

She was angry. "How do you expect everything to be okay when I am surrounded by big, fat losers? **!** "

She left the room and Jeremie entered his room at last. Cassidy was really offended with Sissi's rhetorical question. "WE ARE NOT FAT!" she yelled.

"Did I miss something?" Jeremie asked.

Everyone except Jeremie laughed. He was wondering. "Come on! Tell me."

"Yes, Odd just offered Sissi a role in his next film," Ulrich smiled.

"It's the story of a girl driven by a mysterious being who tries to make contact with humans all of which takes place in a virtual universe full of danger," Odd explained.

"What did she say?" Jeremie cocked a brow, smiling.

Aelita was giggling a little. "That no one would ever believe such a ridiculous story."

The genius started laughing. "Ya don't say!"

Yumi came in. "How about you? How's it going?"

"Finished!" Jeremie smiled. "The computer deciphered all of the lines of code that Sissi spoke while she was spellbound."

"The lines that she said forwards-like when I grabbed her by mistake?" Cassidy cocked her head to one side.

Odd was curious. "So? What's it say? Let's hear it."

"Tons of interesting stuff. And a whole lot of elements that are going to help me find a breaker/antivirus for Aelita," he pointed to the CD case in his hand.

"And…? Do you  _know_  who this mysterious entity who wants to get into contact with us is?" Ulrich asked him.

"Well take a look," Jeremie told Ulrich.

Cassidy was in ecstasies. "Get ready to eat your hat, Ulrich."

"Get ready to eat yours," he shot back playfully.

Jeremie went over to his computer, put the disk in the disc drive, and pressed a few keys. "I warn you. This is completely  _crazy._ "

The audio opened up. At first it sounded like Sissi speaking backwards again, but now the man's voice was distorting and clearing at different intervals. Everyone was on edge. "I can help you. I want to enter into contact with you now."

Odd was amazed. "Wow, I can't believe it."

"I am Franz Hopper." The recording repeated that last line over and over again.

"I am Franz Hopper," Aelita repeated.

Cassidy turned to Ulrich. He turned to her too. "I can't believe this. Beaten by one of my best friends," he growled.

**-That afternoon-**

Ulrich was in the courtyard with a megaphone, a forced, happy smile, and an Eddie Money theme playing. He couldn't believe his luck. "Yumi, I…"

He turned away from the megaphone to his supervisor. "Cassidy, do I have to?" he whined.

"You lost the bet. Now you have to pay the price." She had her arms crossed against her chest.

He gave her a look that said, "I hate you," and turned back to Yumi. "Yumi, I—I love you!"

That made Odd whistle in joy. Sissi was outraged. "WHAT? **!** "

Yumi blushed.


	29. This is a Shocking Revelation

**Well we’ll have a Revelation here. Don’t own Code Lyoko. Do own Cassidy. Nothing more or less.**

**-Sector 5-**

Everyone was defending themselves for Aelita’s sake. Cassidy was careful on the platform. She held a big record from the adventure two nights ago, but she didn’t take bragging rights. Most of the group (Minus, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Aelita) found it a little weird.

She shot at a Manta and it combusted. Yumi threw her fan and it hit another. “Good shot, Yumi,” Cassidy complimented.

“Not as much as your record,” Yumi smiled.

“I’d rather not take bragging rights, Yumi. I’m not a braggart,” Cassidy winked.

She caught her fan. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Are you almost done, Aelita?”

“Yes, almost,” Aelita answered, keeping her eyes on the interface as she was working on it.

Another Manta came and shot at the five Lyoko Warriors. They didn’t devirtualize just yet. It almost dive-bombed Ulrich, but he ducked as it came. Odd tried a laser arrow, but it missed by mere microns. Ulrich used his sword to cut the underbelly of the fish-like beast. It whined and moaned and as it went upside-down to dive-bomb Odd, he ducked and shot an arrow right on its XANA-eye target.

It combusted out of harm’s way of the Lyoko Warriors.

Another one shot Ulrich in the thigh. “Whoa!” he cried out.

“Another Manta nest hatched, guys,” Cassidy warned. She shot at one, and it disintegrated.

Aelita paused in her work to look for the other two. She then went back to work. “Done. The controls are all yours, Jeremie,” she told him.

She sent the data to him via a send link.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie pressed a key and pushed up his glasses. “Great, here come your vehicles,” he told the others.

**-Sector 5-**

The three air-based vehicles came in a snap. Cassidy went on Ulrich’s OverBike after he got on. Odd flipped over and got on his OverBoard. Yumi got on hers and drove around to the front of the platform so Aelita could get on.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie opened up a tunnel.

**-Sector 5-**

_“Okay, guys, the passage is open,”_ he told the five.

“Let’s get out of here so we can be there when Jeremie gives the news,” Cassidy declared.

Everyone eagerly agreed.

They beat it out of there just in time.

**-Later-**

Jeremie typed and typed on the data, leaving Aelita and Co., minus Cassidy, on the edges of insanity.

“So? Anything good?” Aelita asked.

“No, I wouldn’t call it good,” Jeremie sounded grim, causing Aelita to cock a brow.

“It’s amazing, right?” Cassidy kept herself entertained by hopping on one leg.

There was a strong silence. Then Jeremie smiled. “YEP!” he yelled ecstatically.

Aelita smiled with a slight hint of inquisition.

“With this, I bet I can crack the code of Franz Hopper’s diary!” Jeremie was confident.

“Secrets will be revealed, and I can FINALLY say what I wanted to say to you two days ago before Ulrich interrupted me,” Cassidy grinned.

“Way cool,” Ulrich looked at the screen with a tired-looking smile.

“The only problem is I’m going to need a supercomputer to process a large amount of data,” Aelita felt a little skeptical. “I’ll have to activate a tower or two.”

“XANA hates it when we play with his towers,” Cassidy frowned.

“But we haven’t tried it yet,” Jeremie protested. “We don’t have a choice.”

The psychic sighed. _So many secrets to be revealed. So little time to do so. Godspeed for luck._

“Right, can we go eat now?” Odd wasn’t aware that Cassidy had a red yarn ball in her hand and planned to throw it. “It’s mashed potatoes today!” He had the look of a hopeful maniac.

Cassidy cocked her arm and threw hard, but the blow was soft.

Odd glared at her but grinned when he realized what she threw was harmless.

“You can have mine. I better stay here to prepare the mission.” Jeremie went back to typing. “That way, you can set out right after lunch.”

**-Lunch-**

Cassidy, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita grabbed their trays and walked through the lunch line to the potatoes. When Odd was laid his portion, this exchange took place:

“Um…Jeremie’s not coming. He said I could have his portion, too, Rosa.” He had a grin on his face the shape of a thin crescent moon.

Rosa laid on the potatoes. “With everything you put away, I don’t understand…”

Cassidy felt her ribs burn with a little fury.

“…how you…”

She clenched hard on her tray.

“…can still be so…”

Her mouth opened just a hair.

“…scrawny.”

Cassidy couldn’t take it any longer. She and Odd said:

“I am not scrawny, I’m svelte!”

“He is not scrawny, he’s esbelto!”

Odd split his arms apart.

Cassidy gave him a small noogie.

When they got to their table, Odd said to Ulrich, “So come on, Ulrich. Stop bugging out on us. What’s your overall average?”

“76 for the term,” Ulrich said grumpily as if a 76 was bad.

“Well, me? I have 78,” Odd took a mouthful of potatoes. “I beatcha.”

“Only because you made up some points in art and math class,” Ulrich shot.

“Not so fast, Odd and Ulrich! Jeremie’s still in first place with 99.89% GPA,” Cassidy chuckled.

“Yeah? How about you?” Odd cocked a grin.

She swore that she saw some potatoes leaking out of his teeth, but she ignored it. “89.2; third place tie with Yumi,” Cassidy smiled.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did you know what Yumi—?” Ulrich tried for words.

“We had that GNO thing. She told me while I taught Spanish/Knitting to both her and Aelita and they each taught me Japanese Culture/Computer Programming. We went in shifts,” she explained.

Ulrich face-palmed. “Of course, the GNO! How stupid of me to forget!”

“Oh, don’t be estúpido, Ulrich. Forgetting is nothing to be ashamed about!” Cassidy patted her friend on the back.

“Estúpido means stupid, right?”

She nodded. “Yep.”

He turned to Aelita. “What about you, Aelita? What’s your grade point average?”

“95.2,” Aelita said after a drink of water.

Odd dropped his fork while Ulrich’s mouth dropped open. They were shocked. Cassidy, however, smiled. She knew this would happen. And she knew exactly where it would happen.

Looking at the two boys, Aelita modestly said, “But it’s all because of math.”

Cassidy put in her ear buds and drowned out the rest of the conversation which went:

Ulrich: “Yes, but still. You must’ve gotten good grades in all your classes. That’s great, especially since—” (mmph)

Cassidy covered his mouth and whispered in his ear, “ix-nay on the ot-nay even uman-hay!”

Ulrich put out one of the ear buds, pulled his mouth free, and whispered in the free ear, “Orry-say!”

Cassidy smiled. “Good.

But Aelita understood what her friends were Pig Latin-ing about. “Don’t worry. I know very well that I’m not really human.”

The psychic pulled the other ear bud out of the other ear and glared at Ulrich crossly with a look that said “The jig is up, the news is out, and it’s _all your fault_!” **(A/N: Thank the Styx song Renegade!)**

Ulrich flinched uncomfortably under Cassidy’s hostile gaze.

“Still, sometimes I get a strange feeling as if... as if I’ve already lived here. Weird, huh?” Aelita raised a brow curiously.

“Ah that's just the magical ‘Odd effect.’ Ya know? You see me once, and you feel you've known me forever,” Odd lifted his fork after another bite of potatoes.

Cassidy nodded. She too fell under this “Odd effect”.

“Hey, Magic Odd Effect, y’know you’ve got some mashed potatoes right on your face,” Ulrich pointed to his own face, causing Odd to cross his eyes in a strangely funny way.

Aelita and Cassidy burst into laughter.

**-After Lunch-**

Odd’s phone rang and he picked it up. “No way!”

Cassidy’s stomach twisted. _This couldn’t be good._ “It’s a trap, Odd. XANA is up to it.”

“A…trap?” Aelita asked with her eyebrows raised.

“I know a trap when I see one, especially if it is in the future,” the bespectacled girl shook with fright. “This feels like the ‘incident’!”

The ‘incident’ was when a valiant sacrifice was made to save another Lyoko Warrior.

Cassidy was in a bad shock and had made _loads_ of calls to Yumi over two weeks for a sleepover/therapy session.

Yumi and the others weren’t in the least annoyed. It was a real bad case of shock. There were nightmares about the event and a fear of Lyoko that got over in a week. Cassidy pulled through thanks to Aelita’s help.

_Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me._

Cassidy’s phone rang. She picked it up and read quietly to herself:

You are too smart. Why don’t you and Odd switch places

Take his place while he goes to Lyoko.

Have fun.

X

She smirked as she loved that. She texted back:

Deal. Just leave Odd and Ulrich alone.

She sent the text and turned to Ulrich. “Sorry. I’ve got a mission to do.”

Ulrich shrugged. “Good luck!”

“And if you and another you get into a fight, stab him through the stomach.”

Ulrich looked utterly confused as the psychic ran off. Aelita laughed at the look on his face.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie was working on the mission, preparing the necessary codes and configurations when all of a sudden, **activated tower.**

“Ugh, an activated tower. Oh, boy that’s all I needed,” Jeremie groaned. He typed on the communications program.

**-Courtyard-**

Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita were playing 90 Second Alphabet when Ulrich’s phone rang. He picked it up.

“Yeah, Jeremie?” Aelita turned her head. “Huh? Okay, we’re on our way!”

He hung up with his friend and said, “Activated tower. Aelita, you call Yumi. I’ll text Cassidy.”

Aelita whipped out her cell phone and dialed.

**-With Cassidy-**

She rushed to the red path. When she stopped there, she said into the air, “Okay, XANA! I’m ready for you. Throw me in that hole! I don’t care.” She was solidly determined to make the next ultimate sacrifice. Odd would go to Lyoko, and she would risk drowning.

 _Win-win,_ she thought.

Her phone rang. _SOS, XANA,_ she figured.

“Ya hear me, XANA? I said I’m ready!”

The specter came and Cassidy brace herself for unconsciousness.

_I know what I’m doing._

The girl didn’t scream out. It was as if she didn’t want to.

**-Lab-**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita came from the elevator. Jeremie looked for the fifth member, but she wasn’t there. “Where’s Cassidy?”

“I sent her a text message. She said that she had some sort of mission and left.” Ulrich took the lead as he walked to the console chair.

“Will she be alright?” Jeremie asked worriedly.

“Who knows?” Yumi said.

“Missions can last for a long time,” Ulrich said, and Odd, Yumi, and Aelita nodded.

“I hope it doesn’t last much longer. Not only do we have to decode Franz Hopper’s notes, but now we have to deactivate the tower as well.” Jeremie was getting increasingly panicky.

Yumi and the other three were in the elevator. “Okay let’s go,” Yumi said.

He looked to the elevator and saw his sweetheart give him a little wave.

Jeremie tried to call Cassidy’s number but it was useless.

“Come on, Cassidy, pick up!”

**-Red Path-**

Her purple Motorola was ringing, but no one was around to pick it up. It still made a sound.

**-Lab-**

“She’s not answering,” Jeremie said. “Forget it for now.”

**-Scanner Room-**

_“She’ll meet you later,”_ he told the group.

Soon the four were on Lyoko.

**-In the Mountain Region-**

The four walked to make a rectangular formation, waiting for the fifth Lyoko Warrior.

**-Back to the Scanner Room-**

The elevator opened up to reveal Cassidy, but something was not right about her. “I’m here, Jeremie,” she said in a deep calm.

 _“Not a minute too soon. I’ve been trying your number,”_ Jeremie was still typing on a few programs.

“I was…ocupada,” she stepped into the scanner. “Soy lista, Jeremie.”

_“I’ll launch the procedure.”_

Jeremie sent the girl on to Lyoko, but saw a red (!) on her window.

**-Lyoko-**

_“Cassidy? **!** ”_ Jeremie called out to her.

“I’m on Lyoko, Jeremie. Don’t fret,” Cassidy replied coolly. She sounded too calm.

 _“There was a bug during the transfer! Oh, no way!”_ Jeremie cried. _“The tower just deactivated itself.”_

“Are you sure?” Ulrich asked.

 _“Yeah! The super-scan shows all clear,”_ Jeremie told the gang.

Cassidy had a little bit of an angry look on her face as if she was insulted.

 _“As if XANA has called off his attack,”_ he continued.

“Well that’s one less thing to worry about, right?” Ulrich asked.

“Yep. Now we can decode Franz’s notes,” Odd smiled.

“Right, Cassidy?” Ulrich said.

“Right,” Cassidy turned around to face the group. Ulrich took one look on her face and asked the others, “What’s up with her? Is she sulking or something?”

“Maybe her mission failed,” Aelita suggested.

Odd tried to make Cassidy laugh, but she had a downcast look as if he was telling her that her cooking stunk.

Jeremie brought up the vehicles. _“Here are your rides. Please remember that we have a diary to decode.”_

Cassidy coolly went to her vehicle and laid herself in. Aelita went with Yumi. Ulrich and Odd went to their own vehicles.

 _“I’ve chosen the tower at seventy-two degrees south and fifty-five degrees west,”_ Jeremie told the group.

Everyone went with the coordinates and Yumi found the tower. “There it is!” She pointed ahead of her, and then put her arm back on the bar.

For the moment, the tower was blue, but it was soon to turn into a green in a few minutes. Aelita went inside the tower, rose to the top platform, and formed up the communication program so she could keep in touch with Jeremie.

 _“As soon as I activate the tower,”_ Jeremie instructed her, _“start the decoding process.”_

She posed to start. “I’m ready, Jeremie.”

_“Okay, I’m activating the tower, NOW!”_

**-Outside the tower-**

Some fog had surrounded the Lyoko warriors. The tower was now green. Aelita was free to work on the decoding process as she pleased.

 _“YEAH! It’s working!”_ came the jubilant cry of the genius.

**-Inside the tower-**

“Decoding the diary is underway, Jeremie,” Aelita informed her excited knight in glasses, “but it might take some time.”

 _“No problem. Whenever XANA leaves us in peace, everything’s cool!”_ Jeremie sounded a little laid-back.

**-Outside the tower-**

Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich took fighting stances while Cassidy stood behind, almost stiff as a board.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie noticed six red dots on the screen. He knew what those five were. “Uh-oh, I spoke too soon.”

**-Lyoko, outside the tower-**

_“Watch out, XANA’s creatures heading your way,”_ Jeremie told the gang.

“Where from? We can’t see anything,” Yumi told him. Then she saw the Tarantulas.

“Wow! XANA’s pulled out the big guns.” Ulrich pulled out his sword at the same time as Odd cocked his arm to fight. Cassidy pulled her tube from her tail, turned it into a gun and was about to fight, but suddenly aimed her gun at Yumi. She fired and Yumi was devirtualized in a pile of pixilated dust.

Yumi had also cried out, causing Ulrich to turn his head. Cassidy was now aiming at him, shooting with her gun. “Jeremie, XANA’s taken over Cassidy!”

 _“What? **!** ”_ Jeremie asked.

**-Inside-**

Aelita stopped in her work, but the decoding process was still underway as planned.

**-Outside the tower-**

Cassidy was shooting her bullets, but Ulrich used his sword as a shield to block off the rapid fire.

“Yes, I’m sure of it.” He didn’t lose his focus but was backing up more and more to the Tarantulas’ lasers. He noticed, then flipped, and jumped on his OverBike to avoid her. Cassidy got on the OverWing and started the chase. And something told Ulrich this was not just playful chase. He yelled to Odd, “Defend the green tower. If we lose it, then I don’t know what will happen.”

“Okay, General,” Odd was fierce and loyal to his friends. That was one reason why they kept him in the group. Another unrelated reason was that he made good jokes (deemed by Cassidy).

**-In the scanner room-**

Yumi’s scanner opened up. She was a little weak, but hit the scanner floor with her fists in anger.

**-Hermitage-**

The real Cassidy woke up in a grate-covered hole to the feel and sound of water. “Huh?” she was a little woozy. Instead of engulfing her in smoke, XANA injected Cassidy with a sedative. “Oye, I’ll try to think twice on this one. I’m sure of it.”

She stood up, but instantly slumped down. “Stupid sedative.” She tried again. This time she held onto the water-slick edges of the grate. It was hard with double vision and farsightedness.

**-Mountain Sector-**

Ulrich was in the chase of his life. XANA-Cassidy was shooting and he was avoiding and blocking off his attacker’s ammo.

**-Lab-**

_“I don’t know how XANA did it!”_ Ulrich told Jeremie. He looked to see Yumi come out of the elevator and then thought on the subject. He thought back on Cassidy’s birthday and remembered a single sentence that came from her.

_“I can sense a polymorphing clone when I see one.”_

“I do,” Jeremie said. “It’s not the real Cassidy.”

“What?” Yumi asked.

“It’s one of XANA’s creatures. A polymorphing specter,” Jeremie continued.

“But where’s the real Cassidy then?” Yumi asked him.

**-Back at the grate-**

Cassidy held on with her might and started to climb using the feet-and-hands-apart method. _I may be sedated but I can still try to climb to the top._ She thought sluggishly.

“I gotta learn this someday. Why, I, gotta learn the hard way!” she sang a little loopy. “Buddy showed me just how fast a car can go—oh!” It was a long note, but she held it. “I’ll race you for your pink slip right before this show—oh.” Another long note and she held it good.

She slipped when she was almost at the top and fell back into the water. She tried again.

 _I’ll call for help when Yumi arrives. No one’s around to hear me right now,_ she thought in a daze.

**-Back at Lyoko-**

The Tarantulas were trying to surround the tower, but three of them were hit with laser arrows. Three of them got through.

Ulrich was still being chased by the clone. “Talk about a tailgater! Worse than Sissi!” He protested.

Odd was trying his best to get rid of the three Tarantulas so the decoding process would work.

 _“Ulrich, Odd, it’s a trap,”_ Jeremie told the two boys. _“She’s trying to lead you two away from the tower.”_

“Talk about acting shy then giving an aggressive chase,” Odd quipped.

“But why?” Ulrich asked.

He avoided another bullet.

**-Inside the tower-**

“Jeremie?” Aelita **(A/N: FINALLY. She takes another line. End A/N)** paused in her work. “What’s going on?”

**-Lab-**

_“Is there a problem?”_ she asked him.

“Aw, man,” Jeremie said. “XANA’s trying to gain control of the tower. Abort the mission. Stop decoding…”

**-Back inside the tower-**

_“…and get back to Earth!”_ Jeremie ordered.

“Okay,” Aelita knew what she had to do. She worked on trying to abort the mission.

**-Back to the Lab-**

“Yumi, where are you?”

**-Woods-**

“In the woods,” Yumi ran through the forest trying to find Cassidy, “But it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

**-Back at the Lab-**

Jeremie used his find-cell-phone program to find Cassidy’s phone.

“Wait. While I was hacking into the network, I managed to find the emergency telephone that is closest to Cassidy’s phone!” Jeremie told her.

 _“You can do that?”_ Yumi asked the genius.

“Of course I can! If Cassidy still has her cell on her, then she’s in the northeast corner…”

**-Woods-**

_“…of the woods,”_ Jeremie said.

Yumi understood. “That’s near the Hermitage. I’m off.”

She hung up with him and ran off.

**-Mountain Sector-**

Red pulses were pumped in from the wire connecting the tower. Odd was trying to hold the three Tarantulas off.

**-Inside the tower-**

“Jeremie, we’ve got a problem. I can’t stop the decoding program.”

**-Lab-**

_“It’s taking up too many resources. It’s out of my control, now,”_ Aelita told Jeremie.

He hit his fist on the arm of the chair.

“Bad news. If XANA manages to get control of the tower now, he’ll be able to get into the restricted-access part of the supercomputer. I can lose all the data in Franz Hopper’s diary!” he lamented.

 _“Not to mention everything you programmed in yourself:  Our combat gear, the vehicles, the transfer codes, and my materialization program!”_ Aelita listed, making Jeremie feel hundreds and hundreds of times worse.

“This is a nightmare!” Jeremie sounded like he was ready to quit. “ULRICH, ODD!”

**-Back to the outside of the tower-**

_“XANA’s about to take control of the tower. You two have to stop it.”_ Ulrich blocked another six bullets with his katana.

“Uh, right, okay, but how?” Ulrich sounded ready to give up.

 _“You’ll have to isolate the towers,”_ Jeremie instructed. _“Try to cut the cables. Hurry!”_

Ulrich then jackknifed back to the tower. Odd tried to get rid of the unwanted guests. He aimed a laser arrow at one of the wires. It cut it just a slight bit.

The Tarantulas found a newer target to play with: Ulrich. They started shooting and he started blocking with his katana as he flew down.

He got rid of one by slamming his OverBike into it. He brought down the second one by stabbing the eye with his sword. Odd was impressed. “Good job, good buddy.”

“’Job ain’t over yet!” Ulrich yelled to Odd. He ran over to the wire and was about to cut it when a bullet hit him in the shoulder. He saw the XANA-clone of Cassidy.

“You’re wasting your time XANA. Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy have never beaten me yet!” he hoped the lie would work. Cassidy had beaten Ulrich in a bet.

The Polymorphing clone turned into a darker double. Ulrich started to falter, “Uh... yeah… well, okay. Uh… that changes things.”

The Dark Ulrich **(A/N: that’ll be known as TDU (Not to be messed up as another Total Drama thing). End A/N)** came up and clashed swords with the other Ulrich. TDU had a red sword.

**-Cassidy’s problem-**

She had gotten up to the top of the hole, but now she faced a bigger problem. How to push the grate without a base under a big sedation. That seemed to be the problem.

But she wouldn’t call for help just yet.

**­-Yumi-**

She got to the corner and tried Cassidy’s phone. It rang, alerting Yumi to the sound, but when she got there, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

Yumi looked around. “Cassidy? Cassidy!” she ran in the right direction. Cassidy would be at the Hermitage. But then she saw another thing. A hypodermic needle. With instructions on how to administer the sedative.

That worried the Japanese girl even further. And she kept on running.

**-Back at the tower-**

It was turning a dark red. If Ulrich and Odd didn’t hurry soon, they would lose everything.

**-Lab-**

“XANA’s going to do it, Aelita,” Jeremie urged. “Is there anything new?”

**-Lyoko-**

“There’s no way to stop the process. Everything’s buggy!” Aelita was feeling despondent.

**-Ulrich vs. TDU and Odd vs. the last Tarantula-**

Ulrich and TDU were clashing swords. The last Tarantula tried to shoot the good Ulrich, but they decided to “take it outside” so to speak, clashing swords along the way.

Then they matched step and jumped up in the air, katana hitting katana, until they hit the ground and took it to the “Ring of Wires”.

They hit katanas, and went to the sides of the “ring”. They bounced off the wires and clashed swords twice before going off on the purple rock/silver wire. **(A/N: I love this battle royal)**

They clashed once after they bounced off.

**-Hermitage-**

Cassidy tried to push without a base, refusing to cry for help.

 _You can do it,_ she pushed herself. She nodded, _I can. I can. I can._

**-Back at the Mountain Sector (Ulrich vs. TDU)-**

They landed on either side of the “ring”. TDU held his sword in front of his face. Ulrich looked onward then held his sword in front of his face too. They moved toward each other, clashed swords, fought with Pencak Silat, and TDU backed off a bit.

But he wasn’t done.

Ulrich was impressed. “Hey, you’re not so bad there, XANA!”

TDU charged and they clashed swords. “Whoa, uh, full of surprises, huh?”

He then tried to knock him off his feet, but TDU jumped and used his sword to grab the Good Ulrich’s sword. That left Ulrich weaponless.

“Hey, no fair!” Ulrich protested.

**-Odd vs. the last Tarantula-**

He was having a hard time with the last one.

**-Cassidy’s situation-**

She fell back into the water, thoroughly exhausted. “Yumi’s going to arrive soon,” she said as she reached the surface again. That sedative really did its work.

“I’m really going to have to take a nap for this adventure,” she growled a little.

**-Yumi-**

Yumi ran over to the path, turned around, and saw the Hermitage.

She rushed in that direction.

**­-Back to Lyoko’s tower-**

It was switching from green to red like a traffic light.

**-With Jeremie-**

“XANA’s about to take over. Ulrich, Odd, what are you two doing?” Jeremie asked the two boys.

**-Ulrich’s answer-**

“I’ve just got this last little thing to—to take care of,” He said, dodging the two katanas.

**-Odd’s answer-**

“If this Tarantula would be nice and hold still so I could kill it, I might have this problem under control,” Odd yelled.

**-Ulrich-**

He dodged the swords but he didn’t dodge TDU’s foot. He was on his back immediately. Cassidy’s words floated into the battlefield. _If you and the clone are now in the fight, stab him through THE STOMACH._

 _You know, Cassidy, that just might work,_ Ulrich smiled.

He got back up on his feet, hopped around a bit, then made the “come on with your come on” gesture, and then he hopped a bit more on his feet.

TDU charged and Ulrich grabbed the sword from his hand and stabbed TDU, just like Cassidy told him, in the stomach area. The clone was finally defeated.

He beat feet back to the wire and Odd was on it too. They got some of the cable cut before the last Tarantula devirtualized them both.

 _“ULRICH, ODD!!”_ Jeremie yelled.

**-Yumi-**

Yumi made her way to the Hermitage’s gates. Then started looking around for their lost comrade. “Cassidy?”

**-Cassidy-**

She heard Yumi’s voice. “YUMI! YUMI!” she screeched, though it was draining. “YUMI!”

**-Yumi-**

“Cassidy!” She heard Cassidy’s screeches. It was a desperate sign for help.

She rushed to turn off the water and found where her friend was held captive.

She started pulling at the same time as Cassidy tried pushing. The latter girl was starting to weaken.

“CASSIDY!”

**-The tower-**

It was starting to look like XANA would win.

**-Lab-**

The elevator opened up to reveal Odd and Ulrich with despondent looks on their faces.

Jeremie was now losing hope. “XANA is about to steal all my data! We’re done for!”

**-Inside the tower-**

Aelita noticed something. “Hey!” she half-whispered.

**-Outside-**

The tower turned an opal-like white. And the Tarantula started to look at the tower.

**-Lab-**

“What’s going on?” Jeremie asked. “Aelita?”

 _“I don’t get it! It looks like XANA lost control of the tower!”_ Aelita said.

“Franz Hopper!” Jeremie said out loud.

**-Inside the tower-**

_“Franz Hopper’s helping us! What’s going on, on your side?”_ he asked excitedly.

“The decoding program is going full speed!” Aelita was watching with amazement in her eyes.

**-Lab-**

A light on the computer shone brightly at the three boys and Franz’s diary was being decoded.

The binary code used to encrypt the diary had been cracked and a screen of blue paper icons appeared and turned white.

**-Cassidy and Yumi-**

She was holding her breath while Yumi successfully opened the grate. She pulled the psychic out.

“I’d say near-drowning is in my book now!” Cassidy muttered as a joke. The two girls got a big laugh out of that one.

**-Lab-**

The bright light dimmed and Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie looked at the screen in confusion, but not shock.

**-Lyoko-**

The tower turned blue and the Tarantula clunked away (probably fed up).

**-Inside the tower-**

Aelita looked at the interface. “Amazing.”

**-Lab-**

Yumi came on the phone. Jeremie said, “Yumi.”

**-Cassidy and Yumi-**

Cassidy was squeezing out her hair a little. Yumi was on the phone, “I got Cassidy.”

The aforementioned girl then leaned on the rock Yumi was sitting on, tired.

Yumi didn’t mind it. “How about you?”

**-Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich-**

“We’re decoding Franz Hopper’s diary,” Jeremie said.

Franz Hopper’s diary opened up.

**-The next day in Jeremie’s room-**

Both Jeremie and Cassidy were given the spotlight.

“Franz Hopper was the creator of Lyoko and XANA,” Cassidy started in first.

“In his diary, he wrote down everything that happened during the creation of Lyoko. Everything,” Jeremie was sitting in his chair.

“That means that you’ll be able to find the antivirus,” Aelita perked up.

“We’re not finished, Aelita. And what we’ll say at the end may change the way you think,” Cassidy looked a little tactful, but rubbed her shoulder. It was still sore from the day before.

The pink-haired girl nodded.

“There is something more,” Jeremie turned to his computer screen, as if it would be his helper.

Ulrich was curious. “What? Come on! Spit it out,” he pushed the two.

“He had a wife,” Cassidy sounded despondent.

“We already know that. You told us the day at the train station,” Yumi said.

“Before he virtualized himself on Lyoko, and before he became this ‘prisoner’ of XANA, he lived as a human on Earth,” Cassidy sighed.

“We already knew that, too!” Yumi said.

“Yes,” Jeremie pointed a finger at Yumi as if it would tell her to pay attention, “but, what we didn’t know was that he had a child.”

“A beautiful little girl,” Cassidy nodded.

Aelita cocked a brow.

Odd sounded interested. “Really, well, what did she look like?”

Cassidy came over to Odd and whispered something that wasn’t a threat, but an answer.

Odd quieted down, staring at the pink-haired girl, with wide eyes. Cassidy backed to where Jeremie was.

“What became of Ae—I mean her?” he asked.

“He virtualized her on Lyoko at the same time as himself.” Cassidy looked down as Jeremie relayed that fact.

“And? Did she fall victim to XANA too?” Yumi wondered.

“No,” Cassidy answered. “She—she stayed on Lyoko.”

Cassidy and Jeremie were now staring at Aelita. That was the final fact. The final nail in the wood. The entire kit and caboodle.

Aelita gasped. “But that’s impossible. If Hopper’s daughter were on Lyoko, I would have definitely known. I—”

Everyone was staring at Aelita now, wide-eyed.

Aelita tried to back away from the facts. “I’m—not!”

Jeremie smiled in a way that said “It’s true!”

That was the final blow. The only unspoken fact was:

Aelita was _Franz Hopper’s daughter._

The pink-haired girl was shocked.


	30. We Have the Key, Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of Season 2.

**The Key is here. The Key is here.**

**Don’t Own Code Lyoko.**

**The Key is here.**

**Own only Cassidy and the plot.**

**-A week later-**

Jeremie and Cassidy were at the supercomputer. The psychic yawned because of a tireless night the night before. “The others will arrive in five seconds,” Cassidy yawned again, rubbing her eyes.

The elevator doors opened. “Hi Einstein and Cat-Girl,” Odd said from the elevator. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you two.”

“We’ve spent the whole night reading Franz Hopper’s diary,” Cassidy yawned.

Yumi walked up to the tired psychic. “You look wiped out,” she noted.

“Now I know what Jeremie feels inside doing those all nighters.” Cassidy stretched.

Jeremie opened up the video log book. “Listen to this.”

He started the video. “June 6, 1994, day 67: Project Carthage was a military program used to block enemy communications.” The video paused as Jeremie said, “Wait, it’s further down.”

He fast-forwarded the video to: “…so I built the supercomputer, created Lyoko, and last of all _XANA_ to destroy Carthage.”

Franz had a cup of (assumedly) coffee on the left arm of the cushy chair and Jeremie fast-forwarded the video again. This time the former-science teacher grabbed the cup. “June 6, 1994, day 639…” Jeremie fast-forwarded the video again.

“It’s still further,” he informed the gang.

The coffee cup was no longer with Franz and he was now leaning toward the camera with his hand on his head as if he had a migraine. “June 6, 1994, day 1265: Someone’s watching me! Someone wants to get rid of me!” He banged a fist on the right arm of the chair.

Everyone was watching with rapt attention as Jeremie fast-forwarded the tape. “I wanted to _destroy_ the supercomputer and destroy all the evidence of my activities!” Franz was now adjusting the camera with the hand that was once on his head. He stopped then. “That’s when I discovered one of its fascinating properties—returning to the past. It gave me all the time I could possibly need to perfect my great project. The only thing that allowed me to escape my enemies.”

Jeremie fast-forwarded the video once more. “June 6, 1994, day 2546…”

“This is it,” Jeremie told the gang.

“The scanners and the virtualization programs are ready! In a few hours, I will go to Lyoko with Aelita. Just like me, Aelita will hold the Keys to Lyoko. Together, we will be the absolute masters. We will live together, _forever._ ” Franz turned the camera off.

Jeremie turned around in the chair. “The Keys to Lyoko.”

“XANA wants them from Aelita’s memory,” Cassidy nodded.

“But what could XANA do with them?” Ulrich asked.

“Listen to Aelita,” Cassidy gestured lightly to her.

“Escape from the supercomputer,” Aelita was staring at the screen as if she had seen a ghost on it, “and take over the world.”

**-Breakfast-**

Aelita stirred her hot chocolate with a depressed look on her face. “Aelita,” Jeremie’s tender voice came to her. She looked up with some disdain. Her friends were going to their seats. “You should’ve stuck around ’til the end!” he sat down next to her. “I didn’t have time to tell you the best news of all. It turns out we’ve been wrong all along.”

Ulrich came up with his tray. “You two have? Why?”

“My visions told me that Aelita had a link/virus when we tried shutting down the supercomputer the first time. I told Jeremie, but thanks to a Hermitage trip weeks ago, I understood. It was as if some of my visions were…padlocked. Jeremie had been searching for a breaker/antivirus. Pero me equivoqué. But I was wrong,” Cassidy said.

“But thanks to Franz Hopper’s diary, I finally understand,” Jeremie told his side. “XANA didn’t give her anything at all. In fact, he _took_ something from her.”

“He did?” Yumi asked. “But what?”

“A memory key of sorts,” Cassidy explained, “located in Sector 5.”

“We could get it tonight, after the End-of-the-Year Dance,” Odd amended, holding his cup of hot chocolate.

Ulrich slammed down his cup. “AWESOME! It’ll be our final mission, and then it’s time for a well-earned _real_ vacation.” He just couldn’t wait, Cassidy figured. She sighed. _Oh, if you only knew all of my visions._

“Out of the question!” Aelita stood up, surprising everyone but Cassidy. The pink-haired girl walked swiftly out of the cafeteria.

“Huh.” Odd shrugged.

**-Outside-**

Jeremie and Cassidy followed Aelita some. “Aelita, wait!” Jeremie called out. “What’s the matter?”

Before Aelita could speak, the psychic spoke. “She’s a little depressed, Jeremie.”

Then the pink-haired girl said, “I refuse to step foot on Lyoko ever again!”

That shocked Cassidy, and she couldn’t form words to help her friend.

“Why?” Jeremie asked in a small hint of worry. “What’s gotten into you?”

“My father stole my life from me!”

Now that gave leeway for Cassidy to talk. “Your father did not. He was a little crazy, but still. He saved your life. If not for him, then the Secret Service would’ve taken him away from you.”

But that didn’t move Aelita. She continued, “He was a totally crazy, second-rate magician. Because of him, I'm nothing... I'm no one.”

“You _are_ someone, Aelita. You are our friend, and nothing can take that away from us. Nothing,” Cassidy tried to soothe.

“Besides, all that’s behind you, now. We’ll recover the fragment that XANA took from you and shut down the supercomputer. Then you’ll be free,” Jeremie tried to help. He even had a hand on his sweetheart’s shoulder.

“What if it goes wrong?” Aelita shrugged his hand and walked a few steps away from the two. She stopped. Then, as she started walking again, she asked, “What if XANA gets hold of the keys to Lyoko in my memory?”

Cassidy sighed. “Jeremie?”

“Yeah?” Jeremie sounded as despondent as the psychic and his sweetheart.

“We have a long road before us,” Cassidy hung her head down low. “And it’s not going to be easy.”

**-With Jim-**

“Right, for all you party animals with short memory spans, I'd like to remind you that, uh... what was I saying? Oh, yeah. During the End-of-the-Year Dance, any overly-suggestive dancing, wild behavior, or trouble-making will be severely punished,” Jim said to the students after breakfast was over. Cassidy had joined Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi after the talk with Jeremie, Aelita, and herself. “That’s all. Enjoy yourselves.”

“So far,” Odd seemed down-hearted, “I don’t have anyone to take to the dance. Fortunately, I have a way with women.”

“Don’t try Magali. She told you never to speak to her again,” Cassidy told Odd. She turned to Ulrich and Yumi. “Are you two going to the dance with each other?” she hinted.

Those two blushed as if some untold secret had been exposed. Yumi looked at her friend. “Y-yeah!” she stuttered.

“Oh, don’t stutter, Yumi. It’s okay if you and Ulrich don’t feel like going to the dance,” Cassidy smiled.

Then an arm grabbed for the psychic and she about fought when she realized it was William. She relaxed and admitted, “Sorry, William. I—had a bad dream last night.”

“About…” William sounded interested.

“Some gangster or something grabbing and kidnapping me. It was horrible. I woke up at three o’clock in the morning.”

“Oh,” he nodded then dragged her off.

A loud, high-pitched voice screeched across the courtyard. Ulrich smiled a bit. “Here comes trouble with a capital S.”

“Ulrich,” Sissi came up to him. “If you and that crow are going out then I’ve got news for you: she’s nothing, you hear me, _nothing_.”

“Says you!” Ulrich smarted.

“At least I have a few more _brain cells_ than you,” Yumi commented.

Sissi growled and stomped off.

**-With William and Cassidy-**

“Are you sure you have other plans,” William asked.

“Yes,” Cassidy said. “I have to recover from that aftermath of a nightmare.”

“Do you want me to help?” William asked.

“No, this is a mission I must do for myself,” Cassidy said.

**-Super-calculator room-**

Aelita could barely hold her head up. Tears of anger walloped in her eyes as the elevator descended to the lower floor. She hated her father for what he did. Once the elevator stopped, she rushed over to the supercomputer's power switch. Aelita could not take it anymore. In her mind, everything would be better with the supercomputer off. The world would be safe. Her friends would be safe.

And so, without a hint of regret, she turned off the supercomputer, thus making her fall to the ground in a faint.

**-Outside the vending machines-**

Odd was playing Tetris Annihilator on his GameBoy when Jeremie came to him, Ulrich, and Yumi.

“Have you seen Aelita?” Jeremie asked.

“No,” Ulrich answered.

“There’s no answer on her phone and the supercomputer is not responding, either. Cassidy has locked the door on her dorm room, but she gave me a note saying Aelita’s not there,” Jeremie gave out his worries.

“Do you think it’s a bug?” Odd asked.

“Or some type of error?” Yumi came in.

“Maybe,” Jeremie was still worried. “I’ll go to the factory. Cover for me for the teachers.”

He went off and Yumi cocked a brow. “What do you two think?”

Odd gave an off-topic answer. “Twigs.”

Ulrich gave a less harebrained answer. “I think it’s a trap, but I’m not sure.”

Yumi nodded and then asked Odd, “So, Odd, did you find someone to take to the dance?”

“No,” Odd sounded down.

“Hey, Odd, could you do two proverbs for us?” Ulrich asked.

“But you said that they stink,” Odd accused.

“I know, but come on! Please?” Ulrich said. “We need some humor here.”

“One of them, if Sissi wasn’t mad, is: Ulrich has not lost his head, and hasn’t lost a thread!”

Laughter ensued.

“Go with Yumi, and your future isn’t a hissy ’cause you’re gonna lose Sissi,” Odd smiled.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie put on the headset and tried the computer. But all that came was a blank. “This isn’t right.”

He went down to the Super-calculator room to find Aelita on the floor, her life ticking away from her.

“AELITA!” he cried. He saw the switch and turned it back on. He cradled his sweetheart. “Aelita, answer me! Come on! Wake up!”

She opened her eyes with a gasp of air.

Jeremie was worried. “You’re insane! Why did you do that?”

“To save the world! To save you all!” Aelita told him.

“We’ll save it together. And then you’ll have your whole life in front of you, a brand-new life,” he told her.

**-Odd and Ulrich’s room-**

“You should get ready!” Odd sang to Ulrich. “Yumi’s going to be waiting for you.”

Ulrich was trying to figure out what to wear. “I know, but I don’t know what to wear!”

Matthias and Theo barged in like vagabonds. “You should see Cassidy!”

“Why, Theo?” Ulrich asked.

“Have you heard? William brutally broke up with her!” Matthias told the two.

Ulrich and Odd looked to each other in shock. Then Ulrich turned to look at the two boys. “But they’ve been dating for months!”

“Not anymore. William thought that Cassidy was unfaithful and told her off. Cassidy tried to defend herself but he hit her with the five words girls _hate to hear_ ,” Matthias said.

“What are they?” Ulrich asked.

“‘I’m sorry, but it’s over,’” Theo quoted. “She’s in front of the admin building.”

The two Lyoko Warriors looked to each other again, and then rushed to Cassidy. He called Yumi. “Yumi, meet us near the front of the admin building. We need your help.”

A crowd of already-dressed-to-dance girls were surrounding the spot, but Odd and Ulrich managed to get through. A kinda catatonic Cassidy was sitting with wide eyes. Ulrich’s phone rang as Yumi got through with Hiroki at her heels. She saw that Cassidy was in shock and gasped.

He picked up his phone. “Yes?”

**-Lab-**

“It’s me! You at the dance?” Jeremie asked.

 _“No, I don’t want to go!”_ Ulrich said.

“Glad to hear it,” Jeremie was typing up programs. “Aelita and I aren’t going to go either. Come to the factory. It’s mission time! Let Odd…,”

**-Back to Ulrich-**

_“…, Yumi, and Cassidy know, too, okay?”_ Jeremie came from the other end as Odd helped the stiff-in-shock girl up on her feet.

“We heard,” Yumi told Jeremie.

**-A few minutes (and a thawing) later-**

“Mission to find that fragment,” Cassidy whispered to herself. She was really excited, despite her break up with William.

(“I’ll get him back for that later,” she told the three.)

“This is the big one guys,” Jeremie said, deepening Cassidy’s excitement even further. “We’re going to recover Aelita’s fragment, and get rid of XANA once and for all.”

“Let’s do this!” Cassidy whooped. “Odd, both you and I will lead the way!”

The two eagerly led the way to the elevator.

“Be careful,” Jeremie said.

“I’ll try, Jeremie, but in case this mission fails…” Cassidy sighed before saying, “Pray to God and Franz Hopper for luck. Coax the others into praying, too.”

Jeremie nodded and sent the five to the Ice Sector. _“Everybody alright?”_ he asked.

“Better than alright,” Ulrich said.

 _“I’m programming your vehicles too,”_ Jeremie said.

Every vehicle was there in a blink of an eye. _“There you go. The edge of the sector is north, northeast.”_

“We’ll be done in no time…I hope,” Cassidy’s virtual heart squeezed in a small bit of fear.

Soon they were on the trail to the end of the sector. _“No monsters?”_

“No sign of Megatanks, Kankrelats, Krabes, Bloks, Tarantulas, Hornets, or Mantas anywhere. It figures: XANA wasn’t expecting us,” Cassidy sighed.

Aelita nodded.

When they got to the edge, they got off their vehicles and stood by for the Transporter. “Enter the code,” Aelita said.

 _“Okay, all aboard for Sector 5!”_ Jeremie was ready with the code.

The Transporter took them to Sector 5’s Arena. Odd felt his stomach and took a little wonder at it.

“What’s wrong with you? Feel like throwing up as usual?” Ulrich cracked.

“No,” Odd said. “I don’t. That’s what I can’t understand.”

“Maybe you are now used to it, Odd,” Cassidy shrugged.

 _“Everybody ready? I’m going to enter the coordinates of the room where Aelita’s fragment is,”_ Jeremie said.

“Get ready! The wall’s about to open,” Aelita said.

“Creepers and, I believe, some Mantas are going to hit us this eve. Plus the Schyphozoa, but I think I can handle him,” Cassidy reported.

The wall opened up. Yumi lead the way as they went to the Core Zone.

 _“You have three minutes to find the key and stop the countdown,”_ Jeremie told them.

“We’ll stop that countdown,” Cassidy said. She turned to Yumi. “Buena suerte, Yumi. You are going to need it.”

“I see it,” Yumi pointed.

“Out of reach, as usual,” Odd commented.

“The Creepers are due to arrive, now!” The psychic cat’s eyes turned into a light velvet brown.

The walls on either side of them opened up and Creepers came out.

“Yumi, go! We’ll give this creepy party under control,” Cassidy pointed, her eyes still a light shade of brown.

The Creepers started shooting, but Ulrich and Yumi blocked the shots from getting to the three other members.

Cassidy then froze. _Something’s about to go wrong! Aelita was right to be worried._

A laser shot almost grazed her, but Ulrich’s katana blocked the shot. “Darn it, Cassidy! Get your head in the game. This is no time for spacing out or getting visions.”

She shrunk into the crowd. “I’m sorry. I—”

“Save the apologies for later!” Ulrich blocked another shot.

_I’d much rather be back in the arena spacing out, than be here and spacing out._

Odd shot a few laser arrows to one Creeper, then jumped, hit another (disintegrating it), and _waved_ to the last one on the right side. “Hi there, Creepers. Still as ugly as ever, huh?”

The last Creeper fired at Odd, but he dodged, and it followed. He got up on his feet and hit the snake-like creature in the mouth.

Yumi was doing some high-flying acrobatics to get to the key mechanism.

 _“Only one more minute to go!”_ Jeremie warned.

The Creepers were now shooting at Cassidy. She grabbed her tube (dodging shots doing so), turned it into a Bloody Rose gun, and fired away.

It did nothing so she tagged Odd. He shot his arrows from his arms, but the Creepers dodged that too.

Odd then tagged Ulrich and with a cry of “Super Sprint”, he got rid of the Creepers.

He looked up and said tenderly, “Go for it, Yumi!”

Cassidy smiled. She wasn’t in the least disappointed.

Yumi was still going from bar to bar, trying to get to the key mechanism.

Odd, Cassidy, and Ulrich were working their magic, trying to get the Creepers defeated. And Aelita went to go hide somewhere, though there were little spots to hide from in Sector 5.

Odd was then in the crosshairs of two Creepers. He did a handstand, split his legs apart so he was a Y formation, and the lasers hit the two just right.

Yumi was now tight-roping across to the key mechanism. _“Yumi, only eighteen seconds left! Hurry!”_

“I’m almost there,” She said, keeping her balance in check.

A Creeper was there and it was mad. She dodged the lasers with ease and went back over when Jeremie started counting down seconds from ten. She used her foot to press the key mechanism and, in a type of scissor-hold, overthrew the Creeper.

They heard Jeremie breathe a sigh of relief. Ulrich complimented, “Nice job.”

Aelita came back from her hiding place.

Just then the floor began to move and a hole was now formed. There were stairs too.

Cassidy smiled. “Let’s get going.” Then, to herself again, she said, “I hope everything will be fine.”

“Do you wanna see how low you can go guys, huh?” Odd asked.

 _“I thought that you and Cassidy were going to lead the way. Go on,”_ Jeremie encouraged.

Yumi rejoined the Lyoko Warriors as they began their descent. Odd and Cassidy lead the way.

Later on, Ulrich took the lead and everyone else followed to find a shining object at the other end of the room. “Jeremie, there’s something shining over there!”

 _“That’s it!”_ Jeremie rejoiced. _“That’s Aelita’s missing fragment.”_

Cassidy’s eyes went to a copper-like color. “Something’s not right here. I think it’s a trap,” she murmured, again to herself.

“Cassidy, will you quit worrying?” Ulrich smiled to her. “We’ll get done in no time.”

But her eye color never changed back to original form. A vision was afoot, but no one was listening. Aelita took the lead, and everyone followed.

They rushed to the center and then…more creepers.

“Look out!” cried Yumi. She then got hit.

“Let’s not take this to the scanners,” Cassidy told the team, eyes still copper colored. “We can do this!”

Ulrich and Cassidy ran with Aelita to the fragment.

Yumi and Odd took out two creepers on their own (one to each Warrior). Cassidy took out a third, but then started to go with Aelita. “I’m going to protect you every chance I get, Aelita. And if XANA wants me out of the way, then I’m not going out without a fight.”

Aelita nodded and noticed her eye color. “A vision?”

“You bet,” Cassidy nodded, eyes turning a light chestnut color.

“Let’s hope they don’t turn white,” the pink-haired girl worried.

Cassidy nodded. “If they do, try to Gibbs slap me.”

Odd and Yumi were having a heck of a time trying to get rid of the newest Creepers. The boy took out his while Yumi and Ulrich tried to get rid of theirs.

But the more Creepers they defeated, the more there were.

Odd took out one Creeper, blew on his finger like it was a gun smoking, and “put it in his holster”.

Yumi saluted him with two fingers.

Aelita and Cassidy got to the end of it and saw something that was challenging. The floor was missing some part of it. She turned to the psychic. “Cassidy?”

“I have a plan,” she smirked. “This is almost like Van Helsing. Only…we haven’t overstayed our welcome!” She turned her gun into a grappling hook gun, shot at the highest step that could lead them to the fragment, hooked her tail around the string, grabbed Aelita, and slid across to the other end.

Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich were trying their best with the Creepers. Then more of them came. Yumi then said, “We better not hang around here!”

They rushed to the edge, but Odd got shot in the shoulder. He urged Yumi and Ulrich on. “Go on!” he decided to stay behind to fight. **(A/N: What a brave warrior, Odd is)**

Odd tried to rush into them head on but got devirtualized.

Ulrich and Yumi used the zip-line, but the latter got hit by a Creeper and went back to the scanners.

Ulrich made it safely across though. “Jeremie, Yumi and Odd are down!” he blocked some shots with his saber.

“But I’m not,” Cassidy retrieved the zip-line. “Thank goodness I watched Van Helsing. The protagonist of the same name used a zip-line that helped him and Anna Valerious escape from Castle Frankenstein.”

“Not bad,” Ulrich blocked another few shots.

 _“I know. Get Aelita’s fragment!”_ Jeremie told the three Lyoko Warriors remaining.

“We better not waste time,” Cassidy told Ulrich and Aelita cryptically as she sprinted to the stairs.

Sector 5 then started to fall apart. _“The whole room’s starting to fall apart. Take Cassidy’s advice and MOVE IT!”_ Jeremie yelled.

Aelita and Ulrich ran too, but Aelita was falling behind. She tried to keep up as Ulrich pulled her to the front, the block that they were running on fell.

Cassidy meanwhile made it to the fragment. She didn’t touch it. _That’s Aelita’s job,_ she told herself, eyes growing a little whiter.

Two Mantas broke Ulrich and Aelita’s fall. “Jeremie, it’s getting worse!”

“Franz Hopper is controlling them, Ulrich. It’s getting better,” Cassidy’s eyes were now only a tint of brown.

“And Cassidy’s visions are coming,” Aelita told him.

 _“Wait until you get near her, Aelita, and do what I taught you,”_ Jeremie told her.

“I’ll try, but if it doesn’t work, all heck’s going to break loose,” Aelita looked up at the ceiling.

“And we all know it,” Ulrich told her with a nod of his head.

Ulrich’s Manta got him to a safe spot.

Aelita’s Manta got her to where Cassidy was.

 _“This is amazing,”_ Jeremie said out loud.

She tried backhanding her, but it proved useless.

“Try Gibbs slapping her,” Ulrich yelled from where he was. “It worked with the séance that Cassidy and I had with Sissi, Hervé, and Nicolas.”

She tried that as well, but Cassidy’s eyes remained the same.

“It’s useless. Cassidy’s visions are coming,” Aelita sounded desperate. “And we can’t stop them.”

 _“Get to the fragment, then. We’ll try to do something to get her visions off,”_ Jeremie told her.

“Okay,” Aelita told him.

She walked up to the orb of light. Inside a little miniature figure of herself was set in. She touched it with both her hands and held it for about eight seconds before it shattered.

That set everybody’s worries.

Every block in the ceiling started to fall.

 _“It’s a trap,”_ Jeremie croaked.

Ulrich tried to get away but got devirtualized.

Aelita tried to escape, but a block fell on her Manta and she and Cassidy were stranded.

“Gee, just when it couldn’t get worse,” Cassidy’s eyes were going to copper again.

“Well at least you are here to defend me,” Aelita smiled a little.

The psychic nodded. “It has always been my sworn duty to protect you, Aelita. From the day we met, I knew that I had to protect you, like Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie. We are your defenders, and we would never _ever_ give up on you,” Cassidy accentuated her “ever” with a good stomp of her foot. “And Aelita, that’s what I will never do, is give up on you.”

Aelita was proud to say the least.

Jeremie and the others were too.

Then…something happened.

A whole myriad of Creepers came out of nowhere. Cassidy smirked. “This is where I keep my promise. Aelita, stay beside me. Things are going to get hairy.”

Aelita kept near her as she fired round after round of bullets at the monsters. XANA then sent an army of Mantas.

She kept on firing, slicing and dicing, and anything else in between. But what she didn’t see was an array of tentacles surrounding her. A force pulled Cassidy away.   
“NO!” she screamed.

Aelita was now all alone now. “Help me!”

She looked to see the jellyfish monster. “You just don’t give up, XANA!” she screeched, fighting its grasp. “Aelita!” she tried to get out of there, but couldn’t.

It rose to the previous room and floated all the way to the Celestial Dome. It had put her down there. “I can find my way back, XANA!”

And as it retreated away, the door to the Celestial Dome shut. She rushed up to it and clawed at it. “Darn you, XANA! I’m not finished with you yet. Why don’t you come back and we’ll settle this like Woman and Virus!” she yelled. “C’mon-c’mon-c’mon c’mon, c’mon!”

She was so angry that she tried to get back, but she couldn’t. She then went rigid and her eyes went white.

**-Back to where Aelita is-**

_“Aelita, behind you!”_ Jeremie was full of shock.

Aelita looked behind her to find the Schyphozoa had returned.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie looked to the screen in shock. “I don’t believe it! Cassidy’s been separated from Aelita, and now our psychic friend is having a vision, and we can’t stop it.”

The screen showed Aelita’s memory being drained.

Ulrich came in. “There wasn’t anything I could do.” He sounded like he was ready to faint in five seconds or less.

**-Back to Aelita-**

The Schyphozoa stole her entire memory.

**-To Cassidy-**

She was shocked. “NO!” she yelled in time with Jeremie’s no.

“AELITA!” she tried to fight, but the vision put her under again. “NO!”

**-Back to the lab-**

Everyone was rigid with shock.

**-To…Aelita (A/N: I’m shocked, and my OC is too)-**

The last drop of memory faded, the Schyphozoa let go of Aelita. She fell to the ground, _ _ _ _. **(A/N: keep the word in your head. Don’t guess in a review)**

**-Back to Cassidy-**

The visions let up; Cassidy hit her knees on the platform, shocked. “I—lost.”

She heard Jeremie. _“Aelita’s—_ _ _ _!”_

“I should’ve paid attention,” she murmured.

Sector 5 darkened to an ominous black and the data screens disappeared.

Cassidy crossed her legs and grabbed her tail. _I should’ve stopped it._

**-To the sectors-**

It darkened all around and the towers all turned red.

**-To the shocked gang on Earth-**

“What’s… what's going on?” Yumi asked.

Jeremie had his head in his hands. “X-XANA…g-got what he wanted! He's has the Keys to Lyoko. He'll be able to get out of the super computer!”

**-Outside the factory-**

XANA’s ghost was darkening the whole sky.

**-Back with Aelita-**

A white orb of energy surrounded her. Inside…

**-Memories-**

There were mountains, and a house below. A little girl was rolling a snowball. “Did you see, Mommy?”

“Don’t go too far, sweetheart,” the girl’s mom told her. It was Aelita making her first snowman.

The next memory was different. “Oh, he’s so cute! What should I call him?” Aelita asked her mom and dad. She was in a beautiful red Christmas dress.

“What about Mister Pück? It means goblin,” Franz told her.

“Do you like him?” Antea (who also had pink hair) asked.

She hugged her mother. “Thank you, Mommy.”

Another memory showed her and her father at a piano. “It’s like Math!” Franz told her. “Let me show you!” He then started playing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.

Her mom was reading a book in an armchair. The first moment she was there…and the next she wasn’t.

Cut to black. “Mommy?”

The next memory was very important, like all the others. Aelita was bringing her bike up to the Hermitage. Then she went inside. “Daddy?” Franz stopped playing to look at her. “I’m going up to my room.”

Later, Aelita was reading a book near the fireplace in her room. Then, that’s where things went dead wrong. “Oi, Come outta there!” came a chilling rough voice. She dropped her book and ran to the window. That’s where she saw them. The Men in Black. “Daddy!” she cried in panic.

Franz walked in. Aelita continued, “The Men in Black are here.”

“I know. Do you remember where Mister Pück is?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Come quickly,” Franz told her.

They got off the stairs and saw the Men in Black inside their home. Aelita panicked, but Franz took his daughter’s hand and said, “This way.” They ran down to the basement and rushed to the outside. Franz closed the doors and put a wood plank on the door. Then took Aelita to the shortcut. They ran to the factory and down to the Lab.

“But where are we?” she looked around curiously.

“In my Laboratory. Come on,” Franz told her.

“Where?”

“To a world where we would be safe! You and I…forever,” He took her to the scanners. “See you in a minute, honey.”

“See you in a minute, Daddy!” Aelita said.

The scanner doors closed.

**-Back to the present-**

Aelita’s eyes opened and she gasped.

**-With Cassidy-**

She was still prostrate with grief.

**-To Jeremie and the others-**

Jeremie looked up and started typing.

Ulrich was shocked. “What’s going on, Jeremie?”

“It’s Franz Hopper!”

**-TO LYOKO-**

_“He’s bringing Lyoko back to life!”_

Everything brightened up and the towers went neutral again.

**-To Cassidy-**

She was petting her tail for the umpteenth time when she saw Sector 5 come back to life. She stood up and saw everything. She then stopped her grief, jumped up with a happy whoop and shouted, “FRANZ HOPPER, YOU ARE THE MAN! YOU HAVE SAVED AELITA! I BLESS YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!”

The door to the Celestial Dome opened up and Cassidy was able to get to Aelita.

She was still looking around her when Cassidy said, “I hate to have you see this, but, I’ve got to get to Earth.”

She raised her pistol and shot her jaw, devirtualizing instantly. She came back to the scanners and stood where Aelita would be coming out.

 _“To the scanner room, QUICK!”_ Jeremie ordered his friends.

They then stood around the scanner Cassidy was standing. Aelita came out and Jeremie and the psychic caught her. “Aelita!”

“Jeremie, Cassidy!” she gasped.

They hugged her gently.

**-To Jeremie’s room-**

Aelita was petting Kiwi as Cassidy was trying to knit Ulrich’s scarf. The psychic was having a hard time concentrating on the stitches.

“Right, would someone please say something funny before I have a heart attack?” Odd was still in shock, as was everyone else.

“Aelita’s dad sacrificed his life for her, but I think he’s still alive somewhere.” Cassidy stopped knitting, put her head in between her legs, and let the tears run out. “And also, Odd: Fifth graders in Texas are using worms to recycle garbage from school lunches. But even the worms won't eat the Salisbury steak.”

That shut Odd up.

“All those memories of your life on Earth, that was the fragment that XANA took from you,” Jeremie said. “To bind you to him.”

“And your father gave them back,” Cassidy continued, head still in between her legs.

“Now you’re free, Aelita, but unfortunately, so is XANA,” Ulrich was leaning on Jeremie’s table.

“Shutting the supercomputer down is not going to kill XANA anymore. What are we going to do?” Yumi asked.

“Same as always, we’ll fight,” Jeremie said. “XANA may have become more powerful, but I don’t think he’s invincible. If he attacks, we'll counterattack! We'll find a way to get rid of XANA for good!”

“That’s right, Jeremie. I’m so glad that you are our leader,” Cassidy lifted her head up, eyes still glistening with tears.

“And we’ll do everything we can to find your dad, Aelita,” Yumi told her friend.

The pink-haired girl pushed Kiwi off her lap. “You’re right. The fight has to go on. After all, fighting XANA is my job.”

Everyone held hands and the psychic chimed in. “Remember what I said to you about the first day that we met? I said that it’s _our_ job. It’s not just yours. It’s _our_ job!”

Aelita looked up and held Odd’s offered hand and Yumi’s hand.

They were all Lyoko Warriors, they vowed. And they would not give up until XANA was gone.


	31. We've Gone Straight to Heart with this One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 3 has started.

**We’ll go Straight to Heart with this one. Code Lyoko isn’t mine. Cassidy is. The third season’s here.**

Jeremie was working on finding XANA, Yumi and Aelita were playing Go, and Cassidy was watching the elevator. “Odd and Ulrich are now in the main entrance,” she told the three with her. Her summer was half-good, half-bad. As a promise, William was the one responsible for the tickets. But he tore them up in a thoughtless, cruel rage, tearing up the only chance of her getting home again. Yumi and the others were not pleased when they (and Cassidy) found out.

“Great,” Aelita smiled, on her fifth stone. She had passed on two turns (not consecutively), but she was still doing fine. She had missed wise-cracking duo Odd and Ulrich. They had gone to camp for the summer after learning the fate of their air tickets. They had been gone for two months. **(A/N: I’m just going with the info I have and it says French summer vacations go for two months, not two _weeks_ )**

No one had made any captures yet. Cassidy was still looking at the elevator. “Elevator now; I predict their arrival in diez, nueve, ocho, siete, cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno!” she counted in Spanish.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Odd and Ulrich. The two did not expect to get a huge hug from the psychic. The two also did not expect to hear their names being squealed by said psychic. “I missed you!” Cassidy almost squeezed them when Aelita stood up and pried the three apart.

Once freed, Odd dramatically fell to his hands and knees and theatrically started gasping for breath.

Ulrich looked to his compadre and scoffed. “Dork!”

The ninja warrior stood up. “Says the boy who had to embarrass himself because he lost a bet.”

The samurai blushed. “Cassidy rigged that bet!”

“I believe that stubbornness rigged it,” Cassidy slyly tried to evade.

“I—no! It was you!” Ulrich insisted.

“You started the bet Ulrich,” Jeremie refused to stopped typing.

“Welcome back, Campers,” Aelita said at last.

“Two months without us. Not too long?” Ulrich bent over the Go game.

“Did you miss me a little, ladies?” Odd asked as if the girls were overexcited dogs.

“Yeah, why did you think I nearly squeezed you to the bone?” Cassidy smiled. “Without you or Ulrich, it kinda gets lonely. Even Kiwi missed you, Odd. It took me fifteen embarrassing minutes of singing ‘Rock-a-bye Clifford’ to get him to sleep. I was almost about to sing ‘Rock-a-bye Rufus’ next.”

“Poor little diggity dog!” Odd sniffled a bit.

“Forget it with me. You could’ve stayed away three months,” Yumi smiled. “XANA attacks—zero!”

“Very quiet summer,” Cassidy sighed happily.

“Kinda, ever since XANA had found a way to leave the supercomputer, and then managed to access the World Wide Web, we haven’t heard anything,” Jeremie sounded half-relieved, half-worried.

“No news is good news, right?” Ulrich sounded confident.

“Well, kinda, Ulrich,” Cassidy said. “Keep listening to Jeremie for a few more minutes.” Her chocolate brown eyes stayed the same.

“Hey, your eye color isn’t changing shades,” Odd was amazed.

“Yet. I think relaxing did the trick for the past two months,” Cassidy nodded.

“I trust XANA as much as I can throw him!” The psychic girl snickered at that statement. “Shut it! Which is why I just reprogrammed the super-scan.”

“So that way if he’s attacking anywhere else in the world it’ll automatically inform Jeremie, and my visions—obviously will tell me—and will take in Monster counts like they always do. It might help us on how he’s planning to use the internet,” Cassidy said. “No nightmares over the summer for me.”

“That’s good,” Ulrich stated. “Not even on that sporadic, recurring one?”

“No, it’s strange,” she frowned a bit.

“But first let’s get a handle on what his scheme is,” Jeremie told the gang.

“Something about a center, but my vision isn’t clear on it yet. They are rebooting,” Cassidy informed her friends.

“Being away with no visions can do that to you,” Ulrich soothed.

“Here we go,” Jeremie pressed a key and a map of the world came up, scanning every known continent so far, starting with Africa. “Yeah!” he pumped a fist.

Odd came in. “Well, let me remind you…”

“Class schedule pick-up is today?” Cassidy guessed, her powers slowly coming back to their owner.

“Yep,” Odd nodded. “Your powers are returning to norm.”

“I know, Odd.”

“Let’s move,” Odd and the others went out, but Yumi stopped Ulrich.

“Ulrich, wait a second,” Yumi gathered the pieces on the Go board and picked it up. “You know, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the summer, and I have something important to tell you.”

Cassidy watched with an approving nod. _No “Just friends” talk. I’m sure of it._

“Tell me. I’m listening,” Ulrich grew a bit concerned for his friend.

Odd just had to interrupt. “Hey, come on!”

“Be right there!” Yumi told Odd. She turned to him. “I’ll tell you later, ’kay?”

**-Administrative Arches-**

“Something important to tell you? Like what?” Odd asked Ulrich.

“I have no idea?” Ulrich said.

“You think maybe she wants you to ask her to marry her?” Odd cracked.

“Yeah, right! I was going to ask you to be my maid of honor, Odd,” Ulrich joked.

Cassidy laughed.

Odd then became nervous. “Um…So I was thinking…”

“You aren’t going to be put in other classes, Odd,” Cassidy said. “I’ve helped you with your quizzes and exams, remember? So you might be put in our class again.”

Sissi came walking. “No class on Saturday morning meaning that on Friday night…”

“We can go to the movies?” Hervé came running up to her.

“Forget it. It means _I_ can go to the movies,” Sissi told him. Her demeanor changed when she got to Ulrich. “And as for you, Ulrich, we are in the same class again,” she was still angry at him for what he did after he had lost a bet. “It’s a shame your psychic friend won’t be!”

She kissed Odd on the nose with a hint of fury for no reason and left. He cringed.

Cassidy was shocked. “If I’m not in the same class as you guys, then where am I?”

Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi came out just then. Odd was still shocked. “Did you just see that?”

Yumi was showing a shocked look. The oddball boy noticed. “Why so shocked.”

She put her schedule and Cassidy’s near the three. The psychic gasped. “You and I are in the same class together? But I’m so much younger than you. Months younger. And the thought of being in the same class as my ex-boyfriend makes matters even worse. He’d probably beat me with a stick in every class.”

The girl needed someone to hug and Odd noticed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and said, “You’ll be fine.”

“But I’m seven months younger than you, Yumi,” Cassidy panicked. “There must’ve been a mix-up. A mistake. I’ll have to talk to the principal on this.”

She struggled out of Odd’s grip and rushed to Mrs. Weber’s office like Ulrich’s Super Sprint.

Every member of the group stood shocked.

“Wow,” Jeremie said. “While she talks to the principal, we’ll go for lunch.”

Everyone was about to go when Ulrich stopped Yumi. “Hang on! What was it you wanted to tell me?”

“I wanted to say that—” Yumi was stopped by William.

“Hey, Yumi. It’s really great to see you again, but it’s not great to see Cassidy again. Did you have a good vacation?” He asked.

“Buzz off, William. I know what you did to my friend! You jerk!” Yumi told him scathing. “And yes, I had a great vacation!”

William left in a huff.

“What a jerk!” Yumi scowled. “I’ll tell you when my temper is cooled, Ulrich. I promise.”

**-Mrs. Weber’s Office-**

“But you have to let me in. There was a mix-up with the school schedules,” Cassidy was still panicked.

“I’m sorry, Cassidy. Mr. Delmas is not seeing any students this morning,” Mrs. Weber told her.

“I’m not coming as a student, but…” she thought her options through and decided on what Odd would say if he were in her place, “…as a friend.”

That confused the administrator. “A…friend?”

“As a friend of…Sissi’s.” Her blood boiled in anger when she mentioned the name. She hated Sissi with all her heart. She once tried to trick Cassidy into the same fate as herself when the psychic was a new student. It failed though. “Something is going very serious and I’ve gotta speak with the principal now! Man to teenage girl.”

Mrs. Weber cocked her brows up. The two shared a look before the older woman said, “I’ll see what I can do.” She picked up the phone. “Sorry sir, Cassidy McGuire insists on seeing you!”

Cassidy was calm and cool when she said that.

**-Lunchroom-**

“Jim wants to start up a basketball team this year. Seems he played pro-ball…” Ulrich said.

“But he’d rather not talk about it,” Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie chimed together, and they all laughed.

Ulrich turned to Yumi and asked in a low voice, “Well, what did you want to tell me?”

Hiroki came up with a brown-haired boy. “Hello,” he said.

“Ugh, Hiroki, what do you want,” Yumi asked as a sort of complaint to her brother.

“Just wanting to say Hello. Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Hiroki asked hopefully.

“No!” Yumi yelled.

“Cool it, sis. I was just going to introduce my new pal, Johnny,” Hiroki sounded pleased.

“Listen, Hiroki. Just because you are in Junior High now, doesn’t mean you can follow me around, okay, bro?” She was burning with annoyance.

Her young brother leaned in a little bit. “Be nice, or I’ll rat on you when you come home late!”

Yumi growled a little as Johnny and Hiroki stalked off, happy as clams. “What a dork!”

Johnny said to Hiroki, “Your sister’s really gorgeous.”

“You’re outta your mind,” Hiroki disagreed.

**-Principal’s office-**

Mr. Delmas put down a photo of Sissi and said to Cassidy. “So, it seems my Elizabeth has a problem.”

“When she found that we weren’t in the same classes this year,” she thought options through again and thought back to a few minutes ago. She was angry at Ulrich and kissed Odd for some unknown reason. So she mixed it up quickly so she could spit the words out and not look like a dork. “She was really angry.”

“I see,” he said. “I suppose I’ll have to try reasoning with her. There’s not much else I can do about it.”

“I’m sorry to prove you wrong, sir,” Cassidy was keeping to the perfect lane of traffic. She just needed to get over a hill. “But all you have to do is put us in the same class and she won’t get so…irate. The problem will be over in no time.”

The principal shook his head. “Impossible. It’s far too complicated to change the composition of classes. And in addition, you’re far too intelligent to keep in ninth grade classes and you are a year older than your younger friends. I’m sorry, McGuire.”

 _Darn it. I thought that Jim had something to do with it,_ she thought.

“But I’m seven months younger than Yumi,” she said. “Shouldn’t that at least account for my age?”

“I’ll tell you what, McGuire. I’ll give you a year of guest passes that will help compensate for this. Anytime you want to use a guest pass, pick the correct date and give it to me or Mrs. Weber so either she or I can tell the teachers. I am sure that’ll help you.” Cassidy perked up at that.

“It might help the situation,” she nodded.

**-Lunchroom-**

Jeremie had the new super-scan up and running on the cafeteria table. He tapped his finger on the table with impatience. All of Europe was clean so it went for the next continent, North America. It showed XANA activity at last.

“FANTASTIC!” Jeremie shouted. “The super-scan has just located XANA.”

Aelita was digging through her yogurt cup while Ulrich and Yumi sat by. Odd left to go to his room. Jeremie walked by them. “I’m off to the factory. I wanna find out more!”

“Wait up! I’ll go with you,” Aelita set her cup and spoon down.

Yumi and Ulrich were now alone. “Okay, what I really wanted to say was that, during all last year, you see—I…”

“ULRICH!” Sissi was still angry.

Ulrich was now getting agitated. He couldn’t get Yumi to spit the words out with all these interruptions. So he grabbed her hand and rushed out of the cafeteria.

“I’m not finished with you and you’re leaving? **!** ”

“Yes!” he bumped into her so harshly that she dropped her tray.

**-With Cassidy-**

She was in her room, kind of happy that she had the guest passes, but kind of sad that she was going to be in classes that had William. She was confused. _Oh, what to do? What to do?_

She remembered the break-up so well that her heart had buried itself in the soils of grief.

Kiwi yipped and she looked at the grey dog. She smiled a little. “At least you don’t have a class with a person you used to go out with.” She rubbed his belly, just the way he liked it.

 _You know, I like you, C-Cassidy. You are so kind, like my master,_ he thought to her.

That shocked her. “How can I read a-animal minds?”

_I don’t know._

**-Ulrich and Yumi-**

“Okay, no one will bother us here,” Ulrich leaned on a bench while Yumi stood about three feet away. “Go on. I’m listening.”

“Right, I think we’ve both ran around in circles about our emotions,” Yumi began.

“We have?” He asked.

“One day we blush, the next day we do it again. One minute, you lose a bet, the next minute, I feel the bargain, and that’s why I think we should take it to the next level,” she didn’t sound happy, but inside she was.

“You mean…?” Ulrich cocked a brow and blushed.

“Girlfriend-boyfriend,” Yumi confirmed.

**-Lab-**

Jeremie was working on finding XANA’s attack when he saw something. “Uh-oh!” He kept on typing.

“What’s wrong, Jeremie?” Aelita asked him.

“We’ve got company,” he typed on some more. “XANA has sent a ton of Monsters to Sector 5.”

“He’s probably mad that we’ve found him,” she smiled.

“Well, that could be it. But what is he planning to do with all of his troops?” he wondered.

“I’ll head for the scanner room.” She walked to the elevator.

“Okay, I’ll warn the others,” Jeremie laid his head back for a bit then went to call Ulrich.

**-Ulrich and Yumi-**

Ulrich smiled. “That’s the thing I’ve been wanting to tell you.”

“Is that so?” she smiled too.

His phone rang. “Yeah. I always wanted to say that, but every time I tried, we got caught up in Lyoko.” Then he picked it up. “Jeremie, okay fantastic, that’s great! Ah, no, we’re on our way!”

**-Cassidy-**

She was having a conversation with Kiwi now. _So…how did you and Odd meet?_

“I foresaw him coming, then I met him face to face in science class,” Cassidy cocked her head sideways a bit. “Same for you.”

Her phone rang and she picked it up. “XANA? I thought so!”

She hung up and said, “Sorry, Kiwi. I’ll ‘talk’ to you later!” She ran out of the room, closed the door, and bumped into Jim. “Oh, hi, Jim. Did you have a good vacation?”

“Yes indeed, McGuire. Spent two months with my nephew. He was really happy to see me.” The gym teacher smiled.

Cassidy closed her eyes and pictured Jim and his nephew together. Then she opened them and said, “I bet the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Like that I’d rather not talk about it line you use.”

“Yep, he gathered that from dear ole Uncle Jim,” he kept a confident air when he was near her and she didn’t know why.

“Okay, listen, Jim. As much as I love to talk to you about your vacation, I have to meet up with my friends. Especially Odd and Ulrich. We missed them a lot,” Cassidy smiled and charged off.

**-Later on-**

Yumi and Ulrich were arm-in-arm in the elevator, smiling. Cassidy was having the “We need to talk” look.

“Is there a problem, Cassidy?” Jeremie asked.

“Remember when I first started to read human minds, Jeremie?” she asked.

“Yeah, why?” he wondered.

“I now can read animal minds. The thoughts read from their language to English. I don’t understand it yet,” she shook her head.

He then turned his attention to Ulrich and Yumi. “And you two?”

“Nope, we’re feeling like flying across the starlit night sky,” he smiled.

Cassidy looked to her friends with a smile. “I believe a celebration after Lyoko is in order.” She imitated a British accent again. “We’ll defend that whatever-it-is.”

“Your powers are having a slow return,” Ulrich smiled at her.

“I liked it when they were dormant, but now, they’re getting active,” she was determined.

“Head for the scanners. Aelita’s there already,” Jeremie told them.

**-With Odd-**

Odd ran to the sewer cap, opened it, and lowered himself in.

**-Soon, at the Factory-**

The elevator doors opened up to reveal Odd. Jeremie looked from the computer to him. “About time. Everyone else is waiting for you.”

Odd headed down to the scanners and soon he was on Lyoko with his friends.

Ulrich and Cassidy were having a funny conversation. “Are you sure that I have to do that?”

“It’s our bet, and there are no change-wager backs,” She crossed her arms across her chest symbol with pride.

He growled. “I swear Odd rubs off on you more every day.”

“It’s like I told Jeremie, Welcome to Lyoko, Ulrich, where even the comedic of warriors rub off on you,” She smiled.

They hopped on their vehicles and they were off. Ulrich looked to Cassidy from his OverBike. “What did the principal say?”

She sighed. “I’m too inteligente for ninth grade classes and I’m mayor than my menor classmates. Man, I wish I was Jeremie’s edad.”

“Any good news?” Ulrich asked her.

“Two words: Guest Passes.”

“I guess that’ll help a bit,” he turned his attention to the ice ahead.

Soon they reached the end of the sector.

“Okay, we’re at the edge of the sector,” Odd told Jeremie.

 _“Great, get into position and I’ll enter the code SCIPIO!”_ Jeremie told the others.

Soon the Transporter came and swept the crew away to Sector 5.

Cassidy spark-flashed in the arena. “It’s the heart of Lyoko, guys.”

“And the powers come back like a steady stream again,” Ulrich muttered.

“It’s a power I wield both proudly, and sadly,” she smiled.

The wall opened up. Ulrich flicked his sword out a hair. “So, where are all these monsters?”

“In the core of Lyoko, it’s really vital. Two shield layers protect it, after they’re gone, the core will be completely exposed. Then if it takes one more hit, adios Lyoko,” Cassidy smiled.

“Wow, and you’re here in Sector 5 telling us this now?” Ulrich growled a bit.

“My powers were dormant for two months,” she argued. “It won’t be long for my eyes to go white again if my powers get control of me.”

 _“Hurry up!”_ Jeremie told the others calmly.

They ran into the Core Zone and the room inside looked a little straight-forward. _“Don’t forget to deactivate the countdown.”_

“Don’t worry, Jeremie. Aelita will get it this time,” Cassidy smiled.

“Aelita?” Ulrich almost yelped. “Are you sure.”

“She’s grown more confident over the summer. You’ll see for yourself,” Cassidy nodded.

They stopped at a ledge. Odd spotted the key. “Key in sight!”

“Ready, Aelita?” Cassidy smiled and winked at the pink-haired elf female.

She nodded.

Odd tried but ended up falling some. He caught himself before the fall toward the digital floor.

He climbed back up and he said, “And I thought that I had my A-Game going.”

Everyone jumped onto the first platform with ease. Cassidy smiled. “’Should’ve let Aelita go first.”

Aelita turned to the ninja warrior. “I’ll go and get it!” She leapt from block to block. Everyone, minus Cassidy, stood amazed at what Aelita was doing. The female cat warrior was smiling at her with pride. _There she goes._

As Jeremie relayed the countdown from the lab, Aelita jumped on the last two platforms, somersaulted once, jumped up high, and stopped the countdown on the last second.

“Zero,” Aelita finished.

 _“Nice one, Aelita,”_ Jeremie told her.

“Congratulations, Aelita,” Cassidy cheered from her side.

The other three stood shocked and amazed. Then the platforms started to move.

“I think you better get here ASAP,” Aelita told the four on the other side.

Everyone ran, hopped, skipped, jumped, and Super Sprinted from moving platform to moving platform.

Soon three out of four Lyoko warriors were on the other side. Odd was trying his best to get there.

He nearly fell again, before Ulrich said, “Your hand.”

Odd climbed up as best as he could with no claws but saw a platform about to get him. He climbed faster and managed to get to Ulrich’s hand before getting devirtualized.

“Looks like you’ve got your Z game going here,” Ulrich joked.

“Lay off, will you?” Odd looked away, offended. Then he came back. “Did you talk to her?”

Ulrich didn’t know whether to tell him right there on Lyoko or not. So he said, “Lay off, will you?”

Soon they were lowered to the door. The ladies got off first and the boys followed behind them.

“Jeremie,” Yumi told him, “We’re at the elevator.”

 _“That’s good. There are more and more monsters in that room,”_ Jeremie told the others.

“We’ll get there, but it will take some time.” Cassidy promised.

 _“I’ve got a bad feeling about this._ ” Jeremie told the others.

“But soon, something cool will happen. Something really cool and I believe Ulrich will lose the bet we held,” Cassidy smiled.

“No way, you are going to lose the bet hard,” Ulrich bantered back.

She turned her nose up at him. And when she lowered her head, her eyes were a little lighter in color tone.

Ulrich gulped.

They all jumped at the right moment and got to the Celestial Dome. “We’re here, Jeremie,” Ulrich said. “Where do we go now to crack some monsters’ heads?”

 _“Head for the south pole of the Dome,”_ Jeremie told them. _“That’s where you can get into the chamber.”_

“Jeremie, program our vehicles,” Cassidy looked up to the blue, core-like covering of the Celestial dome.

 _“Coming up!”_ Jeremie said to the cat psychic.

“Hey, maybe that’s where XANA is having his annual Monster’s Ball,” Odd joked. “Because up till now, we haven’t seen them.”

“Nope. Remember what I said,” Cassidy shook her head.

“Right, but look over there,” Ulrich paid his attention and found two Mantas on the prowl…if they had legs, feet, paws and claws that is.

“Yippee-I-ay, we’ve got monsters,” she smiled.

They started to shoot. Yumi defended Aelita. Cassidy shot her gun but thought inside, _Aelita’s going to rock our worlds. Both Lyoko and Earth._ Her eyes whitened.

Odd looked to Cassidy. “Uh-oh. Cassidy’s powers are now all returned and not a hint overdue.”

“Try to slap her,” Ulrich shielded another two or three lasers. “It’s what Jeremie did the first time.”

Odd nodded and backhanded the psychic. She returned. “What happened?”

“Your powers…”

“Okay, I get the picture,” Cassidy put a hand up.

Ulrich threw his sword at one of them and three laser arrows followed it. The barrage destroyed one Manta.

Odd laughed in total victory. “How about that, huh? Bulls-Eye! There’s the A-Game.” He flipped in excitement.

Ulrich’s sword flipped back to its owner, missing the ninja by mere inches. “Get real, man. That was me who got them.”

Cassidy laughed. _Boys._

“Huh, it was?” The ninja turned to the samurai.

 _“This is no time to compete with each other. Move out,”_ Jeremie told them.

The three air based vehicles came in a virtual snap.

Cassidy went with Odd, this time, determined and not as nervous. “By the way, Odd, Ulrich’s sword connected first,” she whispered in his ear.

“Okay, it’s Ulrich’s then,” Odd nodded.

Aelita went with Yumi, and Ulrich went alone.

The lone Manta was shooting at Odd and Cassidy, and the driver tried to dodge. It also tried to fire at the other Lyoko Warriors.

Soon they were near the entrance to the Core of Lyoko. But there was another Manta firing.

Yumi told Aelita to hold on as she grabbed her fan and blocked several of the shots from the Manta. The third and second Manta reunited and tried to shoot at the boys and the only girl left.

Yumi and Aelita made it to the south pole of the Dome. They looked up. _“You’re there. Can you see the access?”_ Jeremie asked.

“It’s pretty hard to miss, huh?” Yumi asked.

_“Great, go on in!”_

Yumi and Aelita helped themselves in.

_“Hey, what are you guys and Cassidy doing? Yumi and Aelita are already in the passage!”_

“Yeah, we know that. If Odd didn’t have his X-Y-Z-Game going, we’d be there by now!” Ulrich deflected some shots from the Manta pursuing him.

Odd was shooting his arrows. “If this monster would just stop flying for a few seconds.” Then his arm cocked an empty. “Oh.”

 _“Okay, I get the picture. I’ll give you some more laser arrows,”_ Jeremie said.

Cassidy held onto Odd so she wouldn’t lose her balance. Odd tilted his board so the two were next to the Manta and jumped on.

Cassidy wobbly tried to keep her balance on the board. That was one cat-like feature she didn’t get—Balance on an OverBoard.

“Alright, Ugly, now we’re gonna see what you’re made of,” Odd told the manta he was riding. He whooped for joy.

Cassidy then gained the balance she needed. “It’s a little hard doing this on my own.”

“You get used to it,” Odd shouted to her.

He scratched the rubbery texture and the Manta rushed forward, leaving Cassidy, Ulrich, and the other Manta in the virtual dust. Ulrich scoffed at the ninja. “Nutcase.”

Cassidy tried to match up with Ulrich’s OverBike. “Yeah, well, he’s loyal to us. A good addition. Don’t you forget it.”

 _“You’ve got a full supply,”_ Jeremie told Odd.

Odd smiled. “Cool.” He was way ahead of the pack. Scratching his fingernails in, the Manta shot upward to the Room. The ninja was now losing balance. “Ulrich!” he called desperately.

The samurai heard his pleas and revved up his vehicle, leaving Cassidy behind to take care of the last Manta.

Odd lost his balance and fell backward while the Manta was destroyed by the rapidly opening and shutting door. He, on the other hand, decided to sky-dive a little, shooting an arrow on the Manta that was at Cassidy’s disposal, and landing on Ulrich’s vehicle. The samurai smirked. “Not bad.” And the three made it inside without getting devirtualized.

**-With Yumi and Aelita-**

_“Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy are in the tunnel,”_ Jeremie told them.

“At last. Now we can trip the mechanism and go,” Yumi said.

Odd and Ulrich stopped the OverBike and got off. Cassidy came up on the OverBoard, still a tad off-kilter, and got off. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Cassidy nodded.

“We got a little impatient,” Aelita told her.

“Sorry about that, Aelita. Odd had his Alphabet game going, ran out of arrows, and had to ride a Manta. Ulrich was trying his best not to get hit,” Cassidy explained.

“Then how did Odd get on Ulrich’s OverBike?”

“He sky-dived a bit,” Cassidy sighed.

Aelita then tripped the mechanism and stairs formed right before their very eyes. The pink-haired girl led the way and the others followed.

Soon they made it to another room. The Core room. “Jeremie, I think we’re here!” Yumi called out to him.

 _“Can you see the monsters? What are they doing?”_ Jeremie asked in a worried tone.

“Shooting at the Core, Jeremie,” Cassidy told him. “And I believe that soon enough we’ll see who is the winner of the bet we made.”

Ulrich’s panic level went to high alert so high that if it were more cartoon, a Klaxon would have sounded.

“Right, then it’s down with the Creepers,” Odd said.

“We have to defend the Core with our very lives here. Don’t forget that, now it may sound crazy enough, but I know that Aelita’s father is still here. That was the vision I had,” Cassidy said. “And I would’ve found out where, but Odd slapped me.”

Aelita led the way again and the others followed.

Two Mantas started to fire. Yumi decided to stay behind. “I’ll handle those two. You head for the sphere.” She deflected enemy fire, jumped on one, then the other, made an X on the one she was on, and landed on a stair, retrieving her boomerang fans. She took three shots to the back and was devirtualized.

Ulrich stopped and took notice. “Yumi!” he shouted.

Laser fire overtook Odd immediately after that. He flipped his way to Ulrich and Cassidy’s side. “Forget it. Concentrate on our monster friends.”

Ulrich heaved a sigh inside. _And she just told me we should amp up our relationship by one level._

Cassidy patted Ulrich’s back. “And besides, she’s on Earth! We’ll see Yumi again, I promise.”

“I sure hope so,” Ulrich moved forward a bit.

Odd shot an arrow at a Creeper. “Hey, this is not just an A-Game. It’s more like an A-Plus.”

“Focus, Odd,” Cassidy commanded in fake Scottish. “This is no time for games.”

The last Manta shot at Odd and he devirtualized instantly. That left three Lyoko Warriors left—Ulrich, Cassidy, and Aelita. Ulrich Super Sprinted to where Aelita was and started defending her. Cassidy felt a virtual brick of pleasure settle in her heart. _Oh, if he only knew the words energy field._

Ulrich then was in close enough range that he slashed the Manta. It exploded on sight.

“The first shield layer just blew, Ulrich, we don’t have a lot of time,” Cassidy told him. “We need to get rid of these monsters.”

He jumped a few steps and got rid of a Creeper.

But then another Creeper tried to devirtualize him. He deflected a shot good enough to kill that Creeper.

Then the second-to-last Creeper started shooting at Ulrich and Cassidy at the same time.

Cassidy sighed, dodging the shots. “As I’ve said before, women’s work is never done. Girls gotta do what girls gotta do, and so on and so forth.”

Ulrich deflected another laser and it hit that Creeper. The last Creeper shot at Ulrich and he devirtualized.

Now it was up to the female members of the group. Cassidy started shooting, but the Creeper got smart and dodged every shot, wiggling as it did so. Cassidy shot again, but this time… “Ugh, jammed bullet. That’ll take about a minute, which we don’t have.”

The Creeper tried to devirtualize Cassidy, but she dodged. She accidentally took a  misstep and this time the Creeper was successful. Cassidy devirtualized in an instant.

Now it was up to Aelita. _“Aelita, it’s your turn now!”_ Jeremie sounded proud.

**-Lab-**

“Her turn for what? She can’t do anything,” Odd protested.

“Watch,” Jeremie told Odd and then smiled.

**-Lyoko-**

The Creeper came up in front of Aelita while she was facing its direction. It was all up to her now.

A bright pink orb appeared suddenly in Aelita’s hand as the Creeper charged up his laser. It fired at the same Aelita did. She devirtualized and the Creeper was killed.

**-Lab-**

“Uh? Huh? But how could Aelita have done that?” Odd was shocked.

Jeremie sat with a reserved expression but then came to Earth as fast as his expression came. “Aelita developed some new powers over the vacation. She’s perfectly capable of fighting like you can.”

Yumi was worried with what was on the screen. “Jeremie, look at that!” It showed Aelita’s avatar card in the devirtualization process.

Jeremie started typing fast, and realized. “Oh, no!” he was in a panic. “She’s been devirtualized.”

“Are you saying that…” Odd tried for words.

“That’s right. I—I—I can’t believe it!” Jeremie put his hands to his head. A scanner window showed that one of the scanners was active. He lifted his head. “What’s going on?” He saw the scanner window. “Come on. Hurry up!” He went down by ladder and rushed to the scanner.

Cassidy said to Ulrich, “Get ready to eat your words.” She had a small wicked smile on her face.

“You’re the one who’s going to choke,” he teased back.

“Been there, done that,” she said off-handedly.

Jeremie leaned on the scanner and panted. It opened up to reveal Aelita. Jeremie looked up at her. “Hey, you realize that you almost gave me a heart attack?” he asked.

Aelita leapt to him and hugged him with a smile.

Cassidy turned to Ulrich. “Pucker up, Samurai.”

Ulrich growled at her. “Soon you are going to lose.” So he walked up to Yumi and kissed her on the lips. At first, the geisha warrior was shocked, but then realized that talk and enjoyed it.

After, Ulrich was still shocked. “Could someone tell me what happened?”

Odd came in. “Well it seems now that if Aelita loses all of her life points…”

“Aelita will come home, safe and sound, like we do,” Cassidy finished then smiled wickedly at Ulrich. “Told you so in the Ice Sector. Man, you never listen. She regained her human memory and now, she’s able to devirtualize like all of us.”

“We don’t need Code: Earth anymore to bring you in,” Jeremie smiled.

“That’ll really help now that XANA is determined to destroy Lyoko to keep us from finding him on the net,” Aelita said.

Yumi was next to talk. “That’s great, Aelita. You’re a full-fledged Lyoko Warrior from now on.”

Aelita smiled and blushed.

**-Odd and Ulrich’s dorm-**

“What? You mean that you and Yumi are boyfriend-girlfriend?” Odd tilted his head to one side.

“Yep,” Ulrich told him.

“What did you say?” Odd asked.

“I told her that it was the same thing I wanted to tell her, but that we were so busy that I never found the time,” Ulrich said.

“I now understand you two.” The ninja warrior was about to go out of his dorm room.

“Where are you going?” Ulrich asked.

“To get Kiwi. He must have missed me due to all the stories I heard from Cassidy.”

“Oh, yeah? Be careful, good buddy. We don’t want Kiwi getting caught now.”

Odd shut the door and soon opened the door to Aelita and Cassidy’s room. Kiwi found his owner and came up to him, whimpering, yipping, and barking happily.

“He says he’s very happy to see you again,” Cassidy smiled.

“Well, thanks for taking care of him,” Odd told Cassidy.

“You’re welcome, Odd.”


	32. Lyoko Minus One is Lyoko without a Sector

**Okay, Lyoko is going to be put into an equation in a few minutes so hang tight.**

**Code Lyoko is not mine, but Cassidy and the plot are. Deal?**

**And I was so busy (making videos, going to school, celebrating my birthday) that I almost didn’t have time for this.**

Ulrich awoke to his alarm clock screaming the Subsonics hit _Break Away_. He didn’t like it. “Odd, would you put off that alarm,” he yelled and groaned at the same time, pulling his pillow over his ears to try to muffle the sound. He looked to the bed next to him, the pillow now off his ears. “Odd!”

The aforementioned person, however, was nowhere to be seen. Only Kiwi was sleeping. The dog could sleep through anything if his mind was set on it.

Confusion swept Ulrich’s eyes as he looked at the empty by one occupant bed.

**-Where’s Odd, you ask?-**

“Here are the photo-copies you asked me for, Odd. You wanted thirty-two, is that right?” she asked kindly.

“That’s right!” Odd smiled. “Thirty-two, thank you.” **(A/N: LOL, with the added leaflet, Odd rhymes.)**

**-Ulrich’s awake now-**

Ulrich opened Jeremie’s door, Cassidy in tow. “Wakey-wakey,” she smiled deviously, “Jeremie.”

“The birds are chirping away!” Ulrich smiled too.

They both saw Jeremie passed out in front of his computer. Ulrich started to make a move, but Cassidy stopped him. “I have a brilliant idea.”

He shrugged. “You have the stage.”

“And, don’t believe what I say in this room today. Just go along with it.” She walked forward, cleared her throat, and said, “Oh, my, gosh! Can you believe it, Ulrich?” she winked.

“I seemed to have forgotten. What are you talking about?” Ulrich asked stiltedly.

“Odd just asked Aelita to marry him,” Cassidy squealed as if it were real.

Jeremie shot up. “What? **!** ”

The psychic fell into a heap and started laughing. “That—worked—too—well!” she choked out in between riotous laughter.

“Not funny, Cassidy,” Jeremie scowled a little.

“But hey, it woke you up, Jeremie,” she recovered.

“Anyway, what’s the time?” he rubbed his eyes a little.

“What’s the story? You give up sleeping in a bed, or what?” Ulrich asked.

“He was working on the program to send us into the Internet to combat XANA, but he got so tired that he slept on the table instead,” Cassidy said.

“Did you figure something out?” Ulrich asked Jeremie.

“No,” Jeremie sounded grim.

“You’ll find the way soon. Like Yumi said last year, it’s just a question of time,” Cassidy shrugged.

**-Boy’s bathroom-**

Jeremie turned on the water faucet and washed his face.

“Just look at you! No one’s going to vote for you,” Ulrich smirked. He was talking about the class rep election that was coming up. The only opponents, according to Jeremie, were him and Hervé. “They’re not voting for zombie of the year but for their student rep.”

“It’s not about how you look, but it’s all about what you have to say,” Jeremie dried his face.

“At least you’re optimistic,” Ulrich comforted his buddy, and then joked, “It can’t hurt, I guess.” He posed in front of the mirror a bit, just for fun. “Anyway, you’ve got one thing going for you. You’re up against the lamest candidate in the galaxy.”

**-Sissi’s bedroom-**

“Now, how about giving me the smile of a _real_ winner,” Sissi demanded Hervé.

He gave a weak one. It wouldn’t even _count_ as a smile of victory. It would count as a nervous smile.

“Hey, what’s that?” She sounded disgusted.

“A-a smile of victory,” he told her.

Sissi scoffed. “We’ll never win at this rate.”

“Then why don’t you run in, Sissi?” he asked.

“I can’t. The principal’s daughter isn’t _allowed_ to be a class rep. Therefore, the new student rep is going to be you and definitely _not_ Jeremie. Do I make myself perfectly clear?” She pressed her hands down on Hervé’s knees.

He gave a somewhat better smile. Sissi smiled. “That’s what I like to see, a nice winner’s smile.”

Hervé covered some of his teeth and said, “Uh, it’s not a smile, Sissi, you’re crushing my kneecaps.” He pointed down and groaned a little.

**-In the classroom-**

Odd was handing out fliers. “Take a copy of my platform!” he announced to everyone. Cassidy grabbed hers and Jeremie was confused; he thought that there were only two candidates.

“Platform? But for what?” Jeremie was astonished.

“ _My_ platform. You’re looking at the next student rep,” Odd smiled.

“And worst of all, Odd told me to keep quiet so he could surprise everyone,” Cassidy glared at her wise-cracking friend with such a stare that if looks could murder, Odd would be on the floor writhing in pain. “And threatened to use me as target practice every time we trained on Lyoko.”

“You’re running, Odd?” Jeremie still was figuring how many hydrogen atoms were normally together **(A/N: Which are two)**. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because _surprise_ is the secret weapon of my election campaign,” Odd gloated to his now-election opponent.

“And the second weapon is poetry,” Aelita continued. “If you all want to have your say, why not give the nod to good old Odd.”

“Good poetry, Aelita,” Cassidy smiled. “I’m so glad that we are roommates.”

“Just keep your knitting materials off of my bed,” Aelita play-bantered.

“That’s great. I love lines that rhyme with Odd,” he smiled.

Cassidy laughed as Jeremie and Ulrich stood with their mouths agape. Aelita put a hand over her mouth and giggled softly.

**-En el Bus-**

“I’m warning you, anyone trying to pull _anything_ , DETENTION!” Jim rattled. “You can join that smart aleck William Dunbar in the study hall.”

That bored Yumi enough.

Mrs. Hertz put a hand on Jim’s huge chest. “Thank you, Jim, I think you made yourself clear.”

He saluted the elderly science teacher. “Roger, Suzanne.” Then he realized who he was talking to. “Um…I’m sorry, I mean, Mrs. Hertz.”

“Fine, let’s not forget what we’re looking for. The purpose of our field trip today is to witness the early effects of pollution of our ecosystem, and especially in the forests,” she continued. “Effects that someday mean the end of our forests and all animal and plant life, of course.”

That freaked Jim out. “Are you saying that there won’t be any more bunny rabbits or little birds or trees or mushrooms? They’ll all just disappear?” He got a little too close and sniffed the air around Mrs. Hertz. “Oh, wow I love that perfume.”

**-To the Campaigning Three-**

Odd was giving his platform. “And so I ask you, why should good students represent the bad? Why not let a near dropout like me speak out for all the other near dropouts? And why should people older than you go to a higher grade when they’re just doing their best?”

Jeremie and Hervé stood by. The acne-and-glasses boy looked to him. “You’re not smiling Jeremie. How come?”

“Because I don’t want to look as dorky as you, Hervé, okay?” Jeremie answered.

“What do Jeremie and Pichon know of our problems, huh? They always get A’s and Bs, right? They don’t know the fear of getting left back. They’re not capable of defending our cause.”

Cassidy stood up from her chair on the side of Mr. Fumet’s desk and clapped her hands. “Muy bien, mi novio, Odd. Tú eres listo.”

Ulrich was next to stand, making Aelita turn her head to him in surprise. “Bravo, good point, Odd. Okay, near-dropouts, it’s time for all of us to take a stand.”

That caused the other students to clap their hands and talk wildly about Odd getting the vote. Even Aelita joined in.

Mr. Fumet then stood up to calm the class. “Right, now, quiet down.”

Jeremie’s laptop started to beep.

**-Lyoko’s forest region-**

Pulsations lead up to the tower like wild horses on the way to the meadow and the tower turned as red as a stoplight.

**-Back on Yumi’s bus-**

Yumi was staring out the window, still bored.

Jim was sleeping on Mrs. Hertz shoulder. She was thinking, _I don’t get paid enough for this,_ as she tried to bump him off her shoulder.

The driver was keeping his eyes on the road when the dashboard started to come alive with electricity and **XANA decided to play.**

He stopped the bus to a screaming, screeching, non-colliding halt, causing several of the female students to ask loads of questions and panic. Jim woke up and yelled, “Go on now. Don’t be scared. You gotta put her down when you are in the jungle and—” Then he realized that he was in reality.

“What’s going on?” the bus driver asked as smoke emanated from the dash and went around to the other students.

Yumi, unbuckling her seatbelt, stood up and asked, “What’s the matter? Are we already th—” then she gasped. All her classmates and both her teachers were **possessed by XANA.** “Oh, no…” she groaned.

Jim’s hand was sparking with electricity. Yumi backed up. His electricity aimed for her, shot, but missed as it made a hole in the bus’s window.

She looked as he started to charge up again and jumped through the window as more electric sparks almost overtook her. She landed on her hands and feet, looked back as the teachers and her classmates (XANA symbols in their eyes) started to rally up for a chase.

Yumi took to her feet and started running.

**-Campaigning Three part Deux-**

“In conclusion, I promise to put lots of pretty plants in each and every one of your classrooms.” Hervé waved to the class. “Won’t that be nice, huh?”

Cassidy shivered but for some reason vehemently reminded herself that whatever it was that bothered the psychic was nothing or no more.

Sissi cheered her head off and announced that she was going to vote for Hervé.

Odd turned to his friend-turned-opponent. “You’re turn at bat now, Einstein.”

“Odd, this is not a game. Being elected as the class rep is really serious with lots of responsibilities,” Jeremie warned.

“And you don’t think I’m capable of handling them?” he poked.

“I didn’t say that!”

“No, but that’s what you’re thinking!”

Cassidy came in between them. “Odd, Jeremie, stop this right now, please. Do you want to wake the Rekmas?”

“Salud,” Odd was confused.

“What?” Jeremie was just as confused.

“The drifting where friends drift and the friend _ship_ dies,” Cassidy was getting a small bit agitated. “Let’s not do that.”

“Okay, okay, don’t get your powers in a twist,” Odd showed defiance.

“Sorry, Cassidy,” Jeremie stayed calm.

Jeremie’s cell phone began to ring. Cassidy looked to him. “Answer it. It’s Yumi.”

He picked his phone up. “Hello? …Yumi?”

**-Back with Yumi-**

“Jeremie, I’m in real big trouble! My whole bus has been XANAfied.”

**-Back with Jeremie, Odd, and Cassidy-**

Cassidy spark-flashed and gasped. “Oh, no. If I was on that field trip, I would be in peril too. Gosh darn it to heck.”

Jeremie came back on. “Are you sure?” Odd gasped.

Cassidy, Aelita, and Ulrich showed the “We need to get to the Factory” look.

“If you don’t mind, Belpois. We’re all waiting for you,” Mr. Fumet reminded.

Jeremie had to make it quick so he put his hand on the side of his mouth and said, “Yumi, look, I gotta hang up, but don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? **!** She’s got _fifteen-sixteenths_ of the tenth graders after her hide, and that excludes my ex-boyfriend who got detention, and you are telling her _not to worry? **!**_ **”** Cassidy whispered hysterically.

Odd pulled her in for a hug. “Calm down, novia! We’ll get through this together.”

“I know we will.”

To Odd, Jeremie said, “XANA just launched an attack.”

“Jeremie, if you’re still a candidate, then speak up,” Mr. Fumet was getting a little impatient. “What’s your platform?”

“Um…Well, I—I had some notes but I—I left them back at my room,” Jeremie lied.

“Nice,” Cassidy complimented in a whisper.

He picked up his laptop bag. “I’ll go and get them.”

“I’ll go with him. Keep an eye on the competition,” Odd left the room after Jeremie rushed out.

Ulrich and Aelita went after them. “And, we better go, too, to separate them if they start fighting.”

Cassidy rushed out, yelling, “Girls, girls, you’re both pretty. Can I go back to the States now?”

That caused Mr. Fumet and Hervé to look at the open door with wide eyes. That was the weirdest thing that Cassidy had ever said.

**-Back to Yumi-**

Yumi was running her hardest through the forest. Eight years of track prepared her for this moment.

**-To Cassidy’s ex-boyfriend-**

William was drawing a picture in detention. He gave up and thought around about something.

“Attack confirmed,” Jeremie’s voice came from outside the study hall, alerting William to the window. “XANA has activated a tower.”

He saw Jeremie with his laptop on his lap, Aelita and Odd standing around him, Cassidy—his ex-girlfriend—sitting on the ground, staring at the window with a fixed gaze, and Ulrich trying someone’s phone number.

**-To the gang outside the window-**

“Yumi,” Ulrich called, “where are you?”

**-Yumi-**

“At the Red Trail Crossroads,” Yumi panted, her throat was getting dry from all the running. She was getting desperate. “You better hurry. I can’t hold out much longer.”

**-Back to the gang-**

“Be right there,” Ulrich told her and hung up.

“You better go is all I have to two-cent,” Cassidy sighed. “Just be warned that my ex will be coming too. Be careful, but also William will prove to be an ally for this attack.”

“And we’ll see about the activated tower on Lyoko,” Jeremie told the rest.

Ulrich headed off to his assignment.

To an unaided eye, somebody’s eyes were watching. And they were William’s eyes.

He snuck past Mr. Jameson, who was napping, and left the room.

**-Back to Yumi-**

She was running from her XANAfied classmates and teachers.

She kept running until her feet tripped on a root. Yumi looked back. The XANAfied gang was still on her trail.

XANA-Jim ordered a stop and looked around. A confident smirk grew on his face.

The other XANA-students ran by a tree Yumi was hiding behind. Blessed relief swept through the Japanese teen as she let out a sigh. But she gasped as the relief was _not_ to last. XANA-Jim had found her and fired a blast of electricity, but missed as Yumi fled out to the clearing.

XANA-Jim jumped out of the bushes and tried to zap her, but missed.

**-Scanner-**

_“The activated tower is…”_

“In the Forest Sector,” Cassidy and Jeremie’s voices clashed together and formed an echo.

**-Lab-**

“I’ll try to get you in as close as possible,” Jeremie told the two girls and the only boy in the scanner room.

Soon the three were on Lyoko.

**-Lyoko’s Forest Sector-**

“Okay, we’re here Jeremie,” Odd told the sky.

“And I’m glad we’ve not woken the Rekmas!” Cassidy sounded pleased.

_“The tower is due north. You should be able to see it from where you are.”_

The three looked to that direction and saw in the distance, the tower was in their sights. “It sticks out from all the geese,” the psychic smiled.

 _“Here are your taxis,”_ Jeremie told them.

In instant, the OverBoard and the Over-Kartbed appeared. Cassidy smiled as her vehicle came over to her and the virtual engine purred. “Yeah I missed you, too, good buddy.”

Odd’s vehicle came to its owner and he hopped on. He looked to Aelita and said, “Hop aboard. We’re off.”

Cassidy laid herself in the Over-Kartbed and reveled in the revving roars of the engine.

And they were off to the tower.

 _“XANA is sending you some monsters,”_ Jeremie warned. _“How original can you get?”_

“Tarantulas, nice,” Cassidy sounded really pleased. “I was wondering when I would see them again.”

As predicted, four gorilla-spider-like monsters came.

That elicited a laugh from Aelita.

“And he hates it when we’re bored,” Odd continued. Then he came up with a plan. “Okay, let’s be polite…”

“Polite?” the psychic smiled. “We end up having to take etiquette lessons from XANA.”

“We’ll say hello to them first,” Odd continued, brushing off the comment Cassidy pulled.

 _“Hey, Odd, take care of yourself. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t have any competition except for Hervé,”_ Jeremie sounded proud.

“Um…I’d take a little humble pie if I were you, Jeremie. Who knows, maybe Odd might win.” Cassidy winked to Odd, a smile on her face. It represented something, something her powers were saying, and Odd smiled on it.

Soon they were face to face with the enemy’s soldiers.

“Don’t worry, Einstein. I’ll take care of them. Then I’ll go after you,” he smiled.

“Odd,” Cassidy play-warned.

“Laser Arrow!” he cried and got one right on the nose.

It disintegrated and Cassidy got rid of one more to smoothly keep her vehicle from disappearing.

“Let’s turn around,” Odd said.

“We’re not surrendering, Jeremie. Aelita is in good hands here,” Cassidy reassured.

The last two Tarantulas fired their lasers and Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy had to dodge.

“So much for our little greeting, eh, Odd?” Cassidy called from her ground-only vehicle.

That didn’t distract Odd from driving, but a laser connected to his OverBoard and he and Aelita had to turn-tail for balance. They almost collided with a tree but the pink-haired girl jumped off and Odd tipped his vehicle to go up for a bit.

Aelita slid across the green floor when all of a sudden a sidecar came in and scooped her up. The sidecar reconnected to the Over-Kartbed. “Are you okay, Aelita?” Cassidy asked.

“A little shaken, but I’m fine.” Aelita sat up in the sidecar to look at her friend and roommate. “Thank you for the lift.”

“No hay problema, señorita,” Cassidy smiled, using her Spanish skills.

Aelita smiled. She was so lucky to have a friend that cared for her. Yet she remembered a snippet of Cassidy’s speech.

_“It has always been my sworn duty to protect you, Aelita.”_

“All aboard for that activated tower and I hope we don’t run into the Schyphozoa on this run.” The pink-haired girl was throttled out of her thoughts and back to reality in no time.

 _“You sense the Schyphozoa, Cassidy?”_ Jeremie was in shock.

“My powers tell me so.”

Then Jeremie let out a yelp and said, _“Better be careful, ladies. Lots of Tarantulas are on their way.”_

“Calm down, Jeremie. Aelita’s with me. I’m going to get her to the tower. Don’t worry, I promise my powers won’t go nuts on me like the first Sector 5 mission of this school year. Unless they do, then I don’t know what to do,” Cassidy promised.

Aelita shot two energy fields, but unfortunately **(A/N: :()** they missed. They were able to part the two Tarantulas down the middle and make like Moses though.

“You girls just can’t stay away from danger, huh?” Odd yelled from his OverBoard.

“Hey, you’re talking to _Danger_ Psychic here,” Cassidy joked. “We’re doing our best not to get shot at.”

They were still in the direction of the activated tower.

**-With Ulrich-**

Ulrich found Yumi’s trail of pounded-in footprints and, furrowing his brows, followed the trail, unknowing that William was following.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi was getting the beating of a lifetime. XANA-Jim shocked her with enough electricity to knock her out.

The evil, gut-turning smile on the XANAfied gym teacher grew.

**-Ulrich-**

Ulrich tried Yumi’s number once again. “Come on, Yumi. Pick up!” He then gave up and heard someone’s footsteps coming up to where he was.

He leaned up against a tree and waited out his tag-along.

William walked up the way.

“What are you doing here? What are you following me for?”

 _Remember, Ulrich. He’ll ally you this mission,_ Cassidy’s words came into play.

“I heard it all. Yumi’s in trouble,” said William. “I came to see if I can help.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking…” Ulrich was silenced by Yumi’s terrified cries for help.

“Now you know what I’m talking about?” William turned to face him.

**-Yumi’s dilemma-**

Yumi came around to see her teachers and classmates advancing. She let out another cry of panic.

**-Back to the three Lyoko Warriors-**

They were almost to the tower, but they had to make a little detour and hide behind a tree.

Cassidy had lost her vehicle due to the Tarantula’s lasers. She half-minded it though.

“Here’s the plan, Odd. You keep the Tarantulas as ocupado as you can while Aelita and I beat feet to the tower, comprende, mi novio?”

“That sounds like a plan to me!” Odd smiled.

“Aelita, you up to it?” Cassidy asked, her eyes full of hope and her heart filled half of the way with fear.

“If it means saving Yumi, I wouldn’t say no,” Aelita told her roommate.

“Then let’s go,” she smiled confidently.

Odd went out of hiding one way to take care of the two Tarantulas (“When you gotta go…”). He hoped not to get hit.

“…you gotta go,” Cassidy finished with a slight change in eye color, but the color came back to normal brown.

He rammed his way through and got the two to turn around and follow him. Aelita and Cassidy prepared to run the other way to get to the tower.

He got rid of the second-to-last one and decided to do battle with the last one.

_“Wait, girls, it’s still too close.”_

Cassidy’s virtual heart sank. She didn’t like being restrained, but she knew better than to argue with Jeremie. So she signed a “Hold on” signal, which was a lasso-like movement with her right hand and pantomiming making the “rope” taut, to Aelita.

Her roommate nodded.

**-Back to Yumi’s problem-**

XANA-Jim and all the other XANA-victims were giving Yumi hell.

Ulrich and William looked onward from a boulder.

William turned to the brown-haired boy. “Hey, that’s Jim shooting lightning out of his fingers. Is this a nightmare or what?”

“William, do you want to help Yumi or not?” Ulrich asked him. He didn’t have time for tomfoolery around the forest. All he had was his cell phone and a plan. “Then don’t say anything and do as I tell you.”

 _Good job. You’ve made an ally for this XANA attack,_ Cassidy’s words complimented.

 _Shut up, random words out of Cassidy’s mind,_ Ulrich snapped. _This is not the time!_

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Odd was still leading the Tarantula in circles as Cassidy and Aelita awaited an OK from the captain.

He ran under the gorilla-spider creature as it prepared to club him with its laser arm, and lead it away from the girls.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy, GO!”_ Jeremie ordered.

“On it, Jeremie. We’ll have that tower deactivated in two wags of a sheep’s tail.” Cassidy smiled as she signed an okay signal, which was a peace sign.

**-To the lab-**

Jeremie was making a computer-to-phone call to Ulrich. “Ulrich?”

**-Forest-**

“What, Jeremie?” Ulrich didn’t have time for a phone call, but if it was important, he had to pick it up.

 _“Aelita and Cassidy are heading for the tower!”_ came a reassuring call, _“Aelita should be shutting it down in about five minutes.”_

Ulrich and William (from different areas) still watched the goings-on from the XANA-gang.

“Good, because I’m getting ready to do something risky with William, Cassidy’s ex,” Ulrich said.

 _“William? What are you and William doing together?”_ Jeremie asked. _“Are you guys_ buddies _now?”_

“Nah, he’s giving me a hand, like Cassidy said. I’ll explain later.” He didn’t like what was happening to his girlfriend.

**-Back to the lab-**

“Yeah, well…”

 _“Jeremie, we’ve got a big problem,”_ Aelita sounded worried over the intercom.

 _“The Lyoko’s Most Wanted Monster has just arrived!”_ Jeremie flinched as he heard Cassidy squeal.

 _“But why? He’s already gotten all the data XANA needed from me!”_ Aelita asked, both to Jeremie and to Cassidy. _“What could it want now?”_

 _“I know why! He wants to possess you so you could delete the Forest Sector. Don’t ask why. I think we should run,”_ Cassidy sounded a little timid.

“Timidity doesn’t suit you well on Lyoko, you know, Cassidy,” Jeremie chastised.

**-Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy ran for their lives to one end of the sector, the jellyfish-like monster following them like prey.

**-Lab-**

“Ulrich, change in the program,” Jeremie informed. “The tower’s not going to get deactivated right away.”

**-Forest-**

“I guess we can’t count on you guys,” Ulrich sighed and decided to go all the way with the plan. “How are you doing, zombies? Oh, I know I’m not welcome, but I _love_ strolling in the woods.”

XANA-Jim pointed at him. He knew Ulrich and also knew that he too had to be dead. “After him!”

Several students, along with Mrs. Hertz, ran after him, the XANA symbols still in their eyes. He ran.

XANA-Jim looked back at the unconscious Yumi and then to the chase. He smiled, loving the thrill of another Lyoko Warrior chase, and ran with them, leaving the unconscious girl alone.

**-To Yumi-**

A hand gently came to her face. “Hey, Yumi,” whispered a voice. It was William’s. As much as she loved to hate William, now wasn’t the time to do so. She came to.

“Yumi!” William whispered again.

**-Back to the on-Lyoko girls’ dilemma-**

They ran to an edge and Cassidy let out an ear-splitting scream. Bad, dark memories started to haunt the poor psychic and she was starting to go into shock. Jumping, she climbed a tree, shaking like the first ever Lyoko leaf.

Aelita saw that, almost thought, _My hero,_ in fearful sarcasm, and looked back so she was face-to-membrane with the Schyphozoa.

  _“Aelita, try to hit him with the energy fields,”_ Jeremie insisted, since Cassidy was still in Fearsville and not of much help at the moment.

Aelita raised her arm, energy field in her hand, and was about to strike when the jellyfish-like monster hit her arm away with one of its tentacles. It was time for its turn.

It started the process.

 _“NO! **!** ”_ Jeremie yelled. It had been two months ago when the unthinkable happened, only it happened in Sector 5 and Cassidy wasn’t a coward.

**-Lab-**

_“Jeremie, what’s going on?”_ Odd asked.

“The Schyphozoa has attacked Aelita,” Jeremie was panicking. “And Cassidy went into shock, rendering her useless.”

 _“I thought that she got off that shock_ months _ago,”_ Odd said.

“She did, but she saw an edge and it scared her up a tree literally,” he said. “HURRY, they need your help!”

**-To where Odd’s at-**

“I’d love to help; only my new playmate doesn’t seem to agree.” Odd was hiding behind a tree whilst the Tarantula was firing its lasers repeatedly.

Cocking his arm, he tried four laser arrows at his enemy, but hid again when the creature returned fire. Sighing, he picked up a rock and threw it. It got hit, but Odd was able to swing behind the Tarantula and start running.

**-To where the two ladies are at-**

The Schyphozoa was almost done. The female cat warrior was still stuck up a tree and was refusing to come down.

**-Jeremie-**

“I don’t get it. It looks like the Schyphozoa has implanted something into Aelita’s memory,” Jeremie was getting more and more panicky.

**-To Odd, the shocked, female, psychic cat, and Aelita-**

“Almost there, Jeremie,” Odd told him and he was right.

He saw the scenes, firstly, Aelita in the clutches of the Schyphozoa, and then Cassidy in the tree. He cocked his arm and prepared to shoot at the jellyfish-like monster, but the monster set Aelita down.

Cassidy in the meantime was now trying to coax herself out of shock. _You idiot, you let Aelita get possessed. Nice going,_ hero. _Remember what_ she _said? She said that even the most shocked of warriors can overcome shock, now get down there NOW!_

She slowly got down to the forest floor. Odd, meanwhile, gasped a little in shock. Was their friend…dead?

 _“Aelita is alive,”_ Jeremie was talking a mile a minute. _“I don’t understand.”_

“XANA had possessed her and it wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for me going in shock! I’m sorry, Jeremie. I’m kicking myself for right now,” Cassidy was a little ashamed.

_“Kick yourself later. Right now, do you have anything that may get rid of the possession?”_

The psychic cat thought on it whilst Odd walked over to waken their fallen friend.

“Aelita, you gotta wake up! It’s me, Odd.”

“I could try to do a force field bullet that is similar to the EMP bomb that you made. It won’t blow away Aelita. I promise to the extent of my psychic powers here,” Cassidy said. “I warn you, I can only do one shot per Lyoko mission.”

_“Do it!”_

Cassidy shot her force-field bullet high up into the air. A few small nanoseconds later, a golden force field surrounded Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita, ridding the second latter of the possession the multi-agent system left behind.

“Now, what do we do?” Odd asked her.

“We wait to see if it worked,” the psychic sighed. “That’s all we can do for right now.”

A few seconds later, Aelita came to. “Cassidy? Odd?”

“It’s okay, Aelita, the possession is gone,” Cassidy smiled, but what she didn't see was an array of tentacles surrounding her. A force pulled Cassidy away.

“ODD! AELITA!” She tried to get out of the jellyfish monster’s grip, but the monster held her really tight.

**The possession process for Cassidy started.**

**-To William, Ulrich, and Yumi-**

Ulrich was now surrounded by the XANAfied crew. “Fifteen against one, I’ve been through worse.”

Yumi was now back in the game and was now on the phone with Jeremie. “Jeremie. What’s going on with the tower?” William was with her as backup. “I’m back and ready to go, but now it is Ulrich who’s in trouble this time.”

**-To the lab-**

“There is a really big chance of deactivating the tower, but Cassidy got caught by the Schyphozoa, but it’s not taken her earth code as it did last time,” Jeremie informed Yumi.

**-To the forest-**

“Ready to fight, William?” Yumi asked him.

William looked to the stick in his hand and offered an affirmative.

XANA-Jim gave Ulrich another charge of electricity and the latter groaned as a result of it.

“Yoo-hoo!” Yumi called as the XANA-gang raised their hands to shock Ulrich again. That got their attention. She waved to them and XANA-Jim said, “GET THAT GIRL!”

The Japanese teen girl ran around the tree as William jumped out, yelling, “BANZAI!” wielding his stick.

The four XANA-students looked to him as he used the stick to kick the four students. They all fell backwards and started to act like they were in a seizure.

“GO AFTER HIM RIGHT NOW!” XANA-Jim commanded XANA-Anaïs, XANA-Christophe, XANA-Emmanuel, XANA-Magali, and XANA-Hertz.

They went after William without question.

XANA-Jim heard a whistling and looked up. Yumi was in a tree with a stick. She jumped and attacked the XANAfied gym teacher, giving him a good kick to the head.

He looked back and was about to attack her again, when Yumi jumped over the barrage and started to attack again, but Jim ghosted through her attack and she fell onto Ulrich. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Meanwhile, after all the XANA-students were down, it was William vs. XANA-Hertz.

Twirling his stick like a baton twirler **(A/N: No offense to Sissi. End A/N)** , he steadied it and ran to whack the XANAfied science teacher on the head. She caught it in her hands and fazed in and out.

“You taught us that wood doesn’t conduct electricity,” William used a witty banter.

 XANA-Hertz then threw William.

**-To Lyoko-**

_“Can you hear me, Odd?”_ Jeremie asked. The possession of Cassidy was now complete. _“What’s going on?”_

“I got a feeling that Cassidy is heading for the way tower,” Odd yelled seeing Cassidy on her way to the way tower. “Aelita’s almost done deactivating the other one.”

 _“Just what we needed,”_ Jeremie deadpanned.

The now-possessed psychic girl ran inside the tower and rose to the top platform at the same time Aelita did.

 _“Cassidy?”_ Jeremie tried to get her to snap out of it.

At the same time Aelita entered Code: LYOKO, XANA-Cassidy entered Code: XANA.

All of a sudden, the Forest Sector started to disappear, tree by tree and land by land.

Cassidy fell out of the way tower and with a gasping thud, she realized what she had done.

“Odd and Jeremie, I’m so sorry,” she wheezed.

“Right now, let’s RUN FOR IT!” Odd took control fast. He picked Cassidy up and carried her as he ran from the approaching doom.

Aelita had now left the tower.

 _“What’s happening now?”_ Jeremie asked.

“THE SECTOR’S DISAPPEARING! REMATERIALIZE US!” Odd shouted at the top of his virtual lungs.

**-Yumi and Ulrich-**

The XANAfied teachers fainted in the middle of an electric attack, landing Ulrich and Yumi safe.

“Are you okay? William’s not in great shape?” Ulrich asked.

Yumi grabbed her cell phone and called Jeremie. “Jeremie, did you manage to get the tower deactivated?”

 _“Well, yes, but Cassidy inadvertly destroyed the sector,”_ Jeremie came in.

“WHAT? **!** ” The two yelled.

**-Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita-**

“Jeremie! **!** ” Odd yelled. The three were now plunging almost into the digital sea.

**-Jeremie-**

He worked on the program and said, “Materialization!”

**-Lyoko-**

Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy disappeared in a cloud of pixilated dust.

**-Scanner Room-**

The three came out of the scanners, a little shaky, but okay.

“Aelita, Odd, I’m sorry,” Cassidy was shaking the worst.

“Well, for one thing, it was a pretty close call; otherwise, I wouldn’t know what happened to us either,” Odd smiled a little. “I’m sure Einstein or you will tell us!”

**-Let’s roll on over to the forest with Yumi’s class-**

The now-un-possessed students and faculty started to stir, dazed and confused.

Yumi was up on a small knoll, pointing at some moss. “Look over there! That moss must be the result of pollution!” She had her best acting voice on. “I love science field trips.”

**-With William and Ulrich-**

Ulrich drug William into the study hall, snuck passed the sleeping Mr. Jameson, and placed him back in his spot. “Okay, naptime, and have nightmares. But don’t you dare dream about Yumi.”

William woke up as soon as he left. Dazed, he muttered, “Wow, what a nightmare!”

That woke Mr. Jameson up right away.

**-With Jeremie, Aelita, Cassidy, and Odd-**

“It’s no use, the Forest Sector doesn’t exist anymore,” Jeremie said to the three.

Cassidy was crying over Odd’s shoulder, muttering apologies repeatedly to the point of insanity, almost singing the apologies to the tune of “Good Morning” from Singing in the Rain. **(A/N: I love that movie)**

“XANA has totally wiped it off the map, and tried to use Aelita, but used you, Cassidy!”

“He tricked me into a false sense of security,” Cassidy hiccupped.

“He launched an attack just to get you two on Lyoko,” Jeremie continued.

“But why would he do that?” Odd asked.

“If the surface sectors disappear, we won’t be able to get to Sector 5 anymore!”

“You mean that XANA is going to destroy all the Sectors?”

“Sure is,” Jeremie said. “If only I can find a way to materialize you guys directly into Sector 5. Looks like I have plenty of work ahead.” He then titled his head a little. “Well it’s a good thing I’m not going to be elected class rep.”

Cassidy instantly cheered up. “’Told you to take a slice of humble pie before we got here. Good thing you did.”

“How do you know that?” Odd asked, curiously.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cassidy smirked.

“We’re all going to vote for you!” Jeremie smiled

**-The next day-**

“And your newly-elected class representative is…Odd Della Robbia,” Mr. Fumet announced.

Odd made his way through the tables as the class cheered him on.

As soon as he made his way to the front, everyone began to crowd him, and Cassidy planted a kiss on his cheek. “Well done, novio.”

**A/N: Okay, 50 points and a spoiler if you correctly translate all the Spanish words into English. And I’ll be checking for the winner.**


	33. Cassidy, Odd, and Aelita Steal the Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In half the production of this chapter, the author had a laughing fit that did not settle until the next day that she worked on it. After that, she was just fine.

**Okay, Aelita gets a chapter. Cool. :)**

**I don't own her or Code Lyoko. I only own the plot and Cassidy ONLY. :)**

**-In Aelita's daydream-**

Franz Hopper and Aelita ran to the factory from the sewers and rushed down to the Lab.

"But where are we?" she looked around curiously and cautiously.

"In my Laboratory. Come on," Franz told her.

"Where?"

"To a world where we would be safe! You and I…forever," He took her to the scanners. "See you in a minute, honey."

"See you in a minute, Daddy!" Aelita said.

The scanner doors closed.

**-Lyoko's Forest Sector-**

Aelita landed on the land and looked around for her father. "Daddy? Daddy, where are you?"

"Here I am, Aelita," Franz Hopper came down from multiple glowing yellowish-hue spheres.

"Daddy!" Aelita looked at her father's form.

"I can't materialize myself into human form yet as you can, Aelita. I still have more work to do on Lyoko. This world needs to develop more." She held onto one of his spheres as if he had a hand.

She then heard the scuttling of Kankrelats. "Daddy, there are some strange-looking creatures over there."

The five started to fire as Franz ordered, "RUN, AELITA, RUN!"

Panicking, she rushed into the nearest tower. "Daddy!"

The beeping of three rings was a reassuring sign.

**-Aw, man, back to reality already? : (-**

Aelita's pen hit the table as Mr. Fumet called her out.

Cassidy, who was guest passing for the day in a promise to make up the math test she would miss, stood up and got in between her roommate and her teacher. "Sorry, sir. Aelita had a rough dream again last night. It made her stay up all night."

Luckily, he believed the female psychic and went on with the lesson. "And in…" something…"mythology, natural disaster brings about the end of Norse gods' world, scorching the earth for a new, peaceful world can arise from the ashes called 'Ragnarok'."

"Say one thing about rock music being related to this lesson, and estamos rompiendo nuestra relación!" Cassidy hissed under her breath to Odd.

**-After class-**

"I can't believe you didn't allow me to say my joke!" Odd said to Cassidy walking to the bench.

"You'll thank me one day for this, Odd. You're lucky you didn't get thrown out of class for the first time this school year," Cassidy's eyes turned into a shade of copper.

"How was history class?" Yumi asked the gang.

"Who cares, it's history, now," Ulrich cracked a little joke. Cassidy chuckled a little, but noticed Aelita. She was still a little ashamed about what happened in history class.

A scathing, nails-on-chalkboard voice directed the gang's attention. "Well, Ms. Einstein, better get a good-night's sleep. A super-brain like yours needs a little shut-eye. And most of us aren't plagued by nightmares."

"Of course, you don't have that problem, Sissi," Odd called out from across the courtyard. "'Cause your brain's in your feet."

Cassidy laughed uproariously. "Good one, Odd. That's better than the frogs' legs joke you told when we were both new."

Sissi stopped as the two started guffawing. "Isn't Odd a riot? Look who has the nerve to talk about my feet, especially after Heidi Klinger told me about  _yours_."

Odd stopped laughing as well as the female psychic. "What does she mean by that?"

"Don't worry, Odd. I've got a solution that'll cool all of this down," Cassidy smiled.

The rest of the group showed looks of worry. After what happened to the couple the last school year, everyone was worried.

She winked. "I'm not going to do 'it', guys. I have something in my suitcase from home that might be the end of Odd's foot woes."

Cassidy grabbed Odd's hand and raced him to her dorm. She whipped out her black suitcase and unzipped the zipper. "I know I put it in here," she said as she dived into her bag. She searched and searched until… "Aha! Here we go." She came out and gave Odd some Johnson & Johnson lotion. "It reminds me of home but now it's yours. Just a thin layer every night, and the odor should disappear."

Odd smiled. "You are clever, you know that, Cassidy?"

"I'm told that from time to time," she nodded.

**-Back to Aelita's reverie-**

Inside the tower, Franz visited his daughter. "Aelita."

"Daddy?" Aelita's voice was so young.

"Aelita, I have to make contact with XANA. This way we can live in peace with him," Franz said.

She stood up. "Who is XANA?"

"A multi-agent computer program I created that has achieved self-awareness and autonomy and it's trying to eliminate us now."

"But why, Daddy?"

But Franz disappeared from sight, leaving Aelita alone in the tower.

"Daddy?"

"Whatever you do, don't leave this tower!"

"Daddy? Daddy! Daddy!" Aelita cried out.

**-Back to reality for the second time this chapter-**

Aelita hadn't eaten a single bite, and that worried Jeremie. "Aelita! Hey, what's the matter?" He placed a hand on her arm. "Is anything wrong?"

Cassidy kept eating. She did not want to interrupt this time and she had missed breakfast due to PE.

"No, I—I—I was daydreaming I guess," Aelita sounded a little out of sorts.

Odd came up with his plate.  **(A/N: He went to his room to apply Cassidy's treatment, that's the reason why he came up this late)**  "Hey, guys! No more feet nightmare. Call me Odorless Odd." He had a smile on his face and bent down to whisper in Cassidy's ear, "Gracias señorita."

She smiled and blushed. "De nada, Odd."

Ulrich took a bite from his apple. "How'd you manage that?"

"You'll find out tonight," Odd smiled. "It's a surprise."

Ulrich gulped down a bit of apple.

Yumi stood up. "Well, I'll let you kick your foot problem around a little. I have a math test." She walked off with her tray and as soon as she did that, Odd slid his tray next to his good buddy, took her spot, and started devouring his spaghetti like it was the last meal on Earth.

"Jeremie, do you…do you think my father's still alive?" Aelita asked him.

"I told you, Aelita, your father's still out there on Lyoko somewhere…alive," Cassidy's eyes grew white, but Odd smacked her right away, returning her to normal in a flash.

"Do you think it's possible to rematerialize him?" Aelita asked the two.

"It's a possibility that I think of, and it may be so, Aelita," Cassidy's powers started to urge her on, making her eyes go white again. The wise-cracker of the group smacked her again, once again, deterring her powers from hitting terremoto central.

"He managed to escape when XANA captured him the first time," she had so much hope in her heart and Cassidy's words were egging this hope on. "Why not a second time?"

"He's in evasion mode, meaning that he's trying to avoid XANA at every turn. He never did die, Aelita. He's still out there, just as spherical, just as fatherly." The pink-haired girl nodded at that.

"Impossible," interjected Jeremie, "I checked every inch of Lyoko, and there isn't the slightest sign of him."

"So!" Cassidy stood up abruptly and glared at the genius. This was the worst he had seen the female cat-warrior so angry since the time he didn't believe that his sweetheart was dying. "That doesn't mean we should give up hope. Aelita would love to see her father again someday. My powers are usually top-notch, and today they are. They tell me that Franz Stones—" She said Stones because she didn't want to slip on identity inside the cafeteria—"is somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean!" The reason for the words Atlantic Ocean was for the pact reason. "Don't bring Aelita down!"

She ran out of the cafeteria, with Odd and Aelita chasing at her heels, whilst Jeremie and Ulrich sat there, stunned. Ulrich dropped his apple on his tray and gulped again.

Cassidy stayed thirty feet ahead of Aelita and Odd as they neared the Hermitage.

**-Aelita's reveries will play on as the above happens-**

After a long time in the tower, Aelita ran outside the tower, worried. "Daddy! Daddy! I'm coming, Daddy." She saw that her father was in a fire-fight with three Hornets. "DADDY!" she cried, fear in her eyes.

"NO, Aelita, get back to safety, in the tower!" Franz said.

Aelita shook her head. She couldn't bear to leave him.

"You possess the keys to Lyoko, Aelita! XANA must never get his hands on them, do you understand?" He loved her with his heart, and he couldn't bear to lose her like he did Antea, his wife. "It's over, Aelita. XANA is too powerful; he's become a threat to all mankind. I've got to shut down the supercomputer."

She did as she was told, and once back inside, Franz found his retreat too.

"But does that mean we'll die?" Aelita asked in worry.

"No, but you mustn't forget me… _ever_. Never forget, Aelita," Franz placed his words down.

**-Back to reality for the last time-**

"Oh, God, I'm an idiot!" Cassidy yelled as she paced the living room. "Yelling at Jeremie again for the  _third_  time? **!**  What's going on with me? **!** "

"Maybe your time of month is here," Odd told her.

Aelita smacked his arm. "Why do you say that?"

"He has five sisters as does my grandpa on my mother's side," Cassidy was almost on the verge of pulling her brown hair out.

"Our good buddy, Einstein, here, may be a computer whiz, but diplomatically he's a—a—"

"A little tactless at times, but he loves Aelita and I know it," she started to calm down a little, but then felt a little caged in. She couldn't hold it in any longer. "Odd, Aelita, let's go to Sector 5 together, just to try to find proof that Franz Hopper, your father, Aelita, is alive somewhere. You can run the transfers and we could look for him through use of that area."

"That may not be too easy," Odd said. "You heard what Jeremie said. He's not very interested to help."

That caged Cassidy even further.

Aelita liked the plan Cassidy was setting in. "So, we don't need Jeremie, do we?" her voice cracked at the word we but she was fine.

Odd's eyebrows shot up through the roof to a satellite somewhere in outer space. "We? **!** "

"Just us, you, Cassidy, and me. Okay, Odd?" Aelita's little yang side was operating on a steady motor.

The cat girl warrior felt immediately un-caged.

His hand went to his mouth, holding back a little "Jeremie will kill us" groan.

**-In the Library-**

Jeremie was still not off the shock of Cassidy's nerve. He flipped through his Albert Einstein autobiography and tried to find words to speak. He opened his mouth, gathering enough courage, and said, "Hey, Ulrich, do you think I was a little outspoken to Cassidy?"

"What do you think?" Ulrich asked him. "It wasn't until we couldn't find the way to alleviate her powers to accept them. Better talk to her."

"NO!" Interrupted a gruff voice. "You shouldn't talk to anyone!"

Ulrich grabbed some advice from Cassidy last night, albeit weirdly.  _Now's the time to act._

"You see Jim. We were meaning to talk to Cassidy after Study Hall since she had a bit of an argument with Jeremie," Ulrich said politely.  **(A/N: That was a bit weird since I'm not good at placing myself in Ulrich's shoes, but if you don't think so, review after this chapter)**

Jim walked off.

"This is awful! Cassidy must really hate me, huh?"

"No, she doesn't. Hey, I bet she's running around looking for you to blabbermouth an apology, right now," Ulrich walked his fingers across the table.

**-Wrong, Ulrich-**

Aelita and Odd swung down the ropes while Cassidy ran down the ramp, rushing to the elevator as the two were.

They all took the lift down as Odd had a flashback.

**FLASHBACK #8**

_Odd was in the desert region in an awkward position next to a rock. His ninja suit wasn't there, but Cassidy's cat costume was._

"He's busy clowning around somewhere," _Jeremie's voice sounded from the entire region._

**END OF FLASHBACK**

"Weird," whispered Odd.

"Another flashback?" Aelita asked while the lift was carrying them down.

"Yeah, this time, I'm in Cassidy's costume on Lyoko's Desert Region, in a strange position, and Jeremie said that I was busy clowning around somewhere," Odd explained.

"That's a little illogical, since our costumes never decide to switch owners," Cassidy semi-smirked. "That's the only flaw I can find, Odd."

**-To Yumi's class-**

William walked into the classroom as Yumi was about to take her seat. "Hey, William, did you study hard?"

"Yep. Just ask me anything you want about American history!" William was confident.

That elicited a little laugh from Yumi. Her friend, Cassidy was a natural, since America was her native land. But she said, "Uh, that's great, but, uh, the test is in  _math_."

Those words made William falter. He didn't study his math at all, thinking that he had an American history test instead of a math test.

**-Back to the three-**

Aelita started up the transfer. "Okay, I'll launch the procedure, which will automatically virtualize us in the Desert Sector. As soon as we materialize, we'll have one minute to get in sync with the Transporter."

"Wow! You know how to do all that?" Odd asked.

"Aelita is among the geniuses in this group, so of  _course_  she knows how to do all that," Cassidy smiled.

"Piece of cake," Aelita sweetly said.

Cassidy took the ladder down to the scanner room while Aelita and Odd took the elevator.

Soon the three of them were on Lyoko.

**-Back to Ulrich and Jeremie-**

Jeremie heard his laptop beep and saw that there was…

"Oh, no, an activated tower in the Mountain Sector," Jeremie whispered.

He closed his laptop. "Okay, we're out of here. We can beat XANA if we act fast."

"Top plan?" Ulrich asked.

When Jeremie nodded and put his fingers in his ears, the samurai boy stood up and yelled, "I'm telling ya, the recipe calls for eggs, vinegar, whipped cream, a little wheat germ, and  _peanut_."

After, Jeremie inputted  _his_  two-pennies, "And I say you gotta use  _hazelnut_."

"YOU DON'T!" he bombarded.

"You DO!" Jeremie tried to sound superior to his friend.

Ulrich pointed his index finger behind him, cutting to the negative. Jeremie turned around to see Jim, and tried to act surprised.

"Oh, we're not, by any chance, speaking too loud, are we, Jim?" the samurai sounded smooth.

"I want you two out of here immediately. Now, go on, out of my sight, ya hear?"

The two tried to act as if they were guilty of committing a crime, and walked out.

Ulrich muttered, "That was fácil."

Jeremie sounded his affirmative.

Later, as they were running out in the forest, Jeremie got a little curious, "Hey, Ulrich, what was that recipe for anyway? It sounds totally gross."

"It's one of Odd's concoctions," Ulrich said after panting a little.

**-To Yumi's math test-**

Yumi was doing well on her test when her phone buzzed like a racecar driver's engine. She picked it up. "Hello?"

A few seconds later, she put the test down on Mrs. Mayer's desk. The teacher was concerned. "Are you finished already?" But Yumi was already out the door before the last word got in edgewise. "Yumi!"

**-To the two boys-**

"Yumi's on her way!" Ulrich pulled off the manhole cover.

"I can't seem to reach Cassidy or Aelita," Jeremie tried the number. "Do you think the psychic's still mad at me?"

He closed the manhole over the sewer after Ulrich went in.

**-Lyoko-**

The three ran to the edge and stopped. Odd looked around. "I hope we didn't miss our bus!"

"If we did, perdemos el bus," Cassidy muttered in pure Spanish. But she knew the answer through her powers.

"There!" Aelita pointed.

The Transporter came up and whisked them away to Sector 5.

**-Yumi-**

Yumi jumped the stairs and got to the factory using the boiler room route.

**-At the factory-**

The elevator doors opened to admit Jeremie and Ulrich. The genius walked up to the chair and smelled something almost strangely sweet. "Hey, do you smell that?" When the samurai shook his head, he continued, "It's weird, because it smells as if Odd has been here."

"Forget it, Jeremie," Ulrich shrugged. "Odd hasn't been here since yesterday. His feet smell, but not twenty-four hours later."

"Still, it's…bizarre," Jeremie put in the communicator in his ear.

**-Yumi-**

She ground against the metal piping and made her way to the sewer entry way to the factory with her skateboard.

**-Sector 5-**

Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy made it to the Arena of Sector 5. Cassidy shivered. "Ooh."

"What?" Odd looked to her.

"My senses tell me…" she tried to figure out tact but couldn't, "…never mind. But it's telling me something!"

The walls opened to them while Odd and Cassidy had the conversation. "Let's go," Aelita said.

They ran to the Core Zone. Cassidy shivered a little more, but it was in excitement.

**-To Ulrich and Jeremie-**

They two tried Cassidy's, Odd's, and Aelita's cell phone numbers. "Still nothing from Aelita," Jeremie said, tapping his knee, "Cassidy, or Odd."

"Forget it," Ulrich said. "Looks as if Aelita and Odd are angry at you, too."

"Because of his smelly feet? That's dumb! Odd is losing his sense of humor," Jeremie groaned a little. "Aelita has the right to be mad at me though."

Yumi came in from the elevator. "I hope this isn't a false alarm. I had to race through my exam!"

"It's real, alright. I'm sending you and Ulrich in right now. The others will join you just as soon as I can get a hold of them," Jeremie gave the two lovebirds the signal and the two were soon in the Mountain Sector, where they were bombarded by Hornets the instant they landed.

The two unsheathed their weapons and went back to back with each other. "Nice one Jeremie, you materialized us in the middle of an air-show."

" _Sorry, you guys, but more surprises are on the way!"_  Jeremie told them.  _"XANA's called up his heavy artillery. I'll materialize your vehicles."_

Ulrich deflected a few lasers with his katana. "Better hurry!"

Yumi pointed in front of her. "Look! Tarantulas!"

The samurai, with a cry of "Super Sprint" charged into battle. He deflected a laser from one Hornet, and started to block its shots. Yumi rushed in to join him and used one of her fans to get rid of two of them. She back-flipped to the back and he blocked the Tarantulas' laser fire.

The vehicles came in no time. "About time," Ulrich hopped on the OverBike while Yumi went on the OverWing and they zipped away.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie tried Aelita's number again. "Come on, Aelita. You've helped Cassidy enough, now pick up!"

**-To where Aelita is at-**

Aelita, Cassidy, and Odd ran into the Core Zone room, the first latter surging with excitement. She was ready.

Aelita spotted the key mechanism. "Look! The key—it's up there."

Odd and Cassidy looked too.

"This is almost  _too_  easy," Odd said, and turned to his novia. "Are you ready to sink your claws in this one, Cassidy?"

"That's new. I've never heard that one before," Cassidy cocked her head to one side. "Yes, I am ready."

So she turned her tube into a gun and started her ascent. "And Odd and Aelita, when the Creepers arrive, give 'em all you got!"

"Roger, señorita," Odd saluted.

The Creepers arrived as Cassidy predicted. Aelita made the first move. "Energy field!" She deployed one and hit one on a rebound.

"Good job, Aelita," Cassidy smiled. "Odd, hit the one in front of you!"

Odd did and it disintegrated.

Two of them regrouped and started roaring to each other as if they were having an easily unpleasant conversation.

"Bizarre," Aelita commented as Odd readied for another shot.

Then two more came.

"You'd think they were surprised to see us!" Aelita continued.

"And Jeremie will be surprised, too, but that don't matter right now," Cassidy yelled as she started to jump more.

"Sorry! We're not disturbing you, are we?" Odd said to the Creepers, then shot a few more times.

Two more Creepers were out. Then two more Creepers came in.

"Oh, holy Jeeps," Cassidy groaned, shooting her gun at one of them with her tail.

**-With Ulrich and Yumi-**

Yumi and Ulrich found the tower using their vehicles. "I see the tower."

"So do I, but I also see a welcoming committee," Yumi said.

Along the ground, there were two Bloks, looking for a fight.

"Did you get hold Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita," Ulrich asked.

" _Not a word. I'll try again. Stay in position for now, and don't get devirtualized,"_  Jeremie told the two.

"We'll try," Ulrich muttered.

**-Back to Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

Cassidy worked to get to the key mechanism, a few times narrowly avoiding the fray below. She shot at one Creeper about to fire at her. "If I devirtualized now, Jeremie's going to wonder about Odd and Aelita," she whispered to herself. "Plus he would read me the 30,000 word Riot Act about how we should not conduct Lyoko missions without supervision and permission. Man that would be a real big shock and surprise."

She kept jumping up and up to get to the button. When she was next to it, she said, "Aelita, Odd, run."

She reached out, jumped, and hit the mechanism, stopping the countdown.

Landing, Cassidy met up with Odd and Aelita and ran with them to the elevator room.

**-Jeremie-**

All of a sudden, a screen came up, surprising Jeremie. "Huh? What is going on around here?"

Typing on the computer at more than 50 words a minute he was instantly surprised. "Holosphere system online?" Then he saw what looked to be two green arrows and one yellow one. That angered Jeremie a little. "I don't  _believe_  this! They're already there,  _the traitors!_ "

**-Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy-**

" _Aelita, Cassidy, Odd, I know you're there!"_  Jeremie sounded from Sector 5.

Aelita clenched a fist.

" _For your information, while you're out there having a ball, XANA happens to be attacking…"_

"I knew that, but we…" Cassidy whispered to Aelita and Odd, but not to Jeremie.

"… _Ulrich and Yumi are already on the spot,"_  Jeremie told them.

"What do we do now, Cassidy and Aelita?" Odd knew that they all were caught.

"Let's go," Aelita and Cassidy chorused together as the three jumped into the elevator.

" _As soon as you get to the Dome, I'll program two vehicles and then I'll open up a tunnel. The activated tower is in the Mountain Sector, okay? Now get going!"_  Jeremie came on.

Cassidy was still reverberating with excitement, but she didn't know why.

They went up to the Dome and the OverWing and OverBoard were there in no time. Odd and Aelita went together on the OverBoard while Cassidy took the OverWing.

While they were in the "air" Aelita noticed something. Cassidy noticed it too. "Look, Odd."

Odd saw three Mantas near the entrance of the Core. "They're not attacking, it must be a game!"

"Jeremie, we just spotted some flying Mantas in the south pole of the Dome. They seem to be guarding the entrance!" Aelita told Jeremie.

" _Now that is not a good sign…Hold on. I'll check it out,"_  Jeremie said.

Cassidy gasped. "IT'S THE CORE! XANA's attacking it!" Her eyes were now sepia brown. "Jeremie's right. It's not a good sign."

" _You were right! The tower in the Mountain Sector was just a diversion!"_

"Let's get the core, then we'll worry about the tower and Franz Hopper later," Cassidy promised.

"Okay, we're on it!" Odd told him and her.

**-Yumi and Ulrich-**

Yumi avoided two lasers, whipped out her fans and used them to defend herself.

Ulrich lost his sword when a Blok shot it out of his hand.

She threw one and destroyed the one on her left, then, seeing him without a sword, telekinetically gave him his sword, whereas he grabbed and stabbed the one on his right. "IMPACT!"

After it was destroyed, Ulrich took the time to compliment. "Your telekinesis thing is really cool."

" _Ulrich, Yumi! Change of plans! Listen up. Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita are in Sector 5. You gotta get over there. They need some help."_

That confused Ulrich. "What? What's going on?"

" _I'll tell you all about it later, but for now, get going!"_

**-Sector 5-**

Laser fire overtook the three Lyoko warriors. Apparently Odd said that they should barge their way through. "Odd, it's suicide!"

"You're kidding? This is a snap, Aelita." Odd maneuvered his way from the Mantas.

**-Back to Yumi and Ulrich-**

"XANA really outsmarted us. While we were busy in the Mountain Sector, he was free to attack the Core of Lyoko!" Yumi said.

" _Yeah but he didn't count on three scanner stowaways already being in Sector 5…fortunately,"_  Jeremie told the two.

"So you're not mad then?" Ulrich was half-hopeful, half-not.

" _Not a chance. In fact, as soon as they get here, they'll each receive a big kiss,"_  Jeremie said sarcastically.

**-Back to Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy-**

Two Mantas were destroyed, one by laser arrow, the other by bullet.

**-Back to Ulrich and Yumi-**

Ulrich and Yumi neared the edge of the Mountain Sector.

" _Are you at the extreme edge of the sector?"_  Jeremie asked.

"Sir, yes, sir," saluted Ulrich, standing by with Yumi.

" _Okay, then I'll enter the code SCIPIO."_

Soon the Transporter was present and whisked the two warriors to their destination.

**-To Odd and the girls-**

Odd got hit on his hand. "These guys are tough to get a handle on."

"You know you could throw one of your shoes  **(A/N: Yes, Odd has shoes to accompany his ninja costume. They just aren't mentioned much. End A/N)**  at them," Aelita suggested, throwing an energy field at the last one, and hitting it.

"Very funny, I can do better than that. LASER ARROW!" Odd called, but something shot him off balance.

"Odd," Aelita cried.

But Odd devirtualized before Cassidy could think to save him.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd fainted after he got out of the scanner.

**-Back to the arena-**

Yumi and Ulrich were dropped off and they waited for the walls to open up for them.

" _Hurry up! Cassidy and Aelita are all alone!"_  Jeremie told them.

The two ran as soon as the walls opened.

**-Back with Cassidy and Aelita-**

Cassidy and Aelita entered into the Core as quickly as they could.

**-Lab-**

"And the first shield layer of the Core of Lyoko has just given away!" He panicked.

**-Aelita and Cassidy-**

They saw three Mantas trying to destroy the Core's second shield layer.

" _Aelita! Cassidy! Where are you?"_  Jeremie asked.

"In trouble," Aelita said.

Cassidy cocked her .22 ultra-rifle. "This looks like a job for three girls and a boy since we lost Odd in battle."

They rushed up the stairs as fast as they could. Aelita aimed an energy field at a Creeper and destroyed it. Cassidy took out one of the Mantas using her ultra-rifle.

That got the enemies' attentions. The last Mantas swooped down to the two, unfriendly.

Aelita used two energy fields as a shield while the second girl was pounding another two Creepers.

" _Hang on, girls. Ulrich and Yumi are on their way!"_

"I know that is true," the psychic cat girl was power plowing away. "But I also know that you will kill Odd, Aelita, and I as soon as Aelita and I hit Earth."

" _No…what gives you that impression?"_  she could hear a cunning smirk in the question.

"Because you told Ulrich and Yumi that you would kiss us for being stowaways."

There was a sound of a palm hitting forehead.  _"Your psychic powers are so stubborn to you."_

"I don't spoil them every day. I hardly spoil them at all!"

Soon Ulrich and Yumi joined the two. Yumi turned to Cassidy first. "You have a lot of explaining to do when we get home."

"I know that, Yumi. I should've let Odd and Aelita go and then blurt my predictions to you guys, spoiling Odd and Aelita's plan. But since I yelled at Jeremie, I became a tag-along."

Ulrich stabbed a Creeper through its "chest" cavity, watched it explode, and then deflected another two shots from two more of its kind, killing them in the process.

Then he raced up to Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy's level using his Super Sprint, stabbed the Manta through the "heart", and turned to them. "Did we miss much of the show?"

"No, just the opening act," Aelita smiled.

A roar caught their attention. "My saber," Ulrich groaned as they were cornered by a Creeper.

Cassidy raised her ultra-rifle and shot the creature.

" _Nice one, everybody. Aelita, you know that you still have a tower to deactivate. But if you want to stop at the terminal first to collect some new data on Franz Hopper, I mean…if you want to…"_  Jeremie was getting nervous.

Aelita thought on the subject and shrugged a bit, smiling. "Yeah…why not?"

**-Later that night-**

Ulrich and Odd were in their dorm room. The samurai warrior was getting curious and suspicious. "Okay, then, so what's this miracle cure Cassidy gave you?"

"Hold on. I did tell you it's a surprise," Odd smiled. "Now close your eyes, Ulrich."

"I'd rather close my nose, I think," the boy joked.

The jokester of the group put on some of Cassidy's solution.

A few seconds later, Ulrich sniffed and whiffed something sweet-smelling. "Whoa! Is that the solution that Cassidy gave you?" he asked, liking some of the smell.

Kiwi sniffed, too, but ignored it.

"It's lotion. Very effective, huh? Now my feet don't smell at all," Odd smiled.

"That's great!" Ulrich smiled. "Now we can get some peace at night."

**-With Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

Jeremie was typing away at the new data that Aelita had found. "Any luck?" Aelita asked.

"Just wait," her roommate soothed. "Jeremie will, in a few minutes, have the same answer I do."

Jeremie stopped his typing and then did some clicking around. "No…nothing."

"Soon there'll be something." Cassidy's eyes clouded a little, and then came back to regular color.

He did some more clicking with his mouse as the pink-haired girl paced around. Picking up something, he said, "Hey, what's that?"

"What have you found?" she asked.

"A DNA code sequence of Franz Hopper!" the brown-haired girl smiled.

"You were right again, Cassidy and Aelita," Jeremie complimented.

"My father might be alive somewhere on Lyoko!" the pink-haired girl turned to the brown-haired one as the two girls locked shocked eyes with each other.


	34. Whoa! There's a Pretender in our midst

**Ah…a Pretender is in our midst, eh? Let the Lyoko Warriors handle it.**

**Code Lyoko is not mine. Cassidy and the plot are mine.**

**-On top of a park street-lamp-**

A crow landed on top of a park street-lamp, not knowing that  **XANA was going to play.**

**He possessed the bird as it let out a squawk.**

**-Jeremie's room-**

The super-scan showed an activated tower.

**-In the boys' bathroom-**

The three Lyoko Warrior men were in there, brushing their teeth. Odd and Ulrich were doing Lyoko scores.

"Forget it, Ulrich," Odd said. "Your saber may have some class, but, compared to my laser arrows, your monster count is way behind mine."

"Oh, yeah, I bet you forgot that my saber saved your life from a quick game over from last time," Ulrich said.

"Don't forget Cassidy's record," Odd sighed with an air of reverie. "87 Megatanks from  _one_  warrior; now that's what I call a record." He smiled, putting his toothbrush in his mouth to brush his teeth once more.

"Only because you're boyfriend-girlfriend!" Ulrich bantered seriously.

Odd's smile faded and his eyebrows shot up in worry. "How did you know that?"

"I found a translator on the web and found what those words meant that you and Cassidy had been talking in Spanish for. I can't believe that you are dating her behind Sam's back!" Ulrich scolded.

"Sam knows, Ulrich. We talked it through." Odd was still flabbergasted.

Jeremie removed his toothbrush from his mouth. "You know what? I may have a little statistics program that I'm using to record your performances on Lyoko for the past few weeks. So tonight, if you want, we could compare and see who's best, okay?"

"That's great, I love stats! Finally, I have proof of my superiority, but in any event, I've got something that you'll never have, good buddy, and that's 'style'." Odd twirled his toothbrush around in the direction of Ulrich.

"Style, my friend? Doesn't impress a Megatank," his samurai buddy retorted calmly.

Nicholas and Hervé happened to walk by. "Hey, what's all this about a Megatank, huh? You talking about a videogame?"

Odd and Ulrich knew that they'd been caught. But Odd, being Odd, had a good excuse to get out of that one. "Yeah, 'Teddy Bear Heaven'—way too complicated for you!"

"You're funny, Della Robbia," Hervé sarcastically said as the two left.

Johnny came in. "Um…Ulrich, have you got a minute? Can I talk to you in private?"

Ulrich cocked a brow.

**-In his and Odd's room-**

Ulrich opened his closet. "I'm listening."

"Uh, well, you're um…Cassidy's best friend, aren't you?" Johnny was sitting on the bed.

"Yeah, I am friends with her," Ulrich kept his cool around him.

"Um…um…what I wanna say um…is that…when I see Cassidy…I'm…well, I'd like to…you remember the episode of  _Hospital of Horrors_  that was on last week?" the poor boy was so nervous.

"Huh? You'd like to give Cassidy a transfusion of French poodle's blood?" Then Ulrich shuddered because he knew that Cassidy would probably freak about that.

"No, no, I mean at the end—what happens between Stacy and Dr. Shrank."

"Listen, I don't remember what happened at the end, and I don't know what you're talking about," Ulrich put on his shirt and closed his closet. "And they've got pancakes for breakfast, so, hurry up, will ya?"

He walked out of the room.

**-Later-**

Ulrich walked down the stairs to his awaiting friends.

"You look happy, for a change!" Odd noted the smile on his friend's face. "What's going on? What did Johnny want?"

"Just to talk. He's totally flipped out over Cassidy," Ulrich got down to the bottom step.

"That's adorable," Aelita warmly said, "so what did you tell him?"

"You didn't let him down gently without laughing at him?" Jeremie put in his two-cents.

"You kidding? I wasn't going to pass this up. I told him to follow her twenty-four hours every day non-stop," Ulrich shrugged with a smile.

"That wasn't very cool, Ulrich. Cassidy hates to be followed around. She still has that kidnapping fear after what happened last time," Aelita scolded. "She'd probably tell him to get lost!"

"So what if she does," Ulrich asked.

"You know, Ulrich, you can be a real jerk sometimes," Jeremie came in.

"Hey, it's just a little hazing. I got hazed when I was in seventh grade," Ulrich's smile was now a frown.

"Hazing, huh? Sounds more like selfishness to me," Odd put in and walked off. "I don't believe it. You flip out even if Kiwi looks at Yumi."

"Hey, don't forget that Yumi and I are boyfriend-girlfriend now," he retorted.

**-Meanwhile-**

Cassidy and Yumi looked up from studying in the library for an English project to find that a crow had landed on the outside window sill. Cassidy found it a bit suspicious, but then… "Hi, Cassidy." She looked to see Johnny.

"Hi, Johnny," she whispered.  _Let me guess…Ulrich. Oh, well, I don't blame him. Johnny's flipped out over me._  She sighed in her thoughts as if a little saddened.

"'Mind if I sit down next to you for a second, Cassidy?" Johnny asked. "It's really nice to see you."

"Not at all, Johnny boy!" she used her almost-correct Southern accent. "And it's nice to see you, too."

"You know, I love to read, too," he smiled, noticing her  _Outsiders_  book by S. E. Hinton.

"It's really great. Two-Bit is awesome," Cassidy smirked.

"I read all kinds of stuff—books, magazines, comics—do you like comics?" he asked.

"Yes, I do," Cassidy nodded. "Only  _X-Men_  comics though."

"I like mangas best. What about you?" Johnny kept staring at her. "I bet you know some great ones. Can you recommend any of them to me?"

"Yes,  _Millennium Snow_  is a good one," she smiled.  _Oh, the joys of having a little tag-along. What fun!_

"We're going to lunch," Yumi stood up and left, Cassidy coming too, and Johnny at their heels.

"I'll go with you two," Johnny said.

**-Lunch-**

Cassidy grabbed a bowl of macaroni and cheese. "I like the idea of self-service, don't you?" Johnny asked her, grabbing the same thing too.

"It's better than nothing, I guess," she smiled.

She then put a plate of chicken on her tray.

"I love chicken, too. They're good for…"

"Fascinating, but we better not hold up the line," Cassidy told her little follower.

**-What's Odd talking about, I wonder-**

"Hey, don't forget that in Sector 5, I took out at least  _three_  flying Mantas in a matter of seconds," Odd cut into his steak.

"I don't trust your count. You stink in math. I prefer Jeremie's stats," Ulrich retorted as Yumi, Cassidy, and Johnny came up the way.

"Where's your table?" Johnny asked. "I'd really like to sit with you."

"Right here," Cassidy smiled.

That surprised the gang minus Ulrich. Cassidy would rather not get followed around than to be that way.

"What?" Cassidy asked her shocked friends. "It's not as if I skipped PE obsessively." She shrugged, seeing that her friends weren't issuing off an answer, went off to get a glass of tea.

"How's it going, Johnny?" Ulrich said.

"I'm not sure, but I have the feeling that she likes what I like," he smiled. "It doesn't seem that I'm getting on her nerves by following her."

Ulrich put a hand on his shoulder. "You know how girls are like. Don't let it get you down, yet, buddy. Now when she gets to the gym, ask her for all kinds of advice."

"Okay…" Johnny said, a tad wary.

The older boy earned little glares from Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, and Yumi.

Cassidy came back with the pitcher of tea. "Good idea!" Johnny smiled. "May I have some tea?"

She smiled. "Yes, you may!" And she poured the tea in his cup as she did hers.

She still winked at Ulrich, as if she was saying  _I know what you are up to, Mister. And, quite frankly, I like it._

**-After the ninth grader's history test-**

"I think I got question two right. I said that China stretched over the large river valleys of Eastern Asia, like the Huang Jo, Cheng Se Cheng, and the Siquanhe," Jeremie said.

"What about you Odd? How did you do on question three?" Aelita asked.

"Simple. I said China was the most populated country in the world with a billion people per square meter." Odd held his drink as did the others. Everyone got a good kick out of that one as they started laughing. "You mean I got it wrong?"

"I guess I was right not to trust your stats, huh?" Ulrich chuckled. He carried on for a little bit, but then noticed a crow joining the other crows on top of the Arches. "Hey guys, have you noticed all those birds; it's kind of bizarre."

Odd chipped in his two-cents. "It reminds me of a film. A dumb flick about where birds attack the heroes. It wasn't even scary."

**-In the gym with Yumi and Cassidy-**

Yumi was doing gymnastics while Cassidy did some improvisational dance moves to the beat of her iPod. The song  _Footloose_  was on her pink Creative Zen. She loved to dance freely and not think of anything, her feet doing time with the beat.

She could detect the sound of someone clapping, so she paused at the end of the second chorus to see Johnny. "Fantastic."

It was only a few months ago when Jeremie said those words after he came out of Limbo. Cassidy smiled at the marvelous memory, and then thanked her cheerer. "Thanks, Johnny. Free dancing is more my comfort zone anyway. It's a lot better than choreographed, I can tell you that."

**-Back to Jeremie, Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd-**

A crow swooped down, pecked Jeremie on the head, with an electric spark, and then went to join the others. The genius of the group caught something in the crow's eyes. The eye of XANA.

"I saw the sign. It was in their eyes. It's XANA," Jeremie said to the three.

Jeremie was correct. The sign showed perfectly in its eyes. It ordered the other crows to come and attack.

"Hurry. They'll peck away at us, until there's nothing left," Odd commanded.

They all ran fast, Ulrich earning a peck from one of the crows, to the factory.

"I take it all back. It wasn't a dumb film after all," Odd yelled. "Head for the passage! I'll try to lure them to my side!" He flipped around and raised his hands to the sky. "Come on, little birdies. Over here!"

The crows swooped on him like vultures over a piece of meat.

Meanwhile the others got to the passage, safe and sound. Ulrich opened the hatch, Aelita stepping inside first, Jeremie coming in second, and the first boy yelled, "Odd! Come on! We're here!"

Odd was now down on the ground. "Just give me a second to finish my acupuncture session!" He grabbed hold of a big stick, stood up, and warded the birds off. He ran then slid on his knees to the sewer entrance and went right in, sealing the entryway before any crows got in.

**-Inside the sewers-**

Jeremie pumped away with his foot on his scooter. "Incredible. I forget to check the super-scan for a few hours and—bang—XANA attack!"

"And with Cassidy being on her Time of Month and everything, her powers are super messed up," Odd told him.

"Don't worry, everything will be just fine once we get the tower deactivated," Aelita told the two boys.

**-Gym-**

Johnny was now playing the song  _Footloose_  from Cassidy's iPod.  _Keep it loose, Johnny_ , he thought to himself.

 _(First!)_  
 _We got to turn you around_  
(Second!)  
You put your feet on the ground  
(Third!)  
Now take a hold of your soul  
(Four! Whoa-oh—oh)  
I'm turning it

 _Loose, footloose_  
Kick off your Sunday shoes  
Please, Louise  
Pull me offa my knees  
Jack, get back  
C'mon before we crack  
Lose your blues  
Everyone cut  
(Footloose, footloose, FOOTLOOSE!)

 _Loose, footloose_  
Kick off your Sunday shoes  
(Going good)  
Please, Louise  
Pull me offa my knees  
Jack, get back  
C'mon before we crack  
Lose your blues

 _Everybody cut, Everybody cut_  
Everybody cut, Everybody cut  
Everybody cut, Everybody cut  
Everybody  
(Everybody!)  
Everybody cut Footloose!

At the end of that, Johnny attempted to do a split, but he accidentally injured himself.

Cassidy and Yumi winced. The poor boy was in pain.

Yumi's phone rang. She picked it up. "Odd?"

Cassidy looked behind her, eyes lightening but not going white. "¡Oh, Madre de Dios! ¡CUERVOS!" she panicked.

"What?" Johnny asked.

"Oh, Mother of God! CROWS!" she squealed.

She grabbed Yumi and bolted out of the gymnasium like two cheetahs.

"Cassidy, Yumi! Wait up!" Johnny told them, finally recovering and running after them.

"No! Don't follow us!" Yumi told him.

Then the crows came burst in. Yumi and Cassidy both dodged—the former using gymnastics and the latter ducking. Yumi pointed in the direction of the door. "Johnny, get going, it's us that they're after!"

Johnny ran for the door, some of the crows following him, too, made it outside, and shut the door, fencing the crows from attacking him.

Yumi broke a window, jumping out and Cassidy followed her. "Something tells me XANA is up to this," Yumi nodded. "Are your powers okay?"

"I don't know, ever since my Time of Month happened between me and Jeremie, my powers have been wackier than whacky neighbors doing cosas locas," her friend responded.

The crows started to follow as the two sped off. "Let's split up! That way one of us gets to the factory with the others." Cassidy had a worried look on her face.

"That's crazy; you can't fight them alone!" Yumi panted.

"Who said I would be fighting?" Cassidy imitated Ulrich for fun.

The two split up, Yumi heading for the boiler room, and Cassidy to the garden shed.

The crows followed Cassidy.

Johnny ran off to get help.

**-Factory-**

Ulrich popped his head out first and saw a multitude of crows. One of them was right in front of him, crossing in front of his path as if guarding.

Everyone came out slowly to see what he was seeing. "I don't believe it!" Odd muttered.

Aelita let out a breath. "We've been through worse. And besides, it's not every day that we get such a big audience." She began to walk carefully through the muster of crows and the boys followed her lead, and before they got close, one of the crows decided to attack.

"We'll delay them. Get to the elevator. See you later," Ulrich told Aelita and Jeremie.  **(A/N: LOL, Ulrich rhymes)**

Odd put up a fighting stance. "Over here! We're waiting!"

Ulrich put up a stance, too.

Jeremie and Aelita made it to the elevator, but saw Ulrich and Odd getting pummeled by the birds as they slid down the ropes.

As the lift was about to close, Jeremie yelled, "Ulrich! Odd! HURRY UP!"

Ulrich was down first in a matter of seconds. Odd was second. They slid into the elevator like two people aiming for home plate in a partnered version of baseball as it almost made its descent.

The beaks made indents in the metal.

Odd decided to brag. "I took out five of them. What about you?"

"I don't know, but if you're trying to cheat, don't forget that the birds aren't part of the stats, only monsters sent by XANA," Ulrich reminded them.

"Yumi and Cassidy are all on their own. I hope they're okay!" Aelita called one of them on her pink cell phone.

**-Cassidy-**

She managed to get in the garden shed when her phone rang. She ran in, barred the door, and barely avoided getting grazed by one of the crows' beaks. She ducked, and gradually sunk down into a little whirl of unconsciousness.

**-Yumi-**

She managed to go into the supercomputer lab to wait out her friends.

**-To the four on-their-way Lyoko warriors-**

Aelita didn't get an answer, but Cassidy's voicemail, "Hola, you've reached Cassidy's cell phone. Leave a message."

She stopped the call. "There's no answer."

The elevator stopped and opened to reveal Yumi in front of the door. "Cassidy's doing all she can right now. She's a little busy at the moment," Yumi explained, panting.  **(A/N: She used the rubber dinghy from last time to get into the Lab, don't ask how she got there. Just go with it)**

"You should rest," Ulrich told her.

"As for Cassidy, don't worry. I'll virtualize you in the vicinity of the activated tower, and then I'll call Cassidy," Jeremie told everyone, Yumi taking a seat in one corner of the lab, trying to catch her breath.

He turned around.

**-To Cassidy's dilemma-**

"Más tarde," she muttered in Spanish under her almost nonexistent breath, looking at her phone.

Then a muster of crows started to attack Cassidy.

They pecked her so much that she dropped her phone. She started to black out as she was pinned against the door.

**-With the half-pecked Lyoko Gang-**

Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich were on Lyoko's Desert region, thanks to Jeremie. The OverBike and OverBoard were there in instant.  _"The activated tower is south, southwest in a crater."_

"Start up the stat program, Einstein!" Odd told his buddy.

"You're going to cry when you see the results," Ulrich got on his vehicle.

"I doubt it buddy, but besides I don't cry when I get bad grades do I?" Odd sped ahead with Aelita on his vehicle.

"If you did you'd have drowned in your tears ages ago," Ulrich retorted, catching up to them.

" _You can start earning your points now!"_  Jeremie told them over the intercom.  _"XANA's sent you a big welcome party of Krabes."_

Odd gained altitude with his passenger. "Let's go, Ulrich. I'll leave you the claws!"

Ulrich revved his engine up with one of the handlebars. "We'll see about that."

As he caught up with his ninja buddy, Odd decided to still speed ahead. "May the best man win, and that's me. Bye! BANZAI!"

The samurai scowled. "Cheater!"

The ninja looked ahead, but not behind, himself as he searched for the Krabes. "Huh? But where are they? I don't see anything!"

All of a sudden, four lasers came up from behind and shot Odd's prized OverBoard. The two fell off the vehicle.

Ulrich, now catching up, had some concern on his face.

He then circled to look at Odd. "Is that what you mean by 'style', huh?"

"Go on then," Odd shouted. "See if you can do any better!"

Ulrich dived to the bottom of the crater then revved up to get near the enemies, unsheathing his saber.

He cut the undersides of three Krabes.

**-What happened on the too-action-y Earth?-**

"What's all this about crows with red eyes?" Jim asked Johnny, walking up to the garden shed with Mr. Delmas.

"But it's true, I swear. They flew into the gym and attacked Yumi and Cassidy! Yumi escaped, but I don't know about Cassidy!" Johnny said.

They saw the broken windows of the garden shed.

"Look at the windows," Johnny told them.

Jim touched the door and a storytelling of crows came rushing out, wild for their next target.

"There, ya see?" Johnny told Mr. Delmas after the muster was gone.

**-Jeremie-**

He tried for Cassidy's number, but still had no answer from her.

**-Jim, Johnny, and Jean-Pierre Delmas-**

Jim walked inside to find Cassidy, battered, bruised, and unconscious, on the floor of the garden shed. "Cassidy!" he was concerned.

She couldn't respond.

Her phone rang and Mr. Delmas noticed it right away. He picked it up. "Hello?"

**-Jeremie-**

"Mr. Delmas? Is that you?" Jeremie was concerned. Did something happen to Cassidy?

" _Yes, it's me,"_  said the same.

"Uh…do you know where Cassidy is?" Jeremie asked him.

**-Back to the aftermath-**

"Yes, she's here…in the tool shed, and she's been hurt!" Mr. Delmas's voice kept rising as if he was angry with the person on the other end.

"Mr. Delmas, we have to get her to a hospital," Jim told the school principal, taking Cassidy's pulse.

"Listen, Belpois, I'm too busy to talk to you at this time. I have to call an ambulance…"

**-To Jeremie-**

"… _so hang up, please!"_

Jeremie hung up the phone with Mr. Delmas.

"Ulrich! Odd! Aelita! Can you hear me?" Jeremie almost sounded like he was ready to get emotional.

Yumi got up and started to caress one of Jeremie's shoulders. She had overheard the phone call, too, and was starting to get that way too.

"Cassidy's been hurt. I have to launch a return to the past," he continued. "First you need to deactivate the tower, fast!"

**-Back to the MUCH-NEEDED Lyoko action-**

"Okay," Ulrich said.

Aelita was rushing to get into the tower when a Krabe came out of nowhere and started to fire, stopping her in her tracks. She jumped over to Odd who was getting ready to shoot some arrows.

"Leave it to me!"

Odd looked up in confusion and saw that Ulrich came back again to get rid of that Krabe. He revved up, jumped from his vehicle, stabbed the monster in the eye-like symbol, flipped in the air, touched back down to the OverBike, and watched the Krabe explode. "Bull's Eye!" Ulrich saluted.

Across the way, Odd put his hands on his hips. "That's not fair!" he protested.

A laser hit his friend's OverBike, making him sprawl out across how little land there was. Odd taunted his buddy. "Ha, ha!" and Odd laughed so hard that his guts would have started hurting if pain was increased on Lyoko.

Then a few laser shots got in and Odd got hit in the stomach, causing  _Ulrich_  to taunt him.

Two Krabes hit the playing field.

" _Ulrich and Odd, would you mind concentrating. Do I need to remind you that there's a_ tower _to deactivate if you want to save Cassidy?"_  Jeremie reminded the combating duo, almost close to tears.

Odd bounded, flipped and shot three "LASER ARROWS!" at another Krabe. He then took this time to brag. "That's one less monster. Odd the Great, the Brave, the Magnificent has finally overcome his handicap and now has caught up with his opponent…" something ending with an -ly, "of course, as Odd…" he got shot by a laser and was devirtualized.

Ulrich ran in front of his pixilated buddy and said, "So long, Odd, the Mega—ugh!" he forgot about the monster that devirtualized his friend. And so he tried to deflect the Krabe's shots when he got hit in the shoulder.

" _Careful, Ulrich. You're losing too many life points."_

Ulrich rolled over and jumped using his hands and feet to avoid the Krabe's next laser when a pink orb hit the beast dead center. It was destroyed in a matter of seconds.

He looked to Aelita, the source of the energy field. "Hey, Aelita, you're cheating."

 _Cheating? She hasn't had a move all day!_  Cassidy's random words worked their way to Ulrich's mind.

"Yeah, I know, but you guys are just too clumsy." She winked and went off to deactivate the tower.

" _Nice one, Aelita!"_  Jeremie was impressed, even though emotional.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Jeremie and Yumi heard the squawking of crows, and their relief was almost short lived when the muster started to attack.

**-Inside the soon-to-be deactivated tower-**

Aelita entered the Lyoko Code.

"Tower deactivated!"

She then exited the tower. "It's okay, Jeremie. You can launch a return to the past, now," Ulrich assured. Then Hornets arrived. "Jeremie? Jeremie! Do you read us, Jeremie?" He blocked a few shots and Aelita shot an energy field.

**-In the ambulance-**

Cassidy was now on the stretcher as Johnny sat by, watching her signs. The ambulance doors closed.

The principal and Jim were outside as the ambulance raced away.

"Can you make anything out of this attack by birds with electric beaks, Jim?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"No, I've never seen anything like it, sir. Except when I investigated paranormal phenomena for a highly secret service section," Jim answered.

"I didn't know that!"

"I did, but I'd rather not talk about it. It's a classified defense secret," Jim told him.

**-Back where Odd comes up-**

Odd came up to see Yumi with minor injuries but Jeremie unconscious. "Yumi! Are you okay?" Odd asked.

"They didn't attack me as much as Jeremie. I'm okay, but he isn't. He's out cold," the only girl in the lab pointed to the genius.

"I don't believe this!" he groaned as if queasy. "Jeremie!"

"We better try to get him up. Only he knows how to do a return to the past," Yumi told him.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich and Aelita were doing their best to dodge the enemies. She shot an energy field at one but got caught by the Schyphozoa. "Ulrich!"

He was busy blocking shots of the Hornets, but heard her pleas. "AELITA!" he shouted, but had to block more shots.

One Hornet shot his saber up into the air. Another one shot it higher and the others joined in until his sword vanished.

"Oh, no!"

" _Ulrich, can you hear me?"_  Odd asked through the intercom.  _"Jeremie's out cold! The birds have attacked him."_

"Oh, great! XANA's captured Aelita, I've got Hornets on my tail, and my saber's gone," Ulrich listed. "Do something."

" _I'd love to, but the supercomputer's programs aren't exactly my thing. I can try to get your saber back,"_  Odd was right to be worried.

**-Lab-**

Odd, trying his hardest to help, tried to type on a program.

**-Back to the task at hand on Lyoko-**

A Manta came from the lip of the crater and swooped to be underneath the Schyphozoa.

Ulrich saw that. "Oh, NO!" he tried to rush over there, but two Hornets blocked his path.

The jellyfish-like monster set XANA-Aelita down on the Manta and the two were off.

"I don't believe this!" he growled as the Hornets came to join the Manta and its rider. "SUPER SPRINT!"

He used his ability to attempt to follow them.

**-Along the way-**

Johnny was still sitting in the ambulance, wiping Cassidy's forehead with a cloth, when she came to. "Johnny?" she winced as a wave of pain ricocheted throughout her system. "You're still with me?" She winced again.

"Sure, I am. I wouldn't leave you, Cassidy," Johnny smiled.

She managed a small smile. "It takes…" wince "…a great deal of bravery…" wince "…to stand up to your enemies. A little…" another wince "…more to stand up to your friends. If I were Dumbledore, I would have awarded you more than seventy points for doing so."

"Ulrich said…"

"I know—" she hissed in pain—"I know what he said. I'm…psychic. He told you to follow me around." She took a gasp of breath. "I…I don't mind it."

**-Back on Lyoko and with a saber-less Ulrich (not as a tease)-**

Ulrich was still following the trail of three Hornets and one Manta. He jumped up, using the Hornets as stepping stones, and kicked the Manta, making it drop its passenger at once.

Dropping down, he rushed over, and grabbed the falling Aelita at once, setting her on the ground, gently.

But what he didn't see was her eyes. They showed the blatant eye of XANA. She charged up an energy field and almost fired when Ulrich Super Sprinted to his left.

"I may not have my saber, but I can still run," he taunted a little.

She fired anyway and Ulrich dodged, yelling what sounded like a "HOLY!" in the process.

"Odd, we can't take the chance of Aelita going into the way tower," Ulrich informed his amigo. "You gotta try to launch a return in time."

" _I thought we were never to do that while she's under XANA's control!"_  Odd said.

She fired again and he dodged. "Well at least try to program me a saber. Cassidy's EMP bullets aren't available right at the moment."

" _I'm almost there! And here we go!"_

Ulrich saw his saber come back to his hand ("Okay, great, Odd!"), but when he tried to grasp it, it disappeared. "Huh? Okay, I take that back."

" _Uh…sorry!"_  Odd sounded shameful.

He looked to see Aelita running to the way tower. He had to stop her, or at least slow her down, so he tripped her, using his Super Sprint, and she went sprawling. A laser tried to connect to him, but he managed to dodge. The Manta tried again, but this time, Ulrich tried to use the hostage technique, only without the gun.

He tried to aim Aelita toward the Manta to get a fair shot.

**-Lab-**

"Let's see, how are we going to get out of this one?" Odd asked to himself.

Yumi was trying to wake Jeremie up.

He then got an idea.

"It's time for some strong arm tactics!"

**-Back to Cassidy and Johnny-**

Johnny patted the hand with the IV, trying to keep the psychic girl from giving out. He looked to the vital signs as did she. Cassidy tried to keep from blacking out.  _This Christian heart's not giving in. Never. I'm going to fight._  The girl's thoughts kept her from surrendering to her condition.

She started to weakly sing,  _"Towards her dream of breaking ribbons In a 100-yard dash_  
Going all the way with her amigos out back  
She believes one day she'll stand up And walk away from this pain and scares  
She's got faith, she's got hope And all her momma's prayers  
She's not jaded or bitter She's gonna leave the givin' up  
For the quitters."

"That's beautiful, Cassidy," Johnny said. "And you won't give up, right?"

"Never!"

**-Back to Lyoko, then-**

XANA-Aelita elbowed Ulrich in the gut, causing him to let go. She turned around, started an energy field, and tried to fire at him. He moved away, but the energy field collided with the kopje and made a massive hole in the rock formation. Several shards flew out and one landed in front of Ulrich. It was a shard that would compensate for his missing saber.

A few more shards fell near him.

Laser fire took hold. "You're beginning to get on my nerves," he singsonged, grabbing hold of the shard and using it as his weapon.

He jumped on the Manta. One Hornet tried to get him. He dodged. "Aw, you missed," he smart-mouthed as another one tried to get him. He ducked. "Missed again! Tough break!"

The last one tried to get at him from behind, but was whacked back into a rock formation.

Ulrich flipped his shard around and stabbed the Manta with it.

**-Back at the lab-**

Odd was trying to get Jeremie to wake up while Yumi watched. "Come on, Jeremie. This is the tenth slap. Don't tell me you need a real smash." He drew back and, as the genius came back to consciousness ("Odd!" Jeremie had said), almost slapped him.

"Are you crazy, or what?" Jeremie asked.

Odd covered his teeth. He had almost smacked him when he was conscious.

**-Back to Cassidy's condition-**

The heart monitor showed Cassidy's vital signs slowing down. She slowly drew into the realm of unconsciousness. "Cassidy!" Johnny tried to get her up, petting her hand again.

**-Lyoko's strong dilemma-**

Aelita was running to the way tower again. Ulrich got in her way. "I'm not going to let you through, Aelita." He then was shot by a Hornet. She took the opportunity to go to the way tower.

He threw the shard at the last two Hornets. Both of them destroyed on impact. "One…two…but," Ulrich looked back. "Oh, no!"

Aelita was now close to the tower as she entered.

**-Back with Cassidy-**

Cassidy's eyelids started to shut. Johnny was trying to keep her awake with tears in his eyes. "Hang in there, Cassidy!"

Her face was paling.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Aelita, under XANA's control, entered the CODE: XANA.

**-Where Ulrich's at-**

" _Ulrich,"_  Jeremie said.  _"I'm ready for action again. Tell me what's going on. Do you need help?"_

The tower dissolved into nothingness and an un-possessed Aelita dropped out.

"Too late," Ulrich muttered in a whisper.

He ran and said to Aelita, "Come on, Aelita. This is no time to drag your feet." The pink-haired girl got to her feet as the two ran from the disappearing sector.

**-Now at the Hospital-**

The doctors were assessing Cassidy's condition. "What do we have here?"

"Adolescent girl, fourteen, multiple injuries, unconscious," the paramedic listed to the first doctor.

**-Back at the lab-**

"It's all over," Jeremie sounded despondent.

"For the Desert Sector, yes. But for Cassidy, I hope not, so move it," Odd put a hand on his friend's shoulder then removed it as Jeremie typed on the keyboard.

"Return to the Past, now," Jeremie said.

**-Back in time-**

"Very funny, Della Robbia," Hervé said. They were all back to that morning.

Jeremie came in. Ulrich was worried. "Well?"

"It's okay. Cassidy's going to be fine. And she didn't mind you having Johnny tag-alongside her. She's not angry at all," Jeremie soothed.

Odd spat out some toothpaste at the mirror in shock. "What? She didn't mind it?"

"She isn't even furious. She said it was like having a little brother…one that she might never have until later in the future, when she's an adult," Jeremie added.

"Huh, so our warnings were false. It might be different if Yumi took the blow," Odd was still in shock.

Johnny came in. "Um…Ulrich, have you got a minute? Can I talk to you in private?"

"No problem," Ulrich smiled in his direction.

**-To Ulrich and Odd's room for the second time this chapter-**

"Well, you see, um…when I see Cassidy, well…um…" Johnny started again.

"Okay," Ulrich said. "I get it, you like her. And you don't know how to get her to notice you, right?"

"Well, that's it, but how did you guess?"

"Instinct," Ulrich covered up Lyoko very well. "There's one thing that can't fail."

"'Sure?"

"She's going to love it, trust me. Now you gotta go find her."

**-Back to the Library-**

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Johnny asked Cassidy when he came to her.

"Not at all, Johnny boy," Cassidy smiled, using her almost-correct Southern accent that she grew to love. "We can file the Soc and Greaser gangs together. You don't mind, do you, Yumi?"

"Not at all," Yumi smiled.

The little boy opened his mouth to speak, but Cassidy said with a cheerful voice, "Yes, you and me together. Now come on!"

Johnny sat down and helped the girls. "Wow! That Ulrich really rocks."

"You are right about that," Cassidy smiled.

**-That afternoon-**

"Hey, guys, I got the latest stats from Lyoko battles," Jeremie held a piece of paper.

"Ready to eat your hat, good buddy?" Odd gloated to his opponent.

"You're the one who's not going to be able to digest this!" Ulrich turned to him.

Jeremie glared a little at the two boys and read off, "The Lyoko Warrior who has outclassed all the others is... Aelita!"

Aelita and Jeremie exchanged laughs and high fives.

"I don't believe in statistics. They don't mean a thing. That's not the way to determine a real Lyoko hero," Odd said, a little down on the statistic showing.

"Yeah, for once, I agree with you Odd," Ulrich agreed, but then realized. "Aw crap."

"What?" Odd asked.

"Last night, Cassidy made another bet with me. Now I have to date Yumi!"

**-And I'll leave it up to your devices to determine how well the date went-**


	35. The Secret? William discovered Lyoko!

**Something tells me that the Secret is almost out. Aw, well. I'm going to chalk it all up as unneeded suspicion.**

**Code Lyoko is not mine. Cassidy is.**

**And to the reviewer, kameo, I see your review, but you have to face that I take my time on the fan fiction chapters. I'm human, too, okay? I get done with the chapter I'm on, take a break, then I work on another one. Just one chapter every few days is where I'm at right now. I promise to pick up speed in May or June of 2011.**

**-In Yumi's room-**

Yumi's phone rang and she, albeit groggy, picked up. Hearing Jeremie say "XANA alert", she said, "Okay, Jeremie, I'm on my way."

After getting dressed and sneaking outside in the dead of night, Yumi was about to make her move to the factory when all of a sudden, William ran her over with his skateboard.

"Yumi! What are you doing up so late?" He asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"I wouldn't exactly call this being up, would you?" Yumi snarled.

"Sorry, I was rushing to get back to the dorms. I climbed the wall to see Sky-breaker 4 but it was really lame," he flipped his skateboard to his shoulder.

"The first three were duds, why the big surprise," she said sarcastically.

"I guess I'm just too much of an optimist. Even when things start badly, I always feel they can get better if given time." He smiled.

"Yeah, right, okay, well I gotta go!" She tried to move around him when he put his skateboard in a position that almost said "Ye shall not pass".

"Really? Where to?"

"To save the world. Is that a good enough answer to you?" Yumi growled. Cassidy's ex-boyfriend really needed to move, or else things would get hairier like ugly on an ape. "LET ME GO, WILLIAM!"

"Okay, but before I do, you gotta give me a kiss goodnight," William, over the months, was now infatuated with Yumi. But she still wouldn't give him anything worth monkey-wrenches for what he had done to his previous girlfriend.

She heard Cassidy's words.  _Trick him. Trick him!_  Smirking, she said, "Alright, but first, close your eyes."

"Great. Looks like my evening wasn't a waste after all."

He did so and puckered up. Yumi ding-dong ditched the guy as he was waiting.

"Yumi? Yumi? Yumi!"

**-YAY! Yumi made it to the factory-**

"Here I am, Jeremie. You can send me in!" Yumi got into a ready position in the scanner room.

" _You got here just in time to welcome Aelita, Cassidy, Odd, and Ulrich on their return from Lyoko,"_  Jeremie told her with a smile.

"You already deactivated the tower?" she was in temporary shock.

Ulrich came out. "Hey, Yumi what happened to you?"

Then Aelita came out. "Didn't you hear your cell phone ring?"

Odd's scanner doors opened. "Nothing to worry about. I oversleep about three times a week. Of course, with Ulrich snoring like a grizzly it's a question of survival."

Finally, Cassidy came through. "She was held up by my stupid ex." She muttered something about her ex and something about seventeen thousand hammers.

"Actually, it's not only my sleep that's beginning to bring me down!" Yumi agreed with her recently arrived friend.

**-The next morning with Cassidy and Yumi's PE class-**

"Mathias Durrel."

"Present!"

"Emmanuel Maillard!"

"Present!" He sounded like he had a cold.

"Maetina de Collieur!" Jim called.

"Here!"

William made his way to Yumi. "Hey, you know, last night you pulled a fast one on me. No one has ever humiliated me like that before. What'cha do it for?"

"Because, for one thing, William, you ripped up my friend's heart and the only chance of her ever getting home. And, I find your dumb two-bit Casanova act sickening."

"But I—"

"In the beginning, it was pretty nice, but now I am really fed up."

"You go, Yumi!" Cassidy smiled.

"So why don't you buzz off, William, and leave us alone."

"William Dunbar! WILLIAM DUNBAR!" Jim roared.

"Okay, okay. I'm not deaf. You can see I'm here, can't ya?" William yelled.

Yumi gasped.

Cassidy did a little "yes" of victory to herself. She knew that this was the first time in three weeks that she could do PE without her ex. Her powers told her so.

Jim was not impressed. "Dunbar—to the library—outta my sight. No swimming for you today, you got that?"

William came in between the girls and said, "Anyway, I'd like to know what you had to do that was so important last night, and I'm going to find out what your big secret is." He stormed off. "You can bet on that."

The psychic shivered. Yumi looked to her. "Are you okay?"

"Just a bad feeling, but it'll pass. Besides, I'd rather be synchronized swimming with you today because I feel like it," she nodded.

"I noticed that you didn't get annoyed at Johnny the other day before the return trip. How come? Were you okay?" she wondered.

"Same interests, didn't mind it, and he stayed by my side when I was in the ambulance and hospital. My powers, though slowly whirling out, told me that Johnny was with me when I started to worsen," Cassidy sighed. "If you were in my place, you would be opposite of me. You would be totally annoyed."

Yumi smiled.

"Cassidy McGuire."

"Present and accounted for, Jim."

**-With Jeremie and the others-**

"Don't worry, Jeremie," Aelita told him. "We're going to make a fabulous report."

"Well, we better. It counts for the whole semester," Jeremie was still not moved.

Ulrich came up. "So, what's the latest in the world of Kadic Junior High today?"

"Is Judith Nevers going out with Ronald Limozan?" Odd read off a headline.

"Who are Judith Nevers and Ronald Limozan?" The samurai boy asked.

"How should I know? Anyway, it seems they are going out!" The ninja shrugged.

Jeremie found an  **activated tower.**  "Oh, no, I don't believe it. A XANA alert!"

"Not again!" Ulrich groaned. That was the second attack in a few hours.

"Yeah, and the big problem is Aelita and me can't get out of history class, not this time," Jeremie fretted.

Odd put a hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Einstein. Ulrich and I will go and get ready. When you get there, you can send us to Lyoko, but finish your report as fast as possible."

**-With William-**

-STOMP-

"Second-rate Casanova huh?" William was majorly ticked off at Yumi and her friend.

He noticed Odd and Ulrich going down a sewer route.

"I can't reach Yumi or Cassidy. They're not picking up," Ulrich tried a number.

"What's going on with Yumi, lately? Last night, and then now," Odd disappeared from view as did the samurai warrior.

William watched from his hiding place with a smile on his face. This time he got them right where he needed them.

**-Back with Jeremie and Aelita-**

Aelita put in another side in the projector and pressed a button.

Jeremie stood at the front, ready to give their report of World War I. On the screen behind him, the years 1914-1919 stood on a single slide. He looked back, checking if the projector was projecting the right image, cleared his throat, and asked, "Sir, is it okay if we begin now?" They had to finish fast. XANA was attacking.

"Yes, you may," Mr. Fumet told the two. "But where are Odd and Ulrich?"

"Well sir, they had something important to do, and…"

"More important than my class?"

"Well, actually, I wasn't supposed to tell you, but they're preparing a surprise for your class, Mr. Fumet," Jeremie covered Odd and Ulrich's whereabouts quite well.

"A surprise? What kind of surprise?"

"It's…um…a big historical show in your honor!"

"Oh!" Mr. Fumet was pleasantly stunned. He had no idea that Odd and Ulrich would do such a thing like that. "I'd…never have guessed. I'll excuse their absence this time."

Aelita was now getting annoyed. "And now sir, may we begin?"

"Yes, yes, of course, go on. Tell us everything you know on World War I."

Jeremie had to talk fast. "On June 28th, 1914, a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, nephew and heir to Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph. This took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Political alliances were reinforced and, within a few days, all of Europe became involved. Serbia, Russia, France, and Great Britain were on one side, Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other.

"Italy was initially apart of the Triple Alliance, but then turned coat to join France, Serbia, Russia, and Great Britain. Other countries became part of the conflict. Germany invaded Belgium. Greece, Romania, and the US joined the allies with Turkey and Bulgaria supporting the Central Europe.

The US navy first recruited women."

Everyone was in a frizz, minus Aelita (operating the projector), to get the notes down as fast as Jeremie was talking.

**-JEEZ, Jeremie, SLOW IT DOWN!-**

Odd and Ulrich made their way to the factory using their skateboards with William following far behind them.

**-Dang! Back to Fast Talk Jeremie-**

"The Armistice Treaties, signed in late October and early November of 1918, put an end to the fighting. Survivors of the US army got home in between 1918 and 1919. But peace treaties had to be drawn up for a definitive end to the war that most people hoped to be The War to End All Wars, clearing the way for a lasting peace. Finally in Paris, the victorious countries united in a peace conference with the full creation of the League of Nations. And the adoption of peace treaties submitted to the defeated nations," Jeremie finished, throwing away the notes he had prepared. "I hope that wasn't too long!"

Everyone wasn't so sure about that. Jeremie usually kept a normal pace but today, he was zipping through it as if he didn't have a care.

Aelita turned off the projector.

"Sir, can I go to the infirmary? I have a bit of a headache," Jeremie asked.

"Um…I do, too, sir," Aelita agreed.

Mr. Fumet took off his glasses. "Yes, yes, go on, go on. I'm not feeling too well either all of a sudden."

Aelita and Jeremie left in a hurry. XANA was now in the top position of the priority list.

**-Ulrich and Odd-**

Odd and Ulrich got to the elevator shaft as William followed to the rusty, broken stairs. "Ulrich, try Yumi's mobile again. They're bound to answer sooner or later."

William smirked. This was his "JACKPOT" moment.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"Today, we're going to have a little lesson in synchronized swimming," Jim announced.

Yumi smiled. "You got that one right again, Cassidy," she whispered to her.

"My powers are a little like strong tea."

"And that means, no speed competitions, no stopwatches, just pure grace," the teacher/coach continued. "As Confucius once said, 'A picture's worth a thousand words', here's a demonstration. Admire the finesse." He jumped into the pool and did a kinda less-than-graceful move in the water.

"You know what I think? That's about as graceful as tractor pulling," Yumi whispered to Maetina and Cassidy.

The psychic grinned and tried not to snicker.

Maetina chuckled.

**-With Jeremie and Aelita-**

"Do you think we'll get a good grade? We said all we wanted to, but it was a bit fast," Aelita worried as the two headed into the elevator. William, unseen by the two, found his moment.

"Fumet said a one-page presentation. He didn't give us any time limits," Jeremie reassured.

"It seems that lately XANA's been getting more and more active. We're constantly on Lyoko," Aelita was a little concerned.

William ducked and made it inside the elevator. "Hey, sorry to interrupt but, uh, do you mind telling me who this XANA dude is?"

That was alarming. Another thing on Jeremie's mind was:  _We have to do a return trip._

**-Odd and Ulrich-**

Odd lazily and repeatedly punched the enter key. Ulrich stood by. Then the elevator opened. "Oh, there you are. We already started things up. Your turn, Einstein!" Odd smiled, but then he and the samurai warrior looked at who was there with eyes as wide as a P. Detlefsen portrait.

"What's  _William_  doing here?" The ninja warrior panicked. If Cassidy saw her ex in the factory then she would throw a fit so huge it would send a herd of rhinos to the location of the factory.

"I guess he must've followed you guys," Jeremie pointed to the two.

William looked around himself in awe. "Wow, what is this thing, huh? And what do you guys do in here?"

Ulrich formed a fist and hit inside his palm. "Why don't I clobber him a few times?"

"Yeah, try it if you think you're good enough!" the bitter rival crossed his arms across his chest.

Jeremie had to set the peace. "Calm down, our priority now is the tower."

**-Just a little quick interruption-**

Cassidy shivered again as a spark-flash got on her. Yumi noticed. Maetina was already in the pool. "You okay, Cassidy?"

"He isn't!"

"Who's he?" Now things were growing more concerning.

"William!"

**-Back to the show-**

"Afterwards, a simple return to the past and William won't remember a thing?" Jeremie reassured.

"I wouldn't bet on that, huh," William said. "I remember everything. And I'm great at holding a grudge."

"Like against your ex, huh?" Odd shot back, defending his friend.

"Where are Yumi and Cassidy?" Aelita wondered.

"They're unreachable," was Ulrich's answer.

"So that's their secret. A supercomputer hideout—that's incredible! Now I understand why the girls didn't want to tell me anything." Cassidy's ex walked around the laboratory.

In the middle of it, William gained a flashback.

**FLASHBACK #9**

_He was fighting a girl with Yumi's voice. He was not himself and was controlled by a supernatural force. He had her pinned down, a giant sword above him, and she had time to yelp, "NO WILLIAM! You're a Lyoko warrior! You_ swore _to it!"_

_He stopped instantly._

**END OF FLASHBACK 9**

He came back with a bewildered expression on his face. "Oh…kay?"

"What?" Ulrich now was confused.

"Someone said that I was a Loco warrior and I swore to something," he shook his head.

"We're going to have to make do without them," Jeremie typed on the computer, "but I don't like this at all."

"I can go and get them if you want," William suggested.

The boys all looked to him as if he were nuts. But William knew exactly where Cassidy and Yumi were.

**-Later-**

"I hope he's not going to rat on us to the principal," Ulrich worried.

"That's not his style. And besides, this is an emergency, Ulrich. We need Yumi and Cassidy. We don't know what kind of dirty trick XANA is preparing without Cassidy!" Odd told his buddy.

**-With William-**

He was running fast to the pool whilst a technician stood at the entrance, the sign of XANA in his eyes.

He pressed a button on one of the charges XANA wanted to use.

**-Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd are on Lyoko! In the Ice Sector-**

Aelita, Ulrich, and Odd landed on site.

" _Here come your vehicles!"_  Jeremie announced.

The OverBike and OverBoard showed up in front of the girl and the two boys.

" _The activated tower is in the northern edge of the sector. From where you are you should be able to see its halo,"_  Jeremie told them as the three got on the vehicles (Aelita on the OverBoard).

"Hey, how come you're always right, huh, Einstein?" Odd put a hand on his hip, but everyone knew that he was joking.

"Okay, Jeremie, we're on it!" Ulrich revved up his OverBike.

They started off for the tower.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

The two decided to partner up. They swam as gracefully as they could.

"Be like me. Follow my example—like  _grace_ ," Jim reminded.

"Emergency, Yumi and Cassidy! Let's go! XANA launched an attack!"

 _Oh, CRAP TO THE INFINITY OF MY MIND!_  Cassidy thought in her head. Unfortunately, the two (not just the psychic) let go of their needed oxygen and were starting to swallow the chlorinated water. She flipped Yumi over so the latter could flip the former over. After, she coughed up water.

"Listen, Dunbar, what is this gibberish? You making fun of me or something?" Jim asked.

"No, I mean, not this time!" William smiled.

The coach stood up. "The principal's office, on the double!"

Yumi helped Cassidy to the edge. "You're right, Jim. Because of him, we nearly drowned. Let  _us_  take him to the principal's office, just to make sure he doesn't run away."

An angry fire settled in the psychic's stomach. William was making things worse.

"Good idea! Go ahead, Ms. Ishiyama and Ms. McGuire. That's a very responsible attitude on your parts." He turned to William. "You can learn from their examples, Dunbar."

"Yes, you're right. I know that Cassidy and Yumi have a lot they could fill me in on." That set a ball of icy fear in Cassidy's stomach. Not only had William ruined her PE day, but he had also found out about XANA. And she had a really bad feeling about that.

**-Lyoko-**

" _Watch it. There are Kankrelats just behind you,"_  Jeremie warned.

"Okay, I'll take care of them," Aelita told her savior, taking first crack at one and succeeding. "Energy field."

The Kankrelats came by the multitude.

"Do you know how many of them there are?" she grew concerned.

" _Um…a big gang of them."_

"Thanks. Nothing like precision." She hit another one.

Ulrich tried to take to the air, but two of the little monsters took to each side and held the vehicle down.  **(A/N: To which the author is thinking since when do Kankrelats have brains?)**

He tried to shake them off, but they held on pretty good. Seeing an ice floe, Ulrich got an idea. He used that one to bump the one on his left. It took three tries, but in the end, the dumb monster combusted. He repeated the same trick for the second one. The second one took only one try as it let go and exploded.

He looked back. "Sorry guys, but I don't play Favorite! Same treatment for everyone."

He caught up with Odd and Aelita as three of them tried to jump on his vehicle and missed.

**-Back to the technician-**

The XANAfied technician set up another charge then grabbed another one from his pack and placed it on another part of the factory.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The myriad of Kankrelats were still following the three.

Ulrich had another idea. "Aelita, climb aboard!"

She did so as Odd sped ahead. Aelita was ready with her energy fields as she took out three on her own—two of them direct hits; one of them she missed, but got back in rebellion.

Odd was already far ahead, but noticed a Kankrelat coming. It jumped on, but he had the idea to flick it off with his OverBoard and hit it with a laser arrow.

He soon met up with Ulrich and Aelita. Driving next to them, he wanted to have her back on board. Without reading his thoughts, the samurai nodded. "Go ahead, Aelita. Hop off!"

Aelita did so and rejoined the ninja.

**-Back to that guy-**

All charges were set as the last one was set in place. The XANA-technician then pressed several red buttons on a control box and set the timer to ten minutes. He pressed an orange button, set it down and straightened up.

**-To Lyoko-**

" _You're closing in on it!"_

"Great! Tell that to the Kankrelats. They'll be overjoyed!" Odd pointed behind him and Aelita with his thumb.

Aelita got rid of another one.

They found a path that split two ways.

"We'll go separate ways and meet up on the other side," Ulrich informed Odd.

"Great," he quipped. "Hang tight, Aelita. Ready for some turbulence?"

They sped off over a ramp to the mouth of a cave, as Ulrich took the long stretch of path. Two Kankrelats followed Odd and Aelita.

Meanwhile Ulrich was avoiding getting jumped by Kankrelats.

Odd and Aelita were in the cavern when a laser missed them by mere inches. They saw two Kankrelats following them. One of them shot Aelita off the vehicle, causing her to slide. Odd tried to hold his balance as the two went past. "Since when do Kankrelats have turbo engines?"

 _I don't have a clue, Odd,_  Cassidy's words climbed into his head.

The two Kankrelats tried to shoot at poor Aelita, but gladly, they missed. One of them hit its brethren.

Soon the exit was in plain sight. Aelita shot out first, along with the solo Kankrelat. Odd sped out of there, zipping past the monster, killing it, then diving down to catch the pink-haired falling girl, and catching up with Ulrich, who had just gotten rid of two Kankrelats.

He stopped. "Are you two okay?"

"Sure, no problem," Odd answered.

**-With William, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

William, Yumi, and Cassidy ran to the factory, the girls now in their day clothes.

"I still can't figure out what you guys do in that old, run-down factory," William panted.

"We save the world! Is that legit?" Cassidy scowled.  _Mr. High-and-Mighty-in-the-Britches-Himself._

"And I can't figure out why they allowed you to give us a hand," Yumi panted, stopping for a little bit.

"Maybe it's just because they trust me," William said.

"Like I trusted you!" Cassidy growled. "Justice, like love, is blind."

"Save it, ex-y," William put a hand up to silence his used-to-be lover.

"NO!"

"Not like…"

Yumi had her phone out. "Jeremie, it's me. Um, we're on the bridge."

**-With Jeremie-**

"Odd and Ulrich are now pretty close to the tower," Jeremie informed.

**-Back to the two girls and the only boy-**

"Oh, no, I came too late for the party again," Yumi whined a little.

"And I wanted to get my groove on with the Kankrelats," Cassidy frowned.

"Hey, who's that guy?" William pointed. "One of your super heroes?"

The XANA-technician now stood at attention.

"He's possessed by our enemy!" Cassidy's eyes were a light brown. She was granted the phone and she said, "Jeremie, we're going to be a little late."

**-Jeremie-**

"Okay, you two. Be careful, huh? I'll tell the others that they got to hurry up."

**-Back to Cassidy, Yumi, and William-**

"You mean that that guy is your enemy. An electric company worker?" William taunted.

"You have a tío, right?" Cassidy growled.

"That's so lame. I was expecting something more gory."

The technician dropped his stash and ran up to attack, punching a small pothole in the bridge.

"Okay, I take it all back. He's a super enemy electrical worker," The two girls and the only boy backed up.

"William, that is not XANA's true form," Cassidy warned.

"And how do you know all that?" William asked.

"Because I'm…psychic."

The tech clenched a fist.

**-Back to the Lyoko field with Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita-**

The three got close to the tower, finding that it was being guarded by two Bloks and stopped.

Ulrich had a plan. "Go on, I'll take care of them!" He was about to rev off into the blue sunset when all of a sudden, one of the Bloks got to him first with a fire ring.

Odd and Aelita dodged on the OverBoard.

**-To the scanner room-**

Ulrich came out. "That's pretty sneaky—a hit and run." He clenched a fist.

**-With Jeremie-**

He conjured up Yumi's number. "Yumi, are you and Cassidy still there?"

**-William, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

"Yes, we are, but maybe not for long. This guy's a terror." Yumi and Cassidy both dodged a punch or two from the technician.

"I should've taken Pencak Silat lessons!" The brown-haired psychic girl shouted, dodging a kick.

" _Hang in there. Aelita should be in the tower any minute now!"_  Jeremie reassured in a worried tone.

Yumi got hit and went back and head first into the metal rail of the bridge. Cassidy received a kick to the stomach and flew into her. "Ow." She imitated a Teen Titans character.

"Cassidy, I think you may want to get off me, please."

She scrambled slowly off but received a kick to the head, knocking her senseless. "Where's the coyotes and ravens, Superman. I didn't order a wife, Mr. Tube Sock; I ordered a blanket. MARTY! Your billiard buddy's here!"  **(A/N: for the Wife comment, the Marty shout, and the billiard buddy spoof line, guess where the three are spoofs of.)**

"Let me at him, Cassidy and Yumi. I'll take care of him!" William said.

"And then the song came down. We thought it was a brave…big weaving," Cassidy was still acting ridiculous. That blow to her head really had done her in.

"William, don't!" Yumi shouted.

He jumped up, tried to land a kick, got caught and then thrown to Cassidy's head, making her act even crazier. "Where's the bingo tourney, volley man?"

" _Yumi, Cassidy, what's going on? Yumi, come on, answer, please?"_

The tech kicked the phone out of the way.

**-Jeremie-**

"Odd, you gotta get the job done, now!" he informed his friend.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

"You're kidding. We do? I'd thought we'd do it after tea time," Odd bantered, flying through the fire rings, and dive bombing one.

He dropped Aelita off behind the action as one of the Bloks attacked with fluid ice. Odd dodged, until he went behind the other one, freezing the monster. He bent his knees as he flipped, shooting a laser arrow at it and getting devirtualized.

Aelita had meanwhile gotten into the tower.

**-Earth's scanner room-**

Odd came out, panting.

**-With the two girls and the only boy-**

"I wanna tell you this, okay. I—" William told the girls.

"This is a very bad time, William!" Yumi informed him.

Yumi (who was the only sane girl at the moment) was right. The three were dangling, trying to hang on to the bridge.

"I can't swim!"

"Two down…and a mini pizza to go," Cassidy muttered, still senseless.

"Cassidy, calm down," William tried to coax his ex.

She suddenly burst out laughing as the tech was almost about to slam down with his foot on Yumi's hand.

**-With Aelita-**

She entered the Lyoko Code. "Tower deactivated."

**-Back to the sane girl, the now-senseless psychic, and the only boy-**

The tech passed out.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

"Bravo, Aelita!" He complimented.

**-To William, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

Yumi picked up her cell phone after everyone got back on the bridge.  _"Yumi?"_

"Jeremie, nice going. You guys did it just in time!" She smiled.

William was holding his ex, who was now passing out, up.

" _Everything okay on your side?"_

"We're good, but it was a close call." She smiled.

"Hey, what happened just now?" William asked.

"Well, Jeremie, now that it's all over, you can launch a return in time, right? So that you-know-who doesn't interfere with us again," She looked pointedly at the boy next to her. "And that our psychic retains her senses."

"What makes you think it's all over. This guy works for Explo-Bat!" William noticed the logo on the technician's suit.

"Yeah, so?" She asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, this guy works for a company that specializes in building demolition!" He sounded grim. "I bet he came here fully equipped to blow your factory sky-high—ba-boom!"

If Cassidy wasn't acting crazy, a huge spike of fear would have gone through her. Right now, she wasn't thinking straight.

A huge spear of fear went through Yumi though.

"Did you hear what William just said?"

" _Yeah, but relax, Yumi. I'll launch a return to the past, and the explosives will disappear along with William's memory,"_  Jeremie sounded a little bored.

**-Back to where Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich are-**

"Oh, no the Schyphozoa!" Jeremie panicked.

He watched in horror as the possession began.

"The Schyphozoa's got Aelita!"

**-Back to Yumi, Cassidy, and William-**

"Why not launch a return to the past anyway, Jeremie?"

" _It's too dangerous! We don't know what might happen to Aelita if I do it while she's in XANA's clutches! So get back here now, and I'll send you to Lyoko,"_  Jeremie said.

**-Jeremie-**

"Ulrich, Odd, you gotta go find that bomb," Jeremie told the two.

"Will do," Ulrich told the leader and genius.

**-Not much later-**

"Good luck, Yumi!" Ulrich warmly told Yumi in the elevator.

"You too, guys. Find that dumb bomb so that our factory doesn't go up in smoke!" The elevator closed Yumi and Cassidy in. The psychic was draped on the floor of the elevator.

"I think the three of us oughtta split up," William said.

"Okay. Let's go," Ulrich said.

They did so.

**-Yumi in the scanner room-**

With Cassidy up in the lab with Jeremie, Yumi went into a scanner. Soon she was on Lyoko.

She saw that the Schyphozoa had let go of Aelita. "It's okay, Jeremie. The Schyphozoa has just released Aelita."

" _She's probably going to head for the way tower to start destroying the Ice Sector. And you've got to stop her from doing that at all costs."_  Yumi got on her OverWing and started the chase, but then a Megatank got in her way.

"Okay, consider it done…well, almost," she said, avoiding the elliptical lasers as she did so.

**-Back to the boys-**

William, Ulrich, and Odd searched for the bomb, when Odd spotted something. "Okay, I found it. It's over here." He waved the two over.

William was first to cut to the negative. "No, that's only one of the charges he set up. There's got to be a detonator here somewhere. That's what we're looking for."

"How do you know all this stuff?" the samurai warrior turned his head to the black-haired boy.

"My uncle used to work in construction. I'd go with him during vacation. He used to show me how to—"

Odd had to stop the family history train. "Okay. Family stories are all very moving, but we're kinda pressed here!" he reminded.

"Thanks, Odd. So, where do you think we'll find the detonator?" Ulrich leaned on a pole.

"I don't know, but the guy who works for Explo-Bat. He oughtta know," William said.

"Yeah, sure, but he's out cold like any other ex-XANAfied guy." The samurai told him.

"You keep searching. I'll try to wake him up," Odd ran to get to the guy.

Meanwhile, the detonator, out of sight of the running ninja-warrior, flashed five minutes and five seconds.

**-Back to the chase-**

Yumi was chasing the Megatank and Aelita at the same time. It was a hard task with the Megatank, as it fired its elliptical lasers at Yumi. ( _"Yumi, you gotta get through that blockade of Megatanks. Aelita is closing in on the way tower."_ )

**-Odd's situation-**

He was shaking the bomb worker to wake him up. "Hey, come on, sleeping beauty wake up, now. Look, it's your Prince Charming." He slapped him and the bomb worker awoke.

"What's going on?" The demolition guy spoke with an Italian accent. "Where am I? My dynamite! Where are my explosives?"

"In the factory—with a detonator. Can you recall anything?" Odd asked him.

"No—oh, my head!"

**-Back to Yumi-**

Yumi managed to defeat the only Megatank, losing her OverWing in the process. But she didn't give a flaming Cortez about it.

" _Yumi!"_  Jeremie was worried.

She then chased after Aelita on foot.  _"Careful, Yumi. You don't have a lot of life points left!"_

**-Back to Odd-**

"Look carefully at this factory. If you had to blow it up, where would you set up the detonator?" Odd asked the man carefully.

"I can't think too straight, but I guess I would have to put it somewhere high up so the signal could reach all the charges," he said.

**-To Ulrich-**

Ulrich's phone rang and he picked it up.  _"Ulrich, look somewhere over your head. Somewhere high up!"_

He did as he hung up.

**-Yumi's chase-**

"It's okay, Jeremie, I got Aelita in my sights," Yumi told the genius, virtual snow crunching under her feet.

**-Back to Ulrich, William, and Odd-**

Ulrich heard some beeping noises. "I think I found the detonator."

William came first. "Where?"

He pointed. "Way up there."

The countdown read four minutes forty-nine seconds.

**-Back to the chase-**

Aelita was nearly close to the tower when a fan came and tripped her up. She got up, turned around, and there was Yumi.

"I'm sorry, Aelita. But I don't have any choice," Yumi said, catching her tessen.

**-Jeremie-**

" _Jeremie, we found the detonator. We have to evacuate the factory, now. Everything's going to blow up in a few seconds!"_  Ulrich told Jeremie.

"Impossible, Ulrich," Jeremie gave his input. "We can't leave Yumi and Aelita stranded on Lyoko!"

**-Ulrich, William, and Odd-**

William was at the detonator box while Ulrich stood by.

"Give me your belt."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to try to diffuse the detonator, and I need something to use as a sort of shunt," William told him as Ulrich gave him his belt.

"You know how to do that?"

"My uncle explained it to me…uh, once!"

That shocked the samurai warrior. "Once? **!** "

"Once is enough if you're not too dumb, that is. Now get out of here. It doesn't work if both of us to get blown up," William explained, cutting the metal bar off of Ulrich's belt.

"Nuh-uh. No way, if you stay, I stay."

Odd came in. "That makes three of us!"

The timer now read that they had two minutes left.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Aelita dodged the fans and tried two energy fields at Yumi, to which the latter dodged. She caught her fans.

**-William, Ulrich, and Odd-**

William unscrewed the lid and opened it. This was a risky operation.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Aelita tried again and hit Yumi in the stomach area with an energy field.

" _Yumi, another hit like that…"_

**-Jeremie-**

"And it's game over for you," Jeremie said. "And then it's going to be game over for the Ice Sector as well."

Cassidy began to stir. "J-Jeremie?" she groaned.

"Hold on, Cassidy."

**-William, Odd, and Ulrich-**

William was trying not to shake as he tried to put the little bar in.

Ulrich and Odd watched on as the timer ticked down.

They had twenty-seven seconds left.

**-Back to Aelita and Yumi-**

Aelita charged up another energy field as Yumi readied her fan. They threw their weapons. The energy field hit Yumi one last time and she devirtualized. Aelita turned around and went for the tower. She got into the path of one of Yumi's fans and devirtualized.

**-Back to William, Odd, and Ulrich-**

William, meanwhile, had carefully placed the bar in. The three watched as the countdown flashed in and out until…

The.

Detonator.

Came.

To.

A.

Calm.

Beeping.

Stop.

William's plan worked. "YEAH!"

"Jeremie, we did it! William diffused the detonator!" Ulrich, who was sweating in fear for the duration of the disarming, was now calm again.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

" _We're saved!"_  Ulrich came from the other end.

Jeremie breathed a sigh of relief.

Cassidy was confused. "Did we diffuse a bomb and stop Aelita from getting rid of the Ice Sector?" She sat up as Jeremie nodded. "Oye, next time, I'm skipping PE class…if there's a next time."

Jeremie looked into the girl's eyes. They were dull and looked to be in pain.

"Just hold your own for now. All this will be over soon."

**-Later on-**

"Aw, come on!" William whined. Cassidy had then recovered, but was still amnesiac on what she said before she passed out ("Something about a tube sock?"). "Please? I swear I won't tell anyone."

"He really does deserve to be one of us. Besides we could use another soldier," Odd amended.

"And he's already proven how much he can help," Aelita agreed.

"Well then, let's vote. If everyone votes yes, then William can officially become part of our club."

After the ballots were cast there were five yeses but… "I'm sorry, William. There's one no."

"You're big losers." That hit Cassidy in the chest as her ex said that. "I was kinda expecting this might happen. Some guys just can't handle being jealous."

He went into the elevator and pressed the button.

"Well, then, what do you suppose we should do now?" Ulrich asked.

"What do you think?" Jeremie pressed a button. "A return to the past."

**-Back in time-**

They were back to that night.

"Nice one, Cassidy," Odd growled. He was referring to the vote.

"I never voted no. In fact, I was torn between yes and no that I almost wrote in a new answer: maybe," Cassidy held her own but didn't yell.

Now the attention turned to Ulrich. "It was pretty uncool, Ulrich. Why'd ya vote no?"

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not crazy about William, but he saved us and the factory. He's brave, and he'd make a great Lyoko warrior," Ulrich smiled. "I didn't blackball him."

"If it wasn't you, and it wasn't me, and it wasn't Cassidy, and if it wasn't Jeremie or Aelita, then it was…"

**-Yumi, back inside the house-**

"Sorry William, but I don't think you can be trusted." Yumi closed the curtain as William zipped past on his skateboard.


	36. Things Got a Little Crazy Here

**Well, we are safe to say that we aren’t crazy…right?**

**By definition, I do not own Code Lyoko by any means.**

**Cassidy is my OC.**

**-In Sector 5-**

It was just another day of gathering data.

Yumi dodged another few lasers, losing her OverWing in the process. She flipped out her fans, spun with them like a propeller, flipped over, threw one at a Manta, missed, but landed on it, and got rid of it anyway. She ended up falling onto Odd’s OverBoard (but that was Odd’s intention).

“What took you so long?” she asked. “I almost didn’t wait.”

“Just having a word with Lucienne,” Odd replied.

“Lucienne?” Yumi asked. Was Lucienne one of his many girlfriends?

“Yeah, you know. Lucienne. I love giving nicknames to the monsters I blow to smithereens!” She rolled her eyes. Odd was creative, but he was a little crazy. He launched another laser arrow at a Manta, but missed and got hit, throwing him and his passenger a little off balance.

All of a sudden, a katana hit the underbelly of the beast and it combusted.

They both looked down and saw Ulrich. “’Guess she wasn’t too crazy about her name!”

Odd gathered the sword and circled around to the platform. “You ought to take better care of your stuff, Ulrich.”

Meanwhile, Aelita was working on the terminal. _“Aelita, I’m trying to collect more data on Franz Hopper, but I can’t access the subsystems. Careful! Flying Mantas coming your way at ten o’clock!”_ Jeremie warned.

One Manta shot at the pink-haired girl at the terminal. Aelita prepared for the life point loss, when Ulrich took the shot for her. She and Cassidy bent down to help him.

Everyone took notice. “Jeremie, how’s everything going? Because around here, things are kind of…” Yumi took a big hit and devirtualized, Odd had to rebalance himself.

**-Back in the scanners-**

Yumi came out, but finished the sentence. “…heating up.”

**-Jeremie-**

“Not great. For now, I don’t have any data that tells me how to locate Franz Hopper, I’m afraid. You’ll have to hold out a little longer,” Jeremie told everyone.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

“Not a big deal for me, Jeremie, amigo,” Cassidy nodded. “It’s not as if the Schyphozoa has us all trapped here like it did me.”

“Easy for you two to say!” Ulrich smarted to the two of them.

She gave him a heavy-metal Gibbs-slap. “Don’t bad-mouth us. We’re a part of this group too.”

Aelita worked her hardest on the interface terminal. “I’m almost there. I’m about ready to access the subsystems.”

Odd was avoiding the Mantas (Ethel and Yvette) with enough steam to go. “How many life points do we have left?”

 _“Not many. If you get hit by one more Flying Manta, it’ll be game over for you, Odd. Same goes for you and Cassidy, Ulrich,”_ Jeremie instructed.

The two hopped, as if by a bond, onto Odd’s OverBoard (whom the owner was on). “Buckle up, Shirley and Tanya!” he told his now-two passengers.

“Too bad there aren’t seatbelts,” Cassidy cracked.

Odd cackled a little as they whizzed by the two Flying Mantas.

The two Mantas turned around, as if to confuse, but the psychic on board realized something was going to go, as the Spanish say, loco or loca. As Odd shot his laser arrows, he commanded, “Ethel, Yvette, get back here right now!”

“Odd, cut it out with your dumb names, huh?” Ulrich deadpanned.

“I think the names are awesome,” Cassidy inputted her two-pennies. “But I think something really nutsy-cuckoo will happen real soon in the future.”

“Don’t tell me you had that recurring nightmare again,” Ulrich groaned.

“Nope, it didn’t happen today. And it didn’t happen last night either.”

All of a sudden, the two “lady” Mantas joined at the underbelly and, glowing red, shot a hot red laser at the three on the OverBoard. The two boys preparing for the final blow were surprised that the laser seemed to make a glow. Cassidy didn’t seem fazed. _Oh, XANA. You know that I won’t fall for your tricks. I’m too psychic for that._

“What’s going on here?” Ulrich was startled. “Why aren’t we devirtualized?”

“XANA’s done something, Ulrich,” Cassidy’s little intuition kicked in.

The boys took care of the Mantas as soon as they separated, Cassidy trying to make an effort, and then stopped at the interface terminal, but they never stopped glowing red. Aelita was worried. “Huh? What’s that?”

“XANA hit us with a ray,” the psychic explained a little.

“Beats me. They shot at us and this is what happened,” Ulrich shrugged. They looked at each other for a few seconds, but then unexpectedly devirtualized.

**-Back at the Scanner Room-**

Cassidy came out of the scanner first. “Dang lucky that XANA hit us.”

Ulrich came next. Jeremie met the three there. “You guys okay? All in one piece I hope.”

“A little ticked-off at our evil program, but overall I feel okay,” Cassidy gave her report.

“Yeah, I think so!” Ulrich shrugged.

A third voice emanated from the third scanner. “Two great legs, a svelte torso, two little arms, and a good-looking head. No. Nothing missing.” Odd came out next.

Cassidy chuckled at that in spite of herself. “Nothing beats the ole Odd Della Robbia humor wagon.”

As soon as she moved out of the scanner, Aelita came out. “Jeremie, what happened out there?”

“I wish I knew,” Jeremie said.

“Wish granted! XANA hit us with some kind of ray that hasn’t affected us yet, and I feel that soon that we’ll be hit with unneeded visitors of the weird kind,” Cassidy answered the wish.

“I have to look over the quantum sequence to track any possible abnormalities—” (“In English, he has to run a check,” Cassidy whispered to Odd.) “—in the access data.”

“Do you mind translating that, Einstein,” Yumi asked, her friend’s obvious computer talk wasn’t translating for her.

“He has to carry out a full check,” Aelita smiled, chuckling a little.

Odd checked his watch. “Oh, no way. There’s no time. We’ve got rehearsal in exactly five minutes.”

“God Almighty. I’m already nervous!” Cassidy had some nervous jiggles in her stomach. She got stage fright real easy. Though she didn’t accidentally mistaken a stage prop for a bathroom, her legs would shake real bad and she would speak her part faster than Jeremie speaking for his and Aelita’s project on World War I (the two received an A).

Jeremie was just as nervous. “Rehearsal? **!** Oh, no! I completely forgot about it. Chardin’s going to _kill us!_ ”

That added on to Cassidy’s fears. “And if I receive a lousy grade, it would lower my semester grade!”

**-As Nicholas bad-mouths the stage and Jim reprimands, let’s see how the players come in-**

Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, Cassidy, Odd, and Jeremie came in. Chardin noticed. “Phew, there you are. Please hurry on. Hurry up.”

Chardin got back to his seat and Delmas asked him, “Well, Mr. Chardin. What made you choose ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ for this year’s performance? The elegance of the text, I imagine. Or the tragedy of un-requited love, perhaps, it appeals to your true but hidden romantic nature?”

But the drama teacher had other things on his mind. “Lack of money.”

That confused Mr. Delmas.

“Since we have no choice, we had to use last year’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set and the costumes. I had to find another play that had a balcony. So ‘Cyrano’!”

“I see.”

Everyone got in their positions. Jeremie introduced the scene with a series of taps from a stick.

The play went as so:

Ulrich: “Roxanne!”

*Yumi comes on the balcony*

Yumi: “Who calls me?”

Ulrich: “It is I, Christian!”

Yumi: “Today, your words are hesitant.” *She leans on the balcony a little*

Odd: “Night has come. In the dusk they grope their way to find your ear.”

Yumi: “But my words find no such impediment.”

*Ulrich waves the stick around slowly, emotionally, and dramatically in front of his face and chest to accentuate a little*

Odd: “They find their way once? Oh! Such small wonder that, it is within my heart they find their home. You think how large my heart, how small your ear. And from their fair heights descending, words fall fast, but mine must mount, Madame.”

That’s where things went loopy. “They need board—LASER ARROWS!” Odd yelled, cocking his arm in a manner that would be needed on Lyoko.

Yumi gasped. That was not part of the script.

He waved his arm from one side to the other.

Cassidy noticed her surroundings were not Earth. But she could almost see through the ruse XANA was creating. _I’m not going to fall for this, XANA._

Back to the play, it went not as well as planned:

Yumi: “Me-thinks that your last words have learned to climb.”

*Odd, at this point, straightens up*

Odd: “With practice such gymnastic grows less hard! In truth I seem to speak from distant heights!”

*Yumi notices that he took her line*

Ulrich was not himself either. “Two Kankrelats dead ahead!” He was now facing the audience and positioning the stick he was holding as if he were holding his katana.

Cassidy felt a few urges to go off her rocker, but chose to ignore them. _No! I won’t do it! This is just XANA’s hallucination trick. It’s not real!_ **(A/N: Guess the Titan and the Episode who not only said almost all of these words but showed it too for 50 cookies and a look into Sabotage)**

Jeremie saw this and went over to Cassidy. “You okay?”

“XANA’s trying to pull a fast one on Odd, Ulrich and me,” she whispered into her friend’s ear. Her powers told her where she was, who was approaching, and so on. “I’m in hallucination mode, but at the same time, I’m working to keep from acting up.”

“You’re doing a good job,” Aelita complimented.

“It’s called willpower, I guess,” Cassidy shrugged. “Problem is I don’t know how long it will last.”

Odd: “True, far above; at such a height 'twere death. If—”

He then got into position again. “Oh, okay, I’ll get them!”

Another urge tried to overtake the psychic, but she managed to drown the urge.

The principal stood up and yelled, “Stern! Della Robbia! What are you gobbling about?”

 _What are they, turkeys?_ A sly thought entered Cassidy’s mind.

“Please, sir, keep it down. Don’t you know cutting-edge theater when you see it? It’s a modern approach, somewhere between a bold soprano and a deadly karate match,” Chardin was impressed with Odd and Ulrich’s behavior.

Odd jumped (in the position of firing a couple “arrows”) and said, “Take that you old Krabe. Laser—ugh!” He wiped out. “Ulrich, Cassidy, help me, I’m hit!”

“You’re not hit, boofhead!” Cassidy came forward. “You just fell on the piso.”

“Bravo,” Chardin complimented.

“Cassidy, use your claws, or your tube!” Odd called out to his girlfriend.

“I don’t have claws or a tube right now. We’re not playing that videogame,” the psychic warned.

“SUPER SPRINT!” Ulrich cried and jumped off the stage. He was about to attack Sissi when Yumi and Cassidy got in the way.

“Cut it out!” The Japanese girl growled at her boyfriend. “Your gag is not funny—it’s lame!”

“And apestosa,” Cassidy snarled.

“Yumi? What are you doing? You made me miss the Megatank!” Ulrich was a little confused. Did the two girls end up fighting for XANA now.

Cassidy felt even deeper urges, but kept drowning them.

Aelita got in Odd’s way. “Odd, what’s gotten into you?” she asked.

“Out of the way, Aelita. I can’t see the Krabe!” The ninja-warrior ordered.

The psychic girl was now sweating buckets.

Mr. Delmas was very offended. “This time you’ve gone too far. One more word out of you and it’s a disciplinary committee, ya hear.”

Jeremie decided to intervene. “Wait, Mr. Delmas. There’s something wrong. Odd isn’t himself?”

Odd looked up. “Jeremie? ’XANA have a broken hard disc or what? The Krabe sounds a lot like Delmas.”

Cassidy rushed over to Odd. “Jeremie is right here.” She pointed. “You must’ve woken up with a bowl of fruit loops next to you.”

“Stop pointing your claws at thin air!”

“My claws are pointing at Jeremie.” She held her conviction quite well. She _was_ pointing at Jeremie.

“Odd! Cassidy! Watch out! A Blok at four o’clock!” Ulrich shouted.

The psychic looked. “That’s no Blok. That’s JIM!” She was bound and determined to keep herself out of the hospital.

“A Blok? You’re the blockhead, Stern.”

Ulrich elbowed Yumi out of the way and tried to attack Jim, and the psychic suddenly followed suit, her willpower now almost defeated.

Jim caught the boy and the girl. “Quick! Someone call an ambulance! Stern, McGuire, and Della Robbia have totally lost it.”

Cassidy’s willpower came back. “Jim! You know how scared I am about getting restrained! Remember? That time you had one of the ‘safest’ equipment accidentally hold me down. And remember how I had cried over Odd’s shoulder after that? Please! Let me go!”

**-Later-**

“Jeremie? Reload me! Two Tarantulas are getting the better of us!” Odd yelled from the ambulance.

“My willpower is draining! I’ll try to hold on!” Cassidy yelled.

“We’re stuck in another of XANA’s traps,” Ulrich cried out.

“Yumi! Do something!” Odd yelled as the ambulance drove out of there.

“So this is what happens when you spend hours playing videogames and watching cartoons on TV,” Mr. Delmas assumed. “Rehearsal is over!”

“Ulrich’s right. They are stuck in another of XANA’s traps,” Aelita was concerned.

“Go follow them to the hospital. I’ll see what’s happening in the meantime,” Jeremie told the two girls.

**-Outside of the hospital room-**

“Did you give them something to calm them down?” Doctor Chantal asked.

Nurse Murphy (who looked and acted the same way as Dr. Chantal) had been transferred to a different hospital due to a promotion. **(A/N: You gotta admit that that can come around)**

The paramedic standing guard nodded and allowed her inside.

“Now, tell me, are you having any problems at the moment?” She asked Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy.

“No, except for my ex-boyfriend’s brutal break-up aftermath still clinging to me like a small monkey on my back, I’m fine,” Cassidy answered.

Dr. Chantal wrote Cassidy’s answer down. “Are you sleeping well? Nightmares? Restless nights?”

“Depends on the night; if I get a nightmare after entering sleep I end up staying up for the rest of the night,” Cassidy shrugged. “Ulrich sleeps fine. Odd does too.”

Another write down. “Troubles at school?”

“I’m more of a Straight ‘A’ girl but usually I get A’s and Bs, and the occasional C or D, rarely in Fs,” Cassidy’s POV showed a Blok, but her powers told her that she was looking at Dr. Chantal.

The pen gently scratched the paper.

“With your parents?”

“My ex tore up my ticket home and back. My parents are mad at him, but not mad at me. I’m glad to say that mis padres are the least of my worries right now,” Cassidy said.

Odd and Ulrich lost it, though. The former got into position. “Take that, you rotten old Blok!” He tried to shoot some laser arrows.

“Odd! Watch your manners!” Cassidy sounded appalled.

The doctor wrote the conversation down and muttered some of Odd’s words. “Interesting.”

“Let me at it!” Ulrich yelled.

“Ulrich, don’t!” The trying-not-to-hallucinate psychic girl pleaded.

He attacked anyway, but Dr. Chantal was quick. He had one arm behind Ulrich in instant. “Sorry, young man, but I have a tenth dan in Aikido.” She pushed his hand (palm facing his back) forward, causing him to grit his teeth.

“I told you not to, mi amigo,” Cassidy breathed.

**-Jeremie’s room-**

Jeremie checked on finding a way to cure Cassidy, Ulrich, and Odd. The hallucinations almost worked on Cassidy, and did their work on Ulrich and Odd.

He found out something and picked up the phone to call Yumi.

**-Yumi and Aelita-**

Yumi’s phone rang and she picked it up. “Yes, Jeremie?”

 _“Yumi, XANA is_ definitely _behind Cassidy, Odd, and Ulrich’s madness!”_ Jeremie announced. _“There’s only one way to make them normal. And that’s to get them into a way tower somewhere on Lyoko. Then I can launch a program to get their heads straight.”_

“You mean we have to spring them from the hospital?” Yumi asked, albeit a little incredulous.

_“You got it.”_

He cut the line after that.

When they got to the reception, Yumi was first to speak. “Hello, we’re here to see Cassidy McGuire, Ulrich Stern, and Odd Della Robbia?”

The receptionist had a bad attitude. “Sorry, but they’re all under observation. No visitors allowed.” She went back to her comic book.

The two girls looked to each other. This was going to be harder than they thought it would be.

“Thanks a lot. Sorry we interrupted you,” Yumi said.

As soon as they were out of earshot but not out of the hospital, Aelita asked, “What do we do now?”

Yumi looked over her friend’s shoulder. “Quiet, listen.”

“The two young men and the young lady in Room 237 are fighting imaginary enemies they call Bloks, Megatanks, and XANA,” Dr. Chantal told the doctor.

He laughed. “Where do they get such crazy names from? What do you think Professor Hornet?”

“Typical of today’s youth,” Professor Hornet said.

“Now we know what room they’re in!” Yumi told Aelita, unheard from the doctors’ earshot.

They went over but saw a guard. “Leave him to me,” The Japanese teen told the pink-haired girl.

Soon Yumi was walking as if blind to the guard. “Oh, excuse me, ma’am?”

“Do you need any help?” he asked.

“I—I’m looking for my room…Room…uh…217,” Yumi said, following the advice of her friend Cassidy.

“Come with me,” He led her down the hallway, leaving Aelita free to go inside.

As she entered, she saw Cassidy meditating while Odd and Ulrich were in restraints.

“Aelita, you came at last,” Cassidy smiled as she opened her eyes and hopped over to her friend’s side.

“Aelita! Watch out for the Krabes!” Odd warned.

“What Krabes?” she wondered.

“Play along. I’m starting to hallucinate, too, here,” Cassidy whispered in her ear.

“Energy field!” Aelita obeyed.

Odd and Ulrich struggled and screamed as Aelita undid Odd’s restraint. “That’s one down.”

“Nice job, that Krabe just wouldn’t let go of me. I think it was love at first bite,” Odd joked as Cassidy chuckled a little.

**-With Yumi-**

“Here you are, Room 217,” the guard told Yumi.

“Thanks for showing me the way,” she told the guard.

Thankfully for Yumi, the room was empty…until another patient came in, writhing in miserable pain with the doctors coming right behind him.

She sought the opportunity to escape right then.

She ran until she met up with Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy. “Yumi, now that you’re here we can go to the activated tower.” Aelita winked at Yumi, giving her a hint.

“Oh, right, yeah, well, sure, let’s get going then,” Yumi affirmed.

“I warn you now; we’ll be in a high speed chase, soon. No monsters around for now,” Cassidy suddenly said.

Aelita and Yumi shared a confused look, but shrugged.

**-Jeremie’s room-**

He worked on the program. “Okay, I sure hope that this is going to work.”

**-Back where the rest of the Lyoko Warriors are-**

They were nearing the entrance when Dr. Chantal dropped her coffee cup, confused and surprised.

Everyone was alerted to the sound.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

Cassidy found it better than to answer this time.

“The Blok’s caught up with us!” Odd said as he cocked his arm.

Aelita put a hand on his shoulder. “No time!”

They all burst out of the hospital with such speed.

The door stopped the doctor, but then she gained exit. But it was too late. The three patients and their two friends were gone. She whipped out her cell phone. “Hello, is this police headquarters?”

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie saw that the Core of Lyoko was being attacked.

“Oh, no, that’s all we needed. The Core’s being attacked,” He was on the phone at the ready to call Yumi. “Come on. Will you pick up?” he was in a panic already.

**-Back to the escapees and their friends-**

Yumi’s phone rang, and she picked it up.

“Yes, Jeremie…okay, we’re on our way!” she hung up. “XANA is attacking the Core of Lyoko.”

Cassidy’s ears picked up a sound and the owner gasped. “The policía is coming for _us!_ ”

**-Jeremie-**

“I hope they get here in time!” That was on top of Jeremie’s prayers at that point.

**-Back to the Lyoko Warriors-**

The five ran across a street. “Just a little further. The tower’s not that far now,” Aelita assured as the sirens grew louder.

As Cassidy predicted, a police car came. Yumi pointed at some stairs. “That way!”

“Yep,” Cassidy nodded.

“Go on! I’ll take care of the Megatank!” Ulrich made a move.

“No!” Cassidy yelled. “Ulrich, that’s not a Megatank!”

“Ulrich, NO!” Yumi panicked.

Unheeding the two girls’ attempts to stop him, Ulrich ran in front of and jumped the police car, causing the drivers to jackknife and stop in front of T.V.’s news van. Thomas Vincent came out with a microphone to the driver and said, “Well, tell us how it feels like to be part of the evening news.”

That confused the driver, but at least Ulrich was safe.

Cassidy rushed up to him, grabbed him roughly by the arm, pulled him to safety, and said, “Are you _suicidal_ , you boofhead? You could have gotten yourself killed, to XANA’s delight! That was NOT a MEGATANK!”

“That should take care of them!” Ulrich smiled.

Growling, Cassidy gave Ulrich the second heavy metal Gibbs-slap in the same day. Unfortunately that didn’t jog Ulrich’s senses as he gave her one back. “Stop thinking this is Earth!”

Cassidy obeyed. A smile spread across her face as she cheered, “Way to go, Ulrich!”

**-Lab-**

Jeremie watched the progress of the shield layers. “Where can they be?”

As if to answer his question, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy arrived.

“Ah, there you are. It’s about time. Only one more shield layer protecting the Core of Lyoko.” He came with the two boys and the three girls. Yumi pressed the down button.

As they rode down, Odd called to the ceiling. “Jeremie, would you mind sending me the OverBoard? Because I’m getting tired of running around.”

“And I’ll go with him. I’m tired of running, too,” Cassidy showed a tired look.

“What happened to her?” Jeremie asked. She didn’t run with her hallucinations earlier.

“Ulrich jogged the hallucinations a little too much,” Yumi explained.

“Any idea how we can get them into the scanners?” Aelita asked.

“Leave it to me, Aelita,” he said warmly.

The three (Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy) looked at the towers.

“Okay, guys, you made it there. Now head for that way tower,” he called to them.

The samurai nodded. “Right.”

Odd took one scanner. Ulrich took the second, and Cassidy took the third.

Soon the three were on Lyoko, but to them, they were on Earth. Cassidy finally shook out of it. “Yeesh, Ulrich, if you are going to slap me, then get a grip.”

But Ulrich and Odd didn’t seem to notice. Soon Yumi was on Lyoko.

“Well, it’s empty out here, not a kid in sight,” Odd said.

“This may look like reality, but it’s only an illusion,” Cassidy then went off on a Memory-Lane spiel that would take forever to explain.

About fifty-seven seconds into the spiel, Yumi hit the psychic with the wood of her fan. “Focus.”

“Oops, sorry!” The girl gave a little wan smile.

“’Guess they’re all in the lunchroom,” Ulrich assumed.

“Uh, yeah,” Yumi only half-played along.

Aelita soon landed on Lyoko’s Ice Sector.

“This is getting worse and worse, now the boys think they’re at the Academy. Listen you two, you head for the way tower, I’ll head for the Core of Lyoko,” Yumi said to them.

“I’m still in the same land as Ulrich and Odd, but we’ll get there. Be careful, Yumi. Buena suerte,” Cassidy said.

“Got it,” Aelita said.

They turned to the two boys and headed the lead. “Let’s go to the um…lunchroom,” Aelita suggested as the two girls started running.

“I’M STARVING!” Odd’s reply rang out.

“Just so you know Odd, they’re serving spaghetti and meatballs,” Cassidy sang as a side-note.

“Let’s go!” Odd smiled.

 _“Welcoming Committee straight ahead,”_ Jeremie sounded grim.

“One Tarantula and two Kankrelats,” Cassidy whispered to Aelita.

 _“Be careful, Aelita and Cassidy,”_ Jeremie told the girls.

As predicted the Tarantula and two Kankrelats stood in the way. Cassidy and Aelita stopped and the former asked, “Okay, where’s my tail?”

“Huh?”

“I’m still seeing Earth, Aelita. Where is it?”

Aelita handed Cassidy her weapon. “Better?”

“Much!”

Odd and Ulrich, however, kept moving forward, unperturbed by the sight of the three monsters. They, along with the psychic, were seeing Sissi, Hervé, and Nicholas.

Aelita and Cassidy tried to stop them.

“I don’t believe it!” Aelita shook her head in disbelief.

“Me neither. At least after the effects of this are cured and the Core is defended, we can go back in time,” Cassidy nodded.

The Tarantula stood ready to fire.

“Hey, Sissi. ’In a bad mood? ’Break the scale this morning?” Odd joked.

As the same as the rehearsal, Cassidy felt deep urges, but decided against them.

“No,” Aelita cried.

“This has got to be the craziest thing since the time Odd nearly killed you on the OverBoard,” Cassidy thought aloud.

But the pink-haired girl conjured up an Ice Wall that the boys bumped into. Odd and Ulrich put their hands on the wall and tried to push through. They couldn’t.

“What’s this?” Ulrich asked.

“Did they put Sissi and her pals in a display case or what?” Odd asked.

They felt along the Ice Wall. The monsters on the other side were shooting at it. Aelita, knowing the Wall wouldn’t last long, ran up as it began to crack, as did Cassidy, and shoved the two boys down when the Wall was destroyed.

**-Meanwhile with Yumi-**

Yumi had made it to the edge of the sector. “Jeremie, I’m here, at the edge of the sector. Can you send me a taxi?”

 _“You bet. A big white-stretch limo is on the way,”_ Jeremie sounded confident.

Soon the Transporter arrived and whisked her away.

**-Back to the others-**

Odd and Ulrich were a little disoriented, but were fine. Ulrich asked, “Who’s the dork that pushed me into Sissi’s arms?”

Cassidy giggled. “I did. Just for humor though.”

Aelita charged up an energy field, calling her attack and getting one of the Kankrelats.

“Good work, Aelita,” Cassidy nodded.

**-Sector 5-**

Yumi made it into Sector 5. “Jeremie, I’m in the Core Zone!”

 _“Okay, Yumi, great. The countdown started. You have less than one minute to activate the key,”_ Jeremie told her.

“Okay!”

She ran off to find and trip the key for the countdown.

**-Back on the Ice Sector-**

Aelita charged up another Energy Field and shot it at the last Kankrelat. “Energy Field.”

“‘Energy Field?’” Odd asked. “’You think we are on Lyoko or something?”

“Um…in all truth, we are, Odd,” Cassidy turned to Odd with truth swimming in her eyes.

Aelita put up her Energy Shield, but then got shot in the leg. The last monster stood up and shot at everyone. Ulrich got hit in the arm, and he cried out. “Something just stung me.”

“Tarantula lasers can sting, Ulrich.” Cassidy shot at the beast with her gun.

**-Back to Yumi-**

_“Better hurry up, Yumi. You only got ten seconds left!”_ Jeremie warned.

And as he counted down, Yumi found the mechanism and stopped the countdown.

_“Nice job, Yumi! Now head for the Celestial Dome.”_

“I’m on my way,” Yumi informed him.

 _“I’m programming your OverWing,”_ Jeremie told her.

**-Back to the four on the Ice Sector-**

Aelita used her Energy Shields to block some of the shots. She then had an idea. She told Cassidy to stop shooting and used her Creativity to make the Tarantula plummet to its death.

“I know where I’m headed,” Cassidy automatically ran and jumped across the chasm, landing perfectly on the other side.

“That way! Hurry up!” Aelita told the boys.

“No! The lunchroom is that way,” Odd pointed behind him.

Cassidy sighed.

So did Aelita. “Listen to me, both of you! You’re going to do exactly as I say and no questions. You got that?”

The psychic cheered, impressed. “You go, Aelita!”

“Okay,” Ulrich said.

“Okay,” Odd followed suit.

“That’s better,” Cassidy yelled.

**-Meanwhile-**

Yumi had entered into the entrance to the Core of Lyoko. “Jeremie, I’m in the Dome.”

**-Back to Aelita, Cassidy, Odd, and Ulrich-**

Cassidy had already entered the tower.

Aelita was definitely taking matters into her own hands. “Now get in there. That’s an order.”

The two boys stood at attention. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”

As soon as they were in the tower, Jeremie entered the program. _“I hope this works.”_

“Go for it!” Cassidy said.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi stopped her vehicle and tripped the stair mechanism. She jumped a few steps and saw the Mantas attacking the Core’s last shield layer.

**-Jeremie-**

“Let’s see if this program is operational.”

**-Back to Lyoko’s Ice Sector way tower-**

Soon the boys and the psychic were seeing the inside of the tower.

“How do you guys feel?” Aelita asked.

“We’re seeing Lyoko at last,” Cassidy smiled.

“Fine, but what are we doing inside a way tower?” Ulrich asked.

“I don’t get it. Shouldn’t we be in the lunchroom?” Odd was just as confused as Ulrich.

“I’ll explain later,” Aelita smiled. She looked up to the ceiling. “Jeremie, it worked.”

“The Core! We have to get to it NOW!” Cassidy panicked. “Yumi’s there on her own.”

**-Back to Yumi-**

Two Mantas saw Yumi and dived down. Yumi went up the steps and shielded herself from the laser fire.

She threw her fans at them. But the two got thrown off course and back to their owner. She caught them, leaping back a step, took a shot, then was hanging off the edge, but she climbed back up.

“Jeremie, it looks like I’m going to need some help!”

 _“It’s on the way. By now, Ulrich, Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita should be close to Sector 5, Yumi,”_ Jeremie said.

**-To the four-**

The Transporter took Odd, Ulrich, Cassidy, and Aelita to Sector 5. Soon they made it to the Arena.

 _“Hurry up! Yumi needs your help,”_ Jeremie told them.

“We’re on it!” Cassidy smiled.

They rushed to get to Yumi.

**-To Yumi-**

_“Yumi, the last protective shield layer is about ready to go!”_ Jeremie told her.

“I’m doing all I can!” she told him.

Yumi threw one at one Manta and was successful. That left two Mantas. One of them hit Yumi’s fan super hard that it nearly blurred her vision. She tried to grab the returning fan, but missed, and tried to hit the one, missing it.

She tried dodging the lasers coming for her, but was devirtualized. But the four had finally come.

The Manta, thinking it did its job, went back up and started shooting at the final shield layer. Odd got rid of it. “YAHOO!” He hooted with glee.

 _“Be careful, all of the Core’s shield layers are gone,”_ Jeremie told them. _“If it takes one more hit, just one, Lyoko will be gone for good.”_

“We’re doing our best, Jeremie,” Cassidy sighed. She could detect the selfish, Pyrrhic victory inside of XANA and the Lyoko Warriors.

 _“And you guys along with it,”_ Jeremie continued.

“Aw, great,” Ulrich sighed.

“That’s better,” Cassidy noted.

Aelita, who took the lead, saw the Manta about to fire, and, with a cry of “NO”, she flung herself in the middle of the core and the Manta, firing off an energy field at the monster, while getting hit and devirtualized at the same time.

That got rid of the Manta.

Odd joined Ulrich and Cassidy. “Yeah!”

 _“Nice work, guys!”_ Jeremie complimented. _“Time to bring you back in.”_

“Bring us home now, please, maestro,” Cassidy smiled.

**-Later-**

The three came out of the scanners. “Well?” Yumi asked.

“I’m fine,” Cassidy smiled.

“Well what? LASER ARROW!” Odd got into position.

The three girls gasped.

“Naw, just kidding, ladies,” Odd put down his arm.

Aelita and Yumi didn’t think it was funny. “Very funny,” they said sarcastic notes in their words.

Cassidy was the only one that chuckled.

 _“Right, well, it’s a good thing that while_ some _people are clowning around, others keep working,”_ Jeremie told the others.

Jeremie then activated the return trip.

**-Back to the play-**

Yumi: “Me-thinks that your last words have learned to climb.”

Odd: “With practice such gymnastic grows less hard!”

Yumi: “In truth, I seem to speak from distant heights.”

Odd: “True, far above; at such a height 'twere death  
if a hard word from you fell upon my heart.”

Chardin stood up. “Stop, stop, stop.”

“Are we really that bad?” Cassidy asked in a worried tone of voice.

“It’s not bad. But you’re not there! Not just yet. You’re missing a bit more…” Chardin was trying to think of the appropriate word to say.

“More passion?” Ulrich asked.

“No. no. Some…”

“Some…popcorn?” Jim suggested.

“No!” Chardin said flatly.

“Some more funding?” The principal was next to say something.

“That’d be good, but a…”

“A touch of insanity?” Odd figuratively put in the last needed puzzle piece in the puzzle.

“Exactly! Yes!” Chardin’s eyes showed a spark. “That’s it!”

Everyone in the Lyoko Warrior group burst into laughter.


	37. The Mighty Building Escape

**This episode was completely fan-made and does not appear in the show between Temporary Insanity and Sabotage. This fan just genuinely wanted to do something that inspired her in Spanish class.**

**The Spanish activity that she did involved a combined sentence:**

**English Translation: You are putting on makeup and Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, and I are escaping from the building with some broken ankles.**

**Español Translación: Est** **á** **s pint** **á** **ndote y Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, y yo se estamos escapando del edificio con unos tobillos rotos.**

**Code Lyoko isn’t mine in the first place. But Cassidy and this episode’s plot are mine.**

**The Mighty Building Escape**

“Well, Odd, _this_ has got to be the worst predicament I’ve ever been in!” Cassidy grumbled.

Cassidy and Odd, along with Jeremie and Ulrich, were stuck in a building. They knew it wasn’t the factory, but they didn’t know that the building was old and might be falling apart.

Jeremie disappointedly snapped his fingers. “Darn it! No connection to the Internet.” He was using his laptop.

“That’s bad news. No Internet connection means we can’t send a distress email,” Cassidy brought up. She, Ulrich, and Jeremie were sitting on the ground.

“Try bringing up the super-scan. XANA might be up to this,” Ulrich suggested.

Jeremie tried with no success. “The Supercomputer’s inaccessible.”

“Meaning…?”

“We can’t reach the Supercomputer!”

“That’s just great!” Cassidy shouted, making some dust fall on the floor. “Trapped in a building with no connections to either the Supercomputer or the Internet!” She tried for bars on her cell phone but found none. “And we can’t call anyone for an SOS!”

Odd, the only one standing, tried to comfort her, but…he tripped on her. “OW!”

“What?” Cassidy lost her agitation.

“My ankle hurts!” Odd griped.

“Is this some kind of trick?” She rolled up one of Odd’s pant legs and felt around his ankle. He yipped…and it wasn’t an entire fake-out.

“He’s serious,” Ulrich stood up, being careful to step around her.

“Well, this stinks! Now we have an invalid,” Cassidy, with the exception of school, hated to be in an enclosed building for more than five hours.

Odd painstakingly turned over. “At least Aelita and Yumi aren’t trapped with us.”

“Where are they anyway?” Ulrich asked.

“A small GNO,” Cassidy answered. “They deserve it, though. Going to Lyoko really tuckered them out. Yumi is treating Aelita to a spa trip. They’ll be there until domingo.”

“Sunday?” Jeremie understood the psychic’s second language.

“The spa has a hotel beside it. They took off Friday while you weren’t looking to get to it Saturday. Besides, they’ll be fine. A GNO is a GNO.”

“Why didn’t you go?” Ulrich sat back down again.

“’Accidentally said no,” she shook her head. “Stupid decision on my end. I promised to go with them on Friday.”

“Feeling the strain, too, Cassidy?” Jeremie patted her back.

All of a sudden, Cassidy spark-flashed and pushed Jeremie out of the way. “Cuidado!” A rather large pipe fell on her right ankle. “YOW!”

After the dust cleared and they got Cassidy free from the pipe, Odd muttered, “Talk about irony.”

“Oh, shut it, Odd!” she spat sourly as she sat next to him.

“Okay, Jeremie, we need to get out of here and get help,” Ulrich told him.

“You’re not leaving without us!” She was adamant, but on the other hand, she had strong ears.

“You’re not going to get anywhere with that bad ankle,” Jeremie was also as firm.

“The team that gets trapped together escapes together.”

“You’ll harm yourself even more if you jostle that ankle.” Ulrich was getting agitated. Not only was the psychic acting as if not in pain, she was acting stubborn and getting on his nerves.

“Okay, this is getting nowhere,” Jeremie said.

“Cat-Girl, you and I are in no shape to walk,” Odd tried to console.

But she was too in shock to listen. Calling 911 was not an option.

Jeremie stood up. “I just want to look around. Maybe I can find some parts to make a big stretcher. That way we can carry Odd and Cassidy out.”

“100 pounds plus Odd’s meager 80?” Ulrich sounded skeptical.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cassidy protested. “That I’m too heavy?”

"Yes?" Ulrich said a tad awkward.

“Well excuse me for being una chica,” she was definitely having a bad day.

“Ulrich, let her cool down!” Odd stated.

Jeremie took the time to leave the three to find the parts needed to construct a makeshift stretcher.

After trying to calm Cassidy down, Odd found something to occupy himself. Cassidy’s _Black Beauty_ book. She brought it along just to have something to do. Now Odd was reading it.

Ulrich stood up again and supervised the injured couple.

“I hate this,” Cassidy got out of shock.

“Take it easy, girl! Jeremie’s going to try and make a stretcher,” Ulrich soothed. “Plus, you did save his life a few seconds ago.”

“It was better me than him!”

“I wonder sometimes why you insist on saving our lives when sometimes you put the danger on yourself,” Odd flipped a page.

“Blame my powers. Sometimes they tell me what to do.”

“Bossy powers,” Ulrich quipped.

“Don’t get me started,” She pulled out her visions book and wrote down her latest notes.

“Hey, let me take a look at that,” Ulrich smiled.

“Might as well show you. I warn you, my visions range from the most embarrassing to the silliest and more enjoyable.” She handed it over.

Ulrich sat down and reviewed it. On the first page, he blushed. Cassidy noticed. “What?”

He showed the picture. It was Ulrich and Yumi in their first Pencak Silat class together. They were blushing.

“If you want to know, I never left Yolanda’s office.”

“Then how?” Ulrich asked.

“Psychic powers, remember? The ‘bossy’ ones?”

“Oh.” Then he blushed deeper when he turned the page. “Sissi discovered LYOKO? **!** ”

“For a short while, yeah, but a return trip erased her memory,” Cassidy’s eyes went a hint light.

“Whoa! Did she rat on us?”

“When she woke up from that electric attack, she did. At least I stopped her from coming a second time.”

“A second time?”

“You know I have no idea when I say ‘second time,’ ‘this time,’ or ‘again’.” She rubbed her head a little.

“What is it?”

“Headache.”

“We’ll get out of here, soon,” Ulrich promised.

“Well, it better be soon. My sore ankle’s numb,” Cassidy said.

“WHAT? **!** ”

“Kidding, Samurai. It’s still sore, but I can still feel my toes.”

Ulrich nudged her arm. “Odd’s still rubbing off on you, isn’t he?”

“Unfortunately, yeah,” Cassidy smiled. “I can’t help it. The first day we met and already I was laughing at all his jokes.”

Ulrich remembered that day often. “And I couldn’t believe that you thought that he was funny.”

“Hey! I make great jokes, so there!” Odd shouted.

“Did I miss anything?” Jeremie had come back.

“Not much,” Ulrich shook his head a little. “Did you find the parts.”

“Some, but I think it should be enough,” Jeremie showed the parts. A big, flat piece of metal was set before the four friends. Ulrich stared at it with wide eyes. “How’d ya carry it?”

“It wasn’t that heavy. It’s lightweight.”

“Will it carry Odd and Cassidy?”

“I sure hope so,” Jeremie nodded.

“That’s what we have to go with at the moment,” Cassidy sighed.

“Wait a minute! Maybe we should ask Cassidy where to go,” Odd winced as Ulrich picked the former up.

“What do I look like, a map?” she asked. “My senses are only good for the future.”

“Try.”

She groaned and sent her senses out. _Give me a schematic, please._ She tried hard, then she, exhausted and more headache-y than ever, sighed. “We should go right, and then left. The hallway we went through should give us should be able to give us the way to the exit. If not, then I tried.”

Then Cassidy was loaded on the makeshift stretcher.

“Here we go,” Jeremie didn’t sound excited. “Ready, Ulrich?”

“Let’s get out of here, Einstein,” Ulrich responded.

They lifted the two with ease. “Whoa, Jeremie. That’s really swell magic you got there!” Cassidy was impressed.

“The metal isn’t sagging with the weight either,” Odd noted.

“Let’s get out of her, Odd,” she was ready for some ice for her ankle.

**-A few minutes later-**

The four of the group were in the infirmary. Jeremie had not gained any injury, but was kind of dizzy, so he had to rest.

Odd and Cassidy only had bruised ankles, but they had to be put on ice.

Only Ulrich was unscathed.

Aelita and Yumi came back on Sunday to find Jeremie in his room, but only Ulrich was seen.

“What happened to Odd and Cassidy?” Aelita asked, concerned.

Jeremie told the truth. “…and they had ankle injuries and had to go to the infirmary.”

“At least it wasn’t anything worse,” Ulrich told them.

“Well, at least they are in good hands,” Yumi said.


	38. We Landed in Some Serious Sabotage

**Wow, did we end up in some serious sabotage.**

**You know the drill; don’t own Code Lyoko, do own Cassidy.**

**To Kameo: The Mighty Building Escape was supposed to be a go-between. I know it doesn’t have anything to do with the story. I can see that. I forgive you but still, I got unintentionally inspired by my Spanish thing. Plus I didn’t feel the drive for this chapter when I needed it. So the go-between was for a break, to get my drive back.**

**-Lyoko’s Mountain Sector-**

Yumi jumped up and tried to kill a Krabe. But the monster dodged and Yumi had to catch her fan. Dodging using a variety of flips, she saw Ulrich doing battle with a Tarantula and Odd doing war with another Krabe.

“Odd, how are you doing?” Ulrich asked.

“SHIELD!” He called out, shielding his upper body with a small, light purple force field. He shot a couple more arrows to the Krabe. “I’m just about through with Norbert.”

“Something tells me that Norbert is a girl in the Harry Potter world,” Cassidy winked at her boyfriend. **(A/N: No, she didn’t predict the 7 th book like that. She’s talking about in the 1st Harry Potter film. Norbert’s sounds sounded too feminine. That’s all I’m going to say on the issue.)**

Cassidy was trying her best to get Aelita to the tower.

“Odd, don’t tell me you’re still giving them stupid names,” Ulrich ran behind his enemy, thanks to his Super Sprint.

“Do you have any idea on what attack it is, Jeremie?” Aelita asked.

 _“No, but with Cassidy with us, she ought to know,”_ Jeremie was confident.

“He possessed Michael Rouiller, the gardener, and…ugh! GOD, I can’t access the rest. XANA’s cerrió con llave my visions again,” Cassidy was getting agitated.

“Is that all? Look at your costume!” Odd pointed out.

“Huh?” she looked down and saw that her costume had been tricked out in a tint of pink brighter than Aelita’s costume. She didn’t mind it though. “As long as I’m able to fight is my main concern.”

“That’s true,” Yumi panted, trying to get rid of the Krabe.

“And when Odd checks in, XANA checks out!” Odd tried to jump the Krabe but then he froze. “Hey! That’s not fair, guys!” he was able to say.

Ulrich used his saber to defend himself from the Tarantula’s lasers. “Uh, oh. What’s wrong?” he worried.

“XANA’s done something to the supercomputer, but it isn’t a bug in the devirtualization program like he did a few months ago,” Cassidy tried to move her senses forward. “If only he didn’t put a padlock on my powers. Otherwise, I would know about this bug!”

“I don’t know. I can’t move!” Odd was still in the air, frozen.

“I’m coming! SUPER SPRINT!” Ulrich tried to get to him, but then “teleported” in front of the Tarantula’s laser arm.

He was then devirtualized by the monster he was battling.

“Jeremie, we got a problem,” Yumi told her genius friend.

 _“I see it, but I can’t figure it out,”_ Jeremie told them.

Odd had his own problems. “Norbert, you’re not gonna…” But the Krabe did its job devirtualizing him.

It and the Tarantula turned on Yumi and Cassidy. The pink cat warrior spark-flashed a vision. “Yumi, don’t go backwards.”

But that was a message received too late. Yumi ended up freezing and thawing out in a nanosecond.

“Aelita, we’ll try to distract them away from you,” Yumi and Cassidy ran in the middle of the fray. Yumi threw her fan, but it bugged and missed the Krabe.

Cassidy tried to shoot a bullet at the only Tarantula but ended up stuck in midair. She had only one thing to say. “Aw, crud.”

The monster took the time to shoot at the hapless psychic and devirtualize her.

Yumi tried to catch her fan but it went through her hand and she froze. The Krabes had a chance to devirtualize the last bodyguard as they shot at her.

Aelita had to make haste to the activated tower and fast. She ran until one of the Krabes managed to get in front of her. They both started to flash and bug up.

 _“The Krabe is bugged up, too. Go for it,”_ Jeremie told the now-solo Lyoko Warrior. She ran under it and entered the tower.

She rose up and entered the Lyoko Code as Jeremie complimented her. _“Great job, Aelita. Nice one.”_

**-Later-**

“That was so weird! As if everything bugged up,” Aelita explained.

“And I was about to get my groove on with that Tarantula before it ran away for some unknown reason,” Cassidy sighed.

“I don’t know what could’ve happened,” Jeremie said.

“Something about Michael Rouiller, but I don’t have a clue thanks to the padlock on my powers.” The resident psychic shook her head rigorously as if to try to overthrow the block.

“Of course that could’ve been XANA’s attack.”

“Partially, Jeremie, partially.”

Odd had some joke to say. “What, that’s all you two can come up with? Hey, you know, you two better start working on your A-Game.”

“My powers are my A-Game, Odd, sweetie,” Cassidy smiled. Then she spark-flashed a vision. “Got to jet. I have to do something real quick!”

She turned to go when Yumi stopped her. “Really? With what?”

“It’ll help Jeremie pass boys’ room inspection.”

After she left, Ulrich quipped to Odd, “I guess that was your A-Game against Norbert or Norberta.”

 _Ulrich, he wasn’t even close to finishing that game with the Krabe,_ Cassidy’s words scolded.

“I’ve got some routine checks to carry out, just to be sure it was XANA’s attack,” Jeremie informed the missing-by-one-member gang. “Hurry on without me, I’ll catch up.”

“Can I have your portion?” Odd asked; his eyes with the look of a hopeful maniac.

Jeremie nodded and the ninja cheered. “FANTASTIC! SHEPARD’S PIE TONIGHT!”Odd ran to the elevator with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, and it’s also boys’ dorm inspection, so don’t be too long, Jeremie,” Ulrich reminded.

“This will take a few minutes. That’s all,” Jeremie told the group.

Kiwi wanted to go back to the dorms with Odd, but he couldn’t bring him back.

“No, Kiwi, tonight, you stay here. The last thing we need is for Jim to find you. My little diggity dog,” he told the dog.

**-Jim’s speech-**

Jim gave a speech about how clean rooms have a good effect on sleep. Meanwhile, Cassidy was trying to clean Jeremie’s room the best of her abilities, making sure anything that was trash was thrown away, keeping files from entering the pile.

“Hey, where’s Belpois?” Cassidy flinched as Jim yelled her friend’s last name.

She had to calm down to work again. After she gave the room the okay, she looked under the door crack. Jim was standing in front of the room she was cleaning. _Go away, Jim. Please, please, go away._

As if by magic, Jim moved away from the door. Cassidy tried to keep herself from gasping. _Did I just do that? Let me try again to see if this isn’t a total fluke._ She found Odd in front of his and Ulrich’s dorm. _Grab my iPod from my room, Odd, and send it to Jeremie’s room._

Odd started to stray, until Ulrich grabbed his arm. “What are you doing, Odd? Do you want Jim to notice your absence, too? Where the heck are you going?”

Underneath the door crack, Cassidy could see that Odd had a strange look in his eyes.

She smiled and almost cackled. This was the most fun she had had at Kadic since the time she creamed Sissi’s team in volleyball. Luckily Yumi was on her (Cassidy’s) side so there wasn’t conflict.

She let go of the control—she had had her fun—and Odd shook his head. “What the heck!” he yelled.

Jim turned to Odd. “Della Robbia, perhaps you might know where your friend Belpois is.”

“In the Bathroom, Jim,” Ulrich covered for his recently crazier-than-normal-turned-back-to-just-crazy friend.

“What? **!** You mean, all this time?” Jim asked them.

“The Shepherd’s pie doesn’t agree with him,” Odd came back.

Jim gave them a suspicious look.

**-Back at ze lab-**

Jeremie was working hard on what was the problem. He clicked and clacked on the keys until he heard something beep. Kiwi, who was asleep under him, opened one eye and whined a little.

“What’s all this stuff about?” Jeremie asked himself.

He typed some more and saw that some of the data was red.

“Uh-oh, it’s getting weirder.”

He went down to the Super-Calculator room and opened some of the supercomputer’s hard-drive disks. They were rectangular, and some of them had some dirty substance on them.

“But I don’t believe it. This is sabotage! Somebody _has_ been in here,” he realized.

He went over to watch the surveillance footage in the lab. He saw, as Cassidy predicted, Michael Rouiller messing with some of the supercomputer chips by rubbing electricity on them.

“Oh, no!”

**-The next morning in the cafeteria-**

“It was sabotage last night!” Cassidy realized with a bang of her fist. “Curse you, XANA, for locking mis poderes!”

“That’s what yesterday’s attack was,” Jeremie told the group. The psychic nodded her head to what the genius was saying. “And the bugs that kept you from fighting are caused by the drop in the calculating capacity of the Supercomputer.”

“What a mess, do you think you can fix it?” Yumi asked.

“He’ll try, but first Jim has to inspect Jeremie’s dorm, which I helped clean to hopefully perfection,” the psychic nodded.

“But I’ve got to do it fast or else we’re going to be in big trouble, guys,” Jeremie took a bite out of his croissant.

“We are? How come?” Ulrich asked.

“If we don’t do it fast, the Supercomputer will slow down, causing major problems in about three hours,” Cassidy told Ulrich.

“Are you absolutely sure that the whole thing will be destroyed?” Aelita asked.

“Definitely, it’s already lost a lot of speed. I’d even launched a return to the past to see—no way,” Jeremie told everyone, including Aelita. “I’ve gotta pick up some stuff from my room. Then I’m going to head back over. As for your classes, I can think of some phony excuses!”

“My ‘sulking’ excuse was golden, Jeremie. It gotten you out of science class that day you were in Limbo.” Cassidy felt bit in the heart. “And Yumi and I have a field trip with Chardin. He’s taking us to see an exhibit. Lo sentimos, Jeremie. And don’t forget Jim. He needs to see your room.”

The two tenth graders went out of the cafeteria.

Jim yelled out for Jeremie’s name and found him. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you last night. Yours is the only room I haven’t inspected last night. Get up. Go on. On your feet now!”

**-In the next scene-**

“So, you can’t eat Shepherd’s Pie either, huh?” Jim off-handedly asked Jeremie.

The genius of the group looked to the others following. “What is he talking about?”

Odd waved his hand. “Never mind!” he whispered.

Jim opened the door to his room and found it very tidy. Caught by surprise, he asked, “Wow, Belpois, did you do this by yourself?”

“Well, I did have some help from Aelita and Cassidy. I didn’t do it alone,” Jeremie came up with a creative excuse on the fly. He handed Aelita a box while Jim wasn’t looking and gave her the “sh” finger.

Jim looked around the room. “You have really good friends, Belpois, though there is one thing I can see…”

“Uh-oh,” Odd copied Jeremie’s thought.

“You need to dust and vacuum. Otherwise, you pass inspection,” Jim told Jeremie.

“Yes, sir,” The genius of the group nodded to the gym teacher.

**-The next scene-**

“There’s no way Jim’s going to get off Jeremie’s back until he’s through with the minor cleaning-up details,” Ulrich pushed through the doorway.

“Yeah, and in three hours it’s bye-bye Supercomputer,” Odd agreed.

Aelita came through the doorway. “Maybe I can fix it. Maybe that’s what Jeremie meant when he gave me this box.” She indicated the box that Jeremie gave her.

“Do you think you can do it?” Ulrich asked her.

“At least I can try to limit the damage. Besides we don’t have much of a choice,” she told them.

Odd instantly disagreed with the idea.

“You go to class and say I got sick from…um… the Shepherd’s Pie.” Aelita rushed down the stairs with the box in her hands. “I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.”

“Okay,” Odd said.

“I’m off.”

“Good luck, Princess.”

“Thanks!”

**-Yumi and Cassidy’s class-**

Cassidy’s eyes became instantly white. Yumi smacked her arm and she came back to reality. “You okay, Cassidy?”

“A bad feeling that includes Odd and Jeremie in some ways,” the psychic shook her head. “I must call them.” She whipped out her cell phone and called Odd.

 _“You’ve reached Odd the Great, the Brave, the Magnificent! What do you need?”_ Odd picked up.

“Odd, honey, I have a psychic notion that you and Jeremie are going to get ‘tied up’ somewhere in the near future. Please believe me.”

_“Okay, Cat-Girl, calm down. I believe you. Don’t get so worked up. I’m sure that we’ll get untied later on.”_

“Okay, thanks Odd,” she hung up and called Jeremie. She tried twice until… _“Yes?”_

“Jeremie, um…listen, whatever it is I’m going to tell you, you gotta believe me,” she stammered a little.

 _“Just tell me. I’ll believe you. This isn’t like that fight we had last year about Aelita,”_ Jeremie said.

“I have a notion that in the near future, you and Odd are going to get ‘tied up’ somewhere. I don’t know what material is going to do that, but you and Odd will,” she stayed calm that time.

 _“I’ll take your word for it,”_ Jeremie told her.

“Okay, thanks.” They both hung up.

Chardin came up and William said as a bus went by, “Uh, sir, the bus is late. When is it going to come?”

“There isn’t any. We are going to walk, anything for art,” Chardin said as they walked.

**-The next scene-**

Jeremie had found **an activated tower** while dusting off his table.

**-Factory-**

Kiwi, now in the “cushy chair”, woke up to see Aelita coming into the Lab with the box in hand. She made her way to where the doggie was and noticed that the super-scan had picked up an activated tower.

Kiwi barked.

“Oh, no, an activated tower!” Aelita lightly tapped on the keys and called Ulrich.

**-Outside the dorms-**

Ulrich heard his phone ring and he picked it up. “Aelita? Hey, yeah, we’re on our way.” He hung up as soon as he said that and turned to Odd. “Activated tower, we’re going in. I’ll tell Yumi.”

**-With the walking students-**

“Breathe deeply. Nothing like taking in a breath of fresh air before taking in some fine art!” Chardin told them.

 _What does breathing have to do with art?_ Cassidy wondered. _Aw, well, to each their own._

Yumi heard her phone ring as the psychic had a spark-flash. She picked up the phone. After a few seconds… “What? **!** ”

“Which part of the museum are you going to visit first, huh, William? The impressionists or the pop art?” Christophe asked.

“Neither. The gift shop. I’m going to try to get something there for Yumi and Cassidy.” He turned around. “What would you two like, ladies? Yumi? Cassidy!” He scoffed. “As usual, she couldn't wait to give me the slip...”

**-With the two escapers-**

The two ran through the forest. “I have a feeling that Herbology is not going to be our friend today,” Cassidy panted.

“Is Odd the one who taught you that?”

“No, as a matter of fact, it’s Harry Potter.”

**-Back to Aelita-**

She was starting to do the necessary repairs. She looked up at the Super-calculator. “Let’s get to work.”

**-With Ulrich and Odd-**

“Do you think that Aelita got the thing fixed, huh, Ulrich?” Odd said as they raced through the forest.

“We’ll find out soon enou—ugh!” Ulrich tripped on a root and fell.

The ninja warrior stopped and looked back. “Hey, what happened?”

Now the samurai looked to be tied up. Vines circled every appendage, holding him down. He resisted the restraint, but with that came a failed effort.

Odd could only look, when he noticed that the vines were going to do the same thing to him. They dragged him right next to Ulrich.

He only had one joke. “Got any sun block?”

**-Back to Jeremie-**

He finally got done with the dusting and vacuuming.

Jim, who was watching the whole time, said, “Alright, now get to class, and hurry it up.”

“Thanks, Jim, see ya!” Jeremie put away the vacuum and duster and went off.

Jim smiled. “That kid did a real good job,” he said to himself as he left the room.

**-Back to Yumi and Cassidy-**

They were racing through the forest. Soon they found a tree and decided to stop. Panting, Cassidy said, “Now…running I can handle, but running a mile—count me out.”

They heard a noise and, with the agreeing nod of the other, they kept running.

**-Back to the repair job-**

“Yes, Jeremie, I did what I could in the meantime, but I don’t know if it will hold up.” Aelita was on the phone with Jeremie. “…The others? No, nothing yet. Okay, then, hurry up.” It was a soft command.

**-To Ulrich and Odd-**

“Odd, try to free my hand!” Ulrich struggled in the vines entangling them.

“What, are you joking? First I would love to be able move my own!” Odd asked.

Jeremie found them. “There they are.” He was concerned and ran up a safe distance from them.

“Pretty good timing,” Odd half-whined.

Jeremie then spotted a shovel that Michael Rouiller had obviously forgotten to put away.

“Hey!” Ulrich called over to his friend.

“Hang on!” Jeremie grabbed the shovel and aimed it over them.

“Uh, watch it, Einstein. Coordination’s never been your thing!” Odd showed his concern fast.

But Jeremie, knowing to be careful, started to hack away at the vines. First he got one on Odd’s torso, next Ulrich’s ankle, and so on until Ulrich was freed. “Nice one,” the samurai complimented.

Jeremie noticed the vines getting nearer to him now. “Ulrich, RUN! Join Aelita and deactivate the tower!” Then he was tied down, too. “Hurry!”

Ulrich ran and Jeremie was forced to be next to Odd.

The samurai warrior saw that the vines were after him now, but he already made it to the passage.

He closed it just as the vines covered the area.

**-Meanwhile on the opposite end-**

Yumi and Cassidy kept racing forward, but then stopped to see some of the vines. The cat warrior panicked a little. “Yumi, try to make your way around! That’s the only way one of us could get to the factory. Don’t ask questions, just run.”

She did, giving her friend a look that said, “You know the way, good luck.”

“Just thank the heavens that I am not the way,” Cassidy bantered after her when one of the vines caught her ankle.

**-Ulrich-**

Ulrich finally made his way to the factory and into the elevator. He took it down to the lab where Aelita asked, “Where are the others?”

“Jeremie and Odd are kind of tied up. We’ll have to do without them.” He ran over to her and Kiwi. “Yumi and Cassidy aren’t here yet?”

“No!”

Ulrich used his phone to call.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi’s phone rang as she hid behind a tree. “Ulrich…same here, these stupid roots are blocking the way. Cassidy’s doing something but I don’t know what it is…Oh, no, don’t wait for me! I’ll get there soon.” She hung up.

**-Cassidy-**

Ulrich had also called her. “Ulrich…No, I’m not at the OK Corral. Instead these vines have done near blocked our way. I would love to join you in that Ice Sector, but I’m afraid I won’t make it. No, you don’t wait for me either. I’m not sure if I’ll—”

Cassidy turned and saw a root around her ankle. “I’m not sure if I’ll make it!” she hastily said before she was dragged away.

**-To the Lab-**

“Cassidy!” Ulrich yelled then turned to Aelita. “No time to lose. Cassidy’s in trouble, Aelita.”

“Okay, I’ll start up a self-virtualization program.” She started typing on the coordinates and program.

“Did you manage to fix the Supercomputer?” Ulrich asked.

“Well, just temporarily,” Aelita answered truthfully. She put in the final code. “Here we go!”

She and Ulrich got into the scanners and soon, they were on Lyoko’s Ice Sector.

**-With Cassidy-**

The vine kept dragging Cassidy. She fought hard, but at one point, her back hit against a sharp rock, right near the scar. “YIPE!” She yelled. “That’s my XANA-Jeremie scar!”

**-With the two already-on-Lyoko Warriors-**

“Come on,” Ulrich commanded.

And the two ran.

**-With Jeremie and Odd-**

“How are we going to get out of…this one?” Jeremie asked, the restraint making him speak hoarsely.

“Just like we said!” Odd said with a rasp.

“We didn’t say anything!”

“That’s why we have a problem.”

Jeremie then notice the vine starting to fizz/fade a little then kick back to reality.

“Hold on, I think I may have an idea!” he smiled.

“That’s great, I’m dying to hear it,” Odd rasped.

“No time! But when I give you the signal, I want you to try with all your might to get yourself free, okay?” Jeremie ordered.

“Should try to get free? I could’ve thought of that without your help!”

“You gotta trust me Odd!”

“Can’t you think of something more convincing to say for once?” Odd narrowed his brows.

**-Ice Sector-**

Ulrich and Aelita ran to the tower, but then saw two Tarantulas.

They stopped about a mile off. “Okay, two Tarantulas. Not exactly the end of the world.”

“Should we use force?” Aelita asked.

“Is there any other way?”

“Our brains!”

“Don’t have any. SUPER-SPRINT!” He charged off.

The Tarantulas didn’t seem too happy about Ulrich’s appearing out of nowhere. They fired away, but Ulrich dodged every shot. Aelita decided to go off while the samurai boy was doing his thing.

But then he froze and “teleported” behind the Tarantula. It was confused at first, but then he found him…in black and white.

He looked at himself, not sure what to make of his outfit. “Since I’m in black and white, might as well fight the old-fashioned way.” Ulrich fenced the Tarantula. “En guarde! Touché!”

But the blade of his katana harmlessly went right through the monster. And he started to fizz. He tried to hit it three times but it didn’t work.

The Tarantula ganged up on him. “This time we’ve had it,” the black-and-white samurai sounded almost despondent.

Meanwhile Aelita was cornered by the second Tarantula. She started to bug up too. “Oh, no. Not NOW!”

But then the Tarantulas (not just the second one) started to fizz and freeze.

Ulrich regained his color once again. “Cool!”

**-Yumi-**

Yumi had made it to the factory by using the wall.

**-Back to the show-**

Aelita used an energy field on the second Tarantula and made her way through.

The two ran for it as the second one clunked over to the first to guard the tower.

Back at the ice floe, Ulrich asked, “Hey, what happened?”

“Nothing special. The bugs also seem to affect the monsters.”

“Well that kinda makes things even for once,” Ulrich used his index finger to show the number one.

**-Back to Odd and Jeremie-**

“The signal!” Odd was getting impatient.

“Hold on!” Jeremie rasped. Then the vines fizzed. “NOW!”

They stood up, fazing through the vines.

“Quick, let’s get outta here!” Jeremie said.

**-Back with Cassidy-**

She was still fighting the vine dragging her. “XANA, you’re a never-give-up person.” Cassidy scowled.

She grabbed a branch but it broke off.

The vine took her to a fissure in the ground. Cassidy grabbed a tree and held on. _You ain’t taking me, yet,_ XANA.

**-Back at the Ice Sector-**

Things were heating up despite the sector. The Tarantulas were firing, and so was Aelita with her energy fields, and Ulrich was deflecting the shots. At one point Aelita got hit.

Fizzes and freezes kept going on throughout the thing.

**-Back to Odd and Jeremie-**

Odd and Jeremie made it to the factory. “Get to the scanner room,” Jeremie ordered as he ran to the computer.

Odd saluted his buddy as the elevator took him down to that room. “Yes, sir.”

Jeremie looked on the screen.

**-Back to the Ice Sector-**

“How many life points do you think you have left?” Ulrich was concerned.

“Definitely less than you!” Aelita said.

 _“That’s right, so you’d better watch it,”_ Jeremie warned.

They looked up as they heard that.

“Jeremie, you’re there! That’s cool!” the samurai was overjoyed then ducked as a Tarantula started to fire again.

_“Yeah, and Odd’s coming to the rescue!”_

He deflected shot after shot of the Tarantula.

**-Lab-**

“Scanner: Odd, Virtualization!” Jeremie said.

**-To the Ice Sector-**

“Triplicate!” Ulrich called out, but no clones came.

The Tarantula fired and hit him in the stomach.

Aelita tried to face off against the second Tarantula using her Creativity. It materialized a glacier above the monster and squashed it flat.

“Good job, Aelita,” Ulrich congratulated. But what he didn’t see in the distance were two Krabes ready to join the battle until he turned around. “Uh, oh!”

“Right, any last words before we both get devirtualized?” They walked backwards, Ulrich holding his katana out in front of him.

“LASER ARROW **!**!” Odd yelled from his OverBoard. Odd had come in to join the “fun”.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. Good to see you, Odd!” Ulrich smiled.

Odd did some cool tricks and decided to go through the legs of one of them. “Cootchie Coo!” He teased as if his hair was a tickler. “Huh, I guess you’re not ticklish under the claws.”

 _“Here’s a little something to get around with,”_ Jeremie announced as the OverBike appeared.

Ulrich and Aelita both got on it. “Saddle up, Princess!”

**-Cassidy’s dilemma-**

Cassidy had since let go of the tree and used the rock as her next object to hold.

She couldn’t yell out for help. _Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi are at the factory with Aelita; no one will find me until I get out of this mess._

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The vehicles disappeared as if Jeremie decided to take them away and the three fell to the ice and not the digital sea. **(A/N: I’m getting to think that this was a bit like Common Interest con Aelita this time)**

 _“Sorry, guys, the Supercomputer is losing more and more power. You’ll have to go on foot,”_ Jeremie apologized quickly.

“Jeremie, I didn’t have time to finish the repairs,” Aelita confessed.

 _“I know, Aelita, and you did a great job,”_ Jeremie said to her. _“It’s okay, I can finish up!”_

“Better do it as fast as you can. It’s bugging up more and more. And we still haven’t heard anything from Cassidy!” Ulrich called out. _Where’s our psychic when we need her?_

 _“I’ll do whatever I can. Just for now, worry about that stupid tower!”_ Jeremie decided to clock out for a while.

They raced for the tower, but stopped. “Here comes a mega-problem.”

A Megatank was now there.

**-With Cassidy-**

She was slipping but she tried to hold on strong when she lost her grip and started almost-falling into the fissure itself to go flat on her back. “Ow!” she groaned, picking herself up.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie and Yumi were working on repairing what Aelita understandably didn’t have time to repair.

“There, that oughtta do it.” He stood up.

**-With the Lyoko Warriors-**

The Megatank fired and the three separated. Odd ran for a little bit and then froze. “Oh, no, that is so uncool!”

Aelita used her Creativity to shield Odd. It worked. After, Odd unfroze and fell on his stomach. “Ouch.” To Jeremie, he asked, “How are you doing, Einstein? It’s killing us! We can’t even take a step without bugging up.”

­ **-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was working on the wiring on the monitor and computer, Kiwi, being a good doggie, sitting and watching him. Yumi was watching intently.

“I’m almost there!” He said. “Okay. All I have to do is reboot the works.”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The next Megatank laser fire took out Aelita’s Creativity project, breaking it into a thousand pieces.

“Better step on it!” Ulrich warned.

**-To the lab-**

Jeremie worked on the mainframe, typing the necessary calculations and calibrations, and pressed enter.

The red squares turned blue and back to red again. “Oh, no!”

**-Lyoko-**

“What?” Ulrich said.

 _“I don’t have enough juice to reboot the supercomputer!”_ Jeremie lamented. _“If we could only deactivate the tower, I could use its energy to restart the whole system!”_

“That’s fine, Jeremie, but over here we can’t deactivate the tower unless _you_ reboot the system!” Aelita snapped lightly.

 _“Oh!”_ Jeremie was feeling horrible.

The Megatank fired and the three had to run, bugging up every now and then along that run.

Aelita stopped, seeing a way tower. “There’s one way to do it.”

 _“Go on, I’m listening!”_ Jeremie was hoping for anything.

“Destroy the Ice Sector!”

 _“WHAT? **!** ”_ Yumi yelled in.

Ulrich and Odd looked at it, when Odd said, “Good ole Aelita. During the worst of times, she keeps her sense of humor.”

When Aelita gave Odd a look, he changed his mind, “Uh, you mean you weren’t kidding?”

 _“Aelita, that’s crazy!”_ Jeremie told her almost softly.

They raced for that tower. Aelita looked up to the sky. “Jeremie, Yumi, it’s the only way to recover some energy and avoid total destruction of the Supercomputer. And if that happens, Lyoko disappears and us with it. We don’t have a choice. Besides, that’ll automatically deactivate the tower.”

**-Lab-**

“She’s right,” Jeremie sounded defeated. “Go on. Do it, Aelita!”

**-Back to Cassidy-**

Cassidy lay, almost bleeding on the vine she hit. She used her shirt as a cork to hold the scratch on her back from bleeding. She almost didn’t see the vines cover her.

**-To Lyoko-**

_“When I restart the system, I won’t be able to materialize you. You’ll have to manage on your own.”_

Ulrich and Odd stopped. “You got it,” the former boy unsheathed his sword as Aelita kept running to the tower.

She got in.

**-Back to Cassidy again-**

The vines started to play in front of her vision.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The Megatank went on its side and started to fire at Odd and Ulrich. They jumped up and landed down, looking over to the tower.

Inside the tower, Aelita entered the code XANA. She dropped out of there on her side, got on her feet, and raced to her friends. “Hurry!”

They raced and the Megatank fell off the face of Lyoko’s disappearing Ice Sector. A column of blue and white light ascended upward to the sky.

**-Meanwhile…-**

Jeremie was waiting to press the enter key. Yumi was almost biting her nails in worry.

**-Back to Lyoko again-**

Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd ran until the former unsheathed his katana. “Right, listen up. Aelita, you take care of Odd. Odd, you zap me. On three! One—”

Odd wasn’t sure on the order of three (count up, count down, saying the number, etc.). “Hold on, do we zap each other on three, or do we count to three and zap each other.”

“You always pull this on me, Odd! No, we zap each other on three, okay! One—”

“Wait. Aelita, don’t miss, okay?” Odd said.

“ODD!” Aelita and Ulrich yelled at him. The latter boy was about to give him a virtual black eye.

The sector was disappearing fast.

“Okay, okay!”

“One, two, _three_!” Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita got each other as the sector disappeared.

The two Krabes disappeared into the digital sea as did the only Tarantula.

_“The activated tower’s disappeared!”_

**-Lab-**

“Reboot system!” Jeremie hit the enter key.

The three squares got back to blue and filled in green.

Jeremie and Yumi were very satisfied. “Alright!”

**-Scanner room-**

Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita came out of the scanners.

“Three?” Odd asked.

Ulrich scratched the back of his head.

Odd smiled as did Aelita.

**-Back to where Cassidy is-**

She climbed out of the crack in the ground, mildly bleeding from her back, hair wild, and shaky. “You did it, Aelita. You helped reboot the system…” She smiled weakly, but winced when the pain shot through her.

**-Later on-**

“Well, we may have lost the Ice Sector, but we didn’t lose the supercomputer or a warrior,” Cassidy almost let out a yelp as Odd applied some antiseptic on the wound on her back.

“Right, the repairs are only temporary, but at least they’ll help us keep on fighting XANA,” Jeremie agreed.

“We managed to save the supercomputer,” Aelita continued.

“You were right about us getting tied up, too, Cassidy,” Odd said.

“I would’ve gone back a little more to warn Ulrich, but I couldn’t,” Cassidy bit into Jeremie’s pillow.

“You did great, Aelita! Sissi’s right to call you Mrs. Einstein,” Odd kept applying the stuff.

 _Easy does it on the antiseptic, Odd,_ Cassidy ordered. Odd did.

“Don’t forget that this little adventure of ours cost us the Ice Sector,” Yumi nodded.

“Yeah, that is a shame,” Jeremie said. “I’m going to have to find a way to virtualize you directly into Sector 5 from now on!”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t…”

“Don’t apologize, Cassidy. You couldn’t go to Lyoko with us and that’s okay,” Odd understood, putting the bottle of antiseptic aside and applied some gauze. The cut was about two inches long, almost like a puncture wound, but it wasn’t that deep. To Jeremie, he said, “It’s okay. As long as the Mountain Sector stays together there's still hope.”

Ulrich helped Odd and Cassidy with the bandages. “Yeah, but for how long?”

“HEY, I didn’t know you had ‘Solutions for Bug Eater attacks’! Do you mind?” Odd reached for the shelf after his girl was bandaged.

“No I don’t, plus Jim said my room passed inspection, so you can look at it,” Jeremie smiled.

“Thanks.”

“We will never give up, Jeremie!” Cassidy sat up and tried not to stretch.


	39. We have Triple Trouble

**Cassidy: My Boss does not own Code Lyoko. But she owns me.**

**-Mountain Sector-**

Odd missed on the six Bloks. “Oh, no, missed again!”

It was Lyoko mission time…again. Cassidy shot at the Bloks and clipped two of them. “Odd, we’re going to get through this.”

The boyfriend on the other hand, had his doubts. “I already missed twice, Cat-Girl. You’ve got an upper-hand.”

“I don’t call it an upper-hand. I just call it Kill the Bloks.” She took out another.

Meanwhile the three Bloks were trying to herd Aelita into the direction of the Schyphozoa. That set an angry fire in the psychic’s stomach. _Ain’t no way that we’re going to let Aelita get caught by the Schyphozoa!_

 _“Watch out!”_ Jeremie warned.

“We’ll get there! No way in Marcusville will we let Aelita get caught,” Cassidy used her almost-correct Southern accent. Determination set inside her, she was not going to let the monster get her friend and roommate.

_“If the Schyphozoa pulls Aelita into the way tower, it’s all over! We could say good-bye to the Mountain Sector, and then, bye-bye Lyoko, too.”_

“We’ll get her to the torre correcta in no time, just give us some time,” she said. “It’s no picnic out here! And don’t bite your nails, Jeremie.”

She swore she heard an eye roll from the worried genius.

Odd sounded as if he had heard it a million times, “We get the picture, Einstein.”

The boyfriend-girlfriend duo was joined by Ulrich as they swooped in to try to save the day. He (Ulrich) noticed the scene and got onto the next platform to help in between the Bloks and Aelita, getting off his OverBike in the process. He used his katana to block and ward off the shots. After they ceased firing for a few seconds, Ulrich turned, gave Aelita a wink, and ran off to get rid of the Bloks. “TRIPLICATE!” he yelled, and this time his request rang true. There were three Ulrichs running to get rid of them. That ticked them off a bit.

They got rid of the two clones and missed the real one. He jumped up and stabbed the middle Blok right in the eye. “IMPACT!” He had to get out of the way to avoid getting hit by the debris.

Odd sped on ahead to try to do a number on the Bloks. He launched a laser arrow, calling his attack, and got the one on his right—but not in the eye.

Cassidy called out. “Don’t worry, Odd, you did your best. It was not a bad shot.”

Then Odd spotted somebody in the distance. It was Yumi! She sped past him and into the action itself.

Ulrich ran in the middle of the two Bloks and tried to block off the shots. He did well until they got him in the thigh just near the knee.

Yumi got off her OverWing and launched a fan at one of the Bloks. She succeeded. It went straight into the eye and came back at her for her to catch.

Ulrich braced himself for the explosion.

Cassidy ran past the two of them to meet up with Aelita. “The Schyphozoa is there, I’m going to protect you!”

The pink-haired girl nodded and used her Creativity to make a rock to which Yumi used her Telekinesis to get rid of the last Blok. For a final measure, Cassidy used her tube, turned it into a gun, and shot at the Schyphozoa with all her might.

“KEEP BACK!” she gritted her teeth to the jellyfish-like monster. “YOU KNOW I CAN HURT YOU, YE DEMON FROM XANA!”

Ulrich decided to join in on the fun and started chopping at the Schyphozoa’s tentacles. After the monster backed off, he turned to Aelita. “There you go, Princess.”

She smiled. Odd came in on his OverBoard. “Hey, what am I here, a groupie?”

“No you aren’t a groupie, Odd,” Cassidy sighed.

**-Scanner room-**

“That makes twelve for me. Anyone top that?” Ulrich asked.

“Still have eighty-seven Megatanks from the possessed nurse attack ages ago,” Cassidy showed her stats, but she wasn’t proud of them.

“I got ten,” Aelita smiled. “Yumi?”

“Oh, not many, only fifteen,” Yumi shrugged. “Odd? How many of XANA’s monsters did _you_ wipe out this week?”

A slight frown entered Cassidy’s features.

Odd was typing in the elevator code. “Two,” he sounded ground down.

“Unlucky week for you, Odd? I understand,” Cassidy slightly smiled. “I had been unlucky last week. Too many Hornets and one jammed bullet.”

“You’re lucky you even have a weapon!” Odd snapped at her, causing her to back up behind Yumi.

“What’s going on? What’s your problem?” Yumi grew a little bit concerned.

“You know darn well! You all got super powers. Telekinesis, Super Sprint, Triplicate. You can all make stuff appear. Even a tube that turns into a weapon is countable. Me, I’ve got zilch. The only power I ever had was Future Flash that made me temporarily psychic, unlike Cat-Girl, and it got wiped out when Jeremie was updating the Supercomputer. And he never reprogrammed it because it was, I quote, ‘useless’.”

The five were now in the elevator now. Cassidy still hid behind Yumi.

“So just knock it off with your high scores and low scores, okay?” Odd was still in a rut.

**-The next day-**

Odd walked alone to the vending machines to find the gang already there. Cassidy gave him their morning kiss, but Odd was still in a bad mood over the day before. So it felt really hollow.

He went over to the hot chocolate machine.

Cassidy felt a little bit turned off. Yumi put a hand on her shoulder and softly whispered. “He’s still sulking, I guess.”

“I guess, but usually that would perk him straight up. To see him like this breaks my heart into thousands of sharp pieces,” she whispered back.

Odd put a Euro in the machine, but found that the hot chocolate machine hadn’t had a stock-up in cups recently. That really set him in a bad mood. “I don’t believe it. Is the whole world trying to bring me down or what?”

Jeremie put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, look, I’m on your side.”

Cassidy broke from Yumi’s grip and gave Odd a hug. “And so am I!”

“Says you, Cassidy, you have powers even on Earth,” he sounded run down again.

“I put a little something together that’s bound to cheer you up, Odd,” Jeremie smiled.

That put a smile on the in-the-rut friend’s face. “I hope it’s nothing to eat because you’re an awful cook!”

“No, it’s a special power just for you and nobody else. Teleportation.”

That caused Odd to break free of both Jeremie and Cassidy’s grips. “You’re the best, Einstein!” He yelled. “If I were a girl, I'd propose to you immediately!”

“Um…that would be great, Odd, but then…” Cassidy eyed Aelita. “Who will Aelita see if you take Jeremie away from her?”

**-On Lyoko-**

Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy landed in the Mountain Sector. He dusted himself off as soon as Cassidy stood next to him. “I’m standing by Jeremie.”

 _“This new power will allow you to travel instantly over short distances,”_ Jeremie told him.

“Cool, how does it work?” Odd was intrigued.

_“First, you have to visualize the place you want to go to, okay?”_

Odd looked around and picked a place. “Like that big mountain, for instance?” he pointed.

 _“Sure, why not?”_ Jeremie’s tone was happy and assertive. _“Next, you activate the program by saying ‘teleportation’.”_

Odd straightened up, but was touching Cassidy. “Okay, teleportation!”

With a flash of green light, the two of them ‘teleported’ to the top of the mountain. “Wow. Fantastic!”

Odd looked to her. “How’d you end up here?”

“I think you touched me and I ended up coming with you,” Cassidy hugged the tree. “Oh…I don’t like being up this high!”

Aelita, also supervising, saw something wrong. “No, not fantastic at all!”

 _“Uh-oh, looks like something bugged up,”_ Jeremie announced.

Cassidy realized something and got off the tree. “Odd, whatever you do, do not do another teleportation.”

“Okay, I’ll try again,” Odd smiled.

Aelita and Cassidy chorused together, “No, WAIT!”

“Teleportation!” With another flash of green light Odd and Cassidy were on the ground next to Aelita.

“Aren’t you happy to see us?” Odd wondered.

“Yeah, but honestly, only one of each of you would’ve been enough!” Aelita pointed out. “Look up there!”

The two looked at the mountaintop, to the start point. There was a copy of Odd and Cassidy on the mountain. Both Odds were confused. “Huh? What?”

Both Cassidy copies looked at each other as if the other was about to explode.

“And there!” she pointed again.

The Odd next to Aelita looked at yet another copy of Odd and Cassidy. Again the two Odds were confused. “Huh?”

The one next to Aelita yelled up to the sky, “Jeremie, I take back my marriage proposal.”

 _“Nobody panic!”_ Jeremie said to the three Odds, the three Cassidy copies, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi (Ulrich and Yumi weren’t with them on Lyoko, but to give them comfort was necessary). _“It’s only a minor bug. I’ll rematerialize you!”_

**-To the scanner room-**

Odd came out of the scanner, pretending to be hurt, and fell onto Jeremie. That panicked the genius of the group. “Odd, what’s wrong?”

“I—FOOLED YOU THAT TIME, DIDN’T I?” Odd laughed.

Then Cassidy came out of the same scanner, saying, “Odd, that was a lame trick! ’Could’ve done a little better.”

Ulrich agreed, “Unbelievable. What a total meathead!”

Then another scanner door opened to find another Odd doing the same trick. Jeremie was not fooled this time.

“We know. Fooled us that time.”

Then the scanner opened again to another Cassidy copy.

“And it was a lame trick and Odd could’ve done better,” Jeremie sighed.

Both clones were confused. “How did you know what we were going to say?”

Then the third scanner door opened to a third Odd doing the same trick. And then it opened again to a third Cassidy copy.

The third Odd clone looked confused. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

He looked around to find that there were two Odd clones and two Cassidy copies. “Huh?”

The first Cassidy had a spark flash, but none of the other of her clones did. “This is definitely bad news.”

“Wait a minute. Only one of you contains Cassidy’s psychic power?” Ulrich and Jeremie chorused.

The second clone started to sob erratically, until the third one calmed her down.

The third Cassidy said, “Yeah, and I can’t wait for gym class. Good ole discus throwing.”

That concerned the Lyoko warriors in the scanner room.

**-The three boy clones and girl clones in the Lab-**

“Look on the bright side, now you've got four more great buddies,” the Odd that got out of the scanner first said.

The two Odd clones chorused together: “That's right!”

The emotionally unstable Cassidy copy started to well up tears when the bold and athletic one calmed her down again with only two words. “Cálmate, señorita.”

“Get real! With three Odds, that's three times as many bad jokes,” Ulrich said.

“And two too many Odd Della Robbias and Cassidy McGuires at school,” Yumi agreed.

The bold athletic Cassidy started to stretch. Jeremie was understandably uncomfortable by this. “Um…bold Cassidy, could you…stop?”

The athletic clone stopped.

“Why don’t the two Odd’s and two Cassidy’s lay low here to stop anyone from getting suspicious and the other Odd and Cassidy could go to school as usual and everything would be cool?” Aelita suggested.

Jeremie smiled. “Good idea. I’ll stay here to figure out what went wrong, okay?”

“No way, Jose. It’s lunchtime and we’re starved—”

The first Cassidy shouted, “WAIT A MINUTE!” and the first Odd stopped talking.

Everyone stared at her as though she had cursed the first Odd’s very name.

She took a moment to compose herself and then said, “I happen to have an idea.”

“Well, let’s hear it?” Ulrich scratched the back of his head.

“We could disguise the Della Robbia twins and my McGuire copies.”

“How?”

“We’re going to cut their hair and change their names,” she sang. “And clothes too.”

“No way am I wearing a dress!” Odd #1 protested and #2 and #3 agreed.

“Who said _anything_ about wearing a dress?” Cassidy #3 argued. “The Della Robbia twins are going to wear boy clothing. What, did you think that she was going to make you three clones dress in drag and do the hula in front of Sissi?”

Odd #1 realized his mistake. “Oh.”

**-In Cassidy and Aelita’s dorm room-**

Odd #2 was way uncooperative when it came to hair cutting. Finally Cassidy #1 gave up and said, “Fine! We’ll just straighten your hair so it looks like when Odd first came to school here.” So she did so.

When shown the mirror, Odd #2 was very impressed. “Okay…now what will be my alias?”

“Your name is Alexx with two X’s in your name to keep on with the double consonant,” Cassidy #1 said.

Alexx smiled. “Okay.

“Hey, what’s my new name?” Odd #3 asked (he now had a Mohawk).

“Your name has a double R, and your name is Hunterr,” Cassidy #1 finished up her first clone’s hairdo. It was a little shorter than her own hair style, but it was gorgeous. “Chessy’s done!”

She held up a mirror to Chessy. She looked very impressed but still a little shook up. But before the tears came in, Cassidy #1 calmed her down again.

Yumi and Aelita got done with Cassidy #3’s hairstyle, which was similar to Yumi’s hairstyle in a lot of ways sans color. “What is her name going to be?” Aelita asked.

“Tracy, like the name of my aunt,” Cassidy smiled.

Tracy shook her hair out and smiled at the result. “I love it.”

Cassidy whipped out her bag. “Time for us girl ‘very distant cousins from the southern tip of Chile’ to get dressed in different outfits.”

Tracy and Chessy nodded. “We are ready.”

“Let’s see, for Tracy, we have a red soccer jersey with matching shorts.” She handed Tracy the clothing.

“Cool!” Tracy loved her clothes and rushed to the bathroom to put them on.

“And for Chessy…we have an open-hooded sweater with jeans,” Cassidy handed Chessy the items.

The girl looked at the clothes and almost started to cry again when Aelita told her to calm down. She took them and, with Cassidy, Yumi, and Aelita’s backs turned, put them on.

They turned back around and saw her with the clothes on right.

Cassidy sighed. “Whew, we’re good for my set. Now for Odd’s set. Alexx, we have a purple-and-pink hooded shirt with a black undershirt. For Hunterr we have a green camouflage hooded sweater and a bright pink undershirt.”

“WHAT?” Hunterr protested.

“Do you want to go to lunch together or not?” Cassidy asked a bit exasperated. Taking care of clones was a bit tougher than she expected.

“Yes, mom!” Hunterr sighed.

“Then put them on now or no lunch!”

As the boys left to get dressed, Tracy came back and Cassidy flopped down on her bed. “Oi, yoi, yoi this is going to be a long day.”

“No kidding,” Chessy sounded a bit depressed.

Yumi and Aelita agreed.

“It’s like raising children with the Della Robbia twins protesting against their disguises.” She shook her head.

“Are they ready, Cat-Girl?” Odd popped in.

“My clones are, but Hunterr gave me hell because he didn’t like the undershirt color!” Cassidy snapped.

Odd smiled and gave her a kiss. “Don’t sweat it, Danger Psychic. I’ll give him a little talking to. Everything will be cool.”

**-Onto Lunch I guess-**

Hunterr, Alexx, Chessy, and Tracy followed Cassidy, Yumi, Aelita, and Odd to the cafeteria. Hunterr and Alexx tried to vie over who should humor Rosa, but with a glare from Cassidy, they stopped.

They got their lunches and sat down at the usual table. After the three Della Robbia musketeers got their lunches done, Sissi passed by. “So…was there a mistake and McGuire and Della Robbia had…”

“You say one more thing and I’ll use you as a hammer throw,” Tracy growled under her breath. She earned a slap from Cassidy though she was hiding laughs.

“What was that, loser?” Sissi screeched at her.

“Forgive Tracy. She has a very sharp attitude toward girls like you because she was picked on all the time in Chile!” The first clone defended nicely. “She’s a bit hair-trigger. Keep off her bad side and you two will be golden.”

Sissi nodded and walked away.

“Nice save,” Alexx complimented.

**-After Lunch-**

“Gym class starts in five minutes,” Ulrich told them.

“Yes!” Tracy cheered surprising Ulrich. “Discus throwing, here we come!”

Everyone got dressed for it and got down to the stadium.

Ulrich pulled Cassidy over. “Hey, Cassidy, do you know why one of your clones is emotionally wrecked and the other one feeling up for sports? Those two aren’t you. So what’s up?”

“My emotional side, I figure, is what I felt like doing after William broke up with me, but I was stuck. My athletic side, I assume, is my secret ambition to do those flips that I know that Yumi does. Unfortunately I’m kinda scared to do so. I feel a need to do so and then all of a sudden my body says no,” Cassidy shrugged.

Ulrich slanted a brow. “So that’s what you figure?”

“If my theory and assumptions are right,” she sat down in the front row.

“Contrary to what you smart-alecks believe, discus throwing has nothing to do with throwing out a CD you’re tired of listening to,” Jim discussed. “No, it’s an Olympic discipline that requires strength, skill, muscular coordination, and above all, a discus.”

**-Back at the lab. Jeremie, how’s the work coming?-**

Jeremie was working on what went wrong when he came across something bad. “Oh, no!”

**-With the clones, Aelita, and Ulrich-**

Cassidy was struck with a spark-flash and jumped up on her feet with a gasp.

Jim paused in his long, boring speech to look at her with a look of concern. “McGuire! What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Jim, it’s just that…I realized I needed to go to the ladies’ room,” She hoped it would work.

The clones all stood up.

“Me, too,” Alexx pleaded.

“Me, three,” Hunter acted like it, too.

“Me, four,” Tracy realized.

“Me, five?” Chessy questioned.

“Okay, okay, you may all go to the bathroom. Stones, Odd, and Stern, if you need to use the bathroom too, I suggest you three step on it,” Jim huffed.

“Thank you, sir!” Tracy bowed and then ran off with Cassidy and the others.

**-At Kadic’s Gates-**

“What’s wrong, Cassidy?” Ulrich asked.

“I realized something. The clones are unstable and if we don’t virtualize my copies and Odd’s clones fast, then it’s good-bye to both of us,” Cassidy explained.

Odd’s phone rang and he picked it up. “This had better be the same as Cassidy told us, Jeremie.”

 _“I found out how to solve this teleportation bug problem. The six of you have better get each into a scanner together, you and your clones first, Odd, and then Cassidy and her copies, in order to fuse you back into one during virtualization,”_ Jeremie explained.

“Okay, I get it. For once, it sounds really easy!” Odd smiled.

_“I wish it was, but here’s a little problem. Your three entities of both of you are unstable. At one point, you six will disappear into thin air, you understand?”_

“This is the same as what Cassidy told us. We’ll get going as soon as possible,” Odd nodded.

 _“Be careful. If one of you is missing, the fusion is impossible,”_ Jeremie warned.

**-With Yumi and her science class-**

“A circuit in series differs from a circuit in parallel, and that any single bulb that is missing from the circuit will cut the flow of electricity,” Mrs. Hertz took out a bulb from the circuit board and **a ghost of XANA’s came out the socket.** Mrs. Hertz was very surprised.

**XANA’s ghost went out the open window into the ground behind where Jim was still demonstrating.**

“Let me put this into practice. After all, actions speak louder than words,” Jim said. “So here’s a demonstration for you!”

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie spotted an **activated tower in the Mountain Sector.**

“Oh, great, that’s all we need.” He called up Yumi’s number.

**-After Yumi’s class-**

Yumi’s phone rang. She picked it up and said, “Okay, Jeremie, I’m on it!”

**-With Jim-**

“So, you bend your knees like this…”

He went into position when some gas ascended from the ground.

Hervé noticed straight away.

“…into position to keep your shifting weight in balance!” Jim said. “Your arm holding the discus outstretched like this.”

Hervé got up. “Look behind you, Jim! There’s something right behind you, look!”

“Listen, Hervé. I was not born yesterday. What are you trying to pull?” Jim asked.

**The gas caught up to Jim and he turned into a statue.**

Hervé laughed because he knew that he was right. “Now that is what I call having a hard day!” The gas then turned him into a statue.

Ulrich, Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, Tracy, Chessy, Alexx, and Hunterr watched from afar. “This is XANA’s doing,” Ulrich said. “Get to the factory.”

The seven nodded and used the outside of the entrance as a shortcut. Yumi joined up with them a few minutes later. “You did a good job today, Cassidy.”

“Don’t she always?” Tracy used Cassidy’s almost correct Southern accent.

“Tracy! I do not _brag about myself_. That is so conceited,” Cassidy protested.

“That high Megatank count sure could use a little bragging.”

“That’s IT!” **(A/N: Guess the heroine and the movie that the line “That’s IT!” came from. I guarantee you’ll need Pixar’s films for this)**

Cassidy was almost about to pounce on her clone when Yumi and Ulrich held her back. “This is not the time,” Yumi warned.

“Plus, Jeremie said that if one of you girl clones is missing, the fusion won’t be complete!” Odd said.

“You understood Jeremie for once?” Ulrich asked.

“What we gotta do is deactivate the tower,” Yumi interrupted. “If we stick around we’ll all end up as statues.”

Chessy took that the wrong way and started to have silent tears. “I don’t want to be a statue!” she whimpered.

Tracy patted her shoulder. “Calm down.”

They rushed all the way to the factory, the three boy clones using the ropes while the three girl copies used the ramp.

They compiled into the elevator and took it to the scanner room. “Jeremie,” Aelita announced “We’re all here!”

“Okay, I’ll start up the virtualization,” Jeremie typed on the keys.

Soon Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita were on Lyoko.

“Sorry you six, but it looks like the scanners need to cool down again before the fusion could take place,” Jeremie told the clones.

“And how long will that be before…” Odd started to protest when Chessy started to well up in tears. “…um…before one of the clones starts to fall off her bike?”

Cassidy blushed and started growling, “ODD!”

“Um…about a few minutes,” Jeremie said.

“Great,” Tracy deadpanned.

**-On Lyoko-**

The two girls and the only boy landed in the Mountain Region. Aelita spotted the tower first. “I see it. The activated tower is over there!”

 _“And Cassidy predicts that there will be some Megatanks and Bloks, so I’d be careful if I were you three,”_ Jeremie warned.

“Don’t worry, Jeremie, we’ve done this about a million times. It’s a piece of cake,” Ulrich smiled.

There was a vast stretch of rock-like land before them. They raced to a portion with two stalagmites acting almost like pillars along the way. All of a sudden a Megatank came and fired. Yumi, unfortunately and unfairly, was caught in the laser and was devirtualized instantly. **(A/N: and I’m not the only one who thinks that that was unfair)**

**-Back at the scanner room-**

Yumi, curled up in the scanner, weakly raised a fist and slammed it on the scanner’s floor.

Cassidy helped Yumi get up. “Come on, girl!” she grunted. “We gotta get you up!” Chessy came and helped the first girl.

“Can’t I at least go to a movie first?” Hunterr asked.

“No, because we need each other’s company!” Odd blocked the elevator.

They then heard the elevator’s lock system activate. _“No one is going to a movie until the whole fusion has taken place,”_ Jeremie smote.

“Thank you, Jeremie,” Cassidy smiled.

 _“No problem, Cassidy,”_ Jeremie smiled.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

The Megatank’s laser was firing but not hitting anyone else on Lyoko.

“This is crazy. We can’t move! We’re stuck,” Ulrich sounded ready to give up.

“Hang on!” Aelita warmed up two energy fields and got in the middle of the way. The Megatank fired at the shield. “Run, Ulrich!”

He nodded and with the yell of “Super Sprint” he was off, faster than the speed of night. He made it to behind a rock. Looking back, he saw that Aelita was trying to hold her own with the Megatank fire. Then he saw something as well. “Aelita, watch out. Behind you!” He warned.

She saw another Megatank and dodged it as fast as she could.

Ulrich had to dodge the second laser too. The first Megatank got rid of its brethren accidentally.

**-Back at the school-**

The smoke was not done freezing its victims.

**-Back at the scanner room-**

The Cassidy copies and the Odd clones were playing Go Fish.

“Do you have any fours?” Odd asked Tracy.

“Here you go!” She handed the four of spades over to him.

“Cassidy, do you have any sevens?” Odd looked to her hopefully.

She looked at her deck and groaned. “Here.” She handed the seven of hearts and the seven of clubs to him.

 “Do you have any Aces, Alexx?” he looked over his cards.

Alexx checked his four cards and then shook his head. “Nope, my friend, go fish.”

Odd did and found the seven of diamonds. “My book is complete! Thank you, Alexx.”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich dodged as the laser from the Megatank was drawing near to him. He kept dodging until he got to the next rock. He found that he wasn’t even close.

**-Back to the Go-Fishing Six-**

“Do you have any tens, Odd?” Cassidy asked.

“Oh…do you ever use your powers during Go Fish?” Odd groaned. He handed her three tens.

“Like I said to Ulrich, they turn off whenever I play a card game.” She completed another book. She had four of them out in the open. The cards were Twos, Queens, Jacks, and now, Tens.

“She never cheats,” Tracy looked at her cards.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich got to the next rock. Then, after the Megatank fired, he ran out to try to get close to the enemy. He used the edge of the field to help himself get close. The monster was now confused, but kept firing as if Ulrich was there.

Racing on the flat of the mountain, Ulrich was getting closer and closer to the monster until he landed his katana in the eye of the Megatank.

It exploded, sending Ulrich flying back a few feet and his katana even more than its master.

Ulrich got up.

**-Scanner room-**

“I win!” Chessy was now excited. “YES!”

“Finally, a moment where she’s not crying,” Tracy sighed.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich said, “Go ahead. The coast is clear!”

Aelita ran out but then said, “Ulrich, watch out!”

He looked back and found that there was another Megatank. He ran to try to get his katana but the laser got rid of it. That left Ulrich weaponless.

“That bites,” Ulrich growled under his breath.

**-Back to the Scanner Room-**

Now the sextet were doing ninety second alphabet.

“By the way, Aliens do not over-sedate people, Cassidy!” Odd said.

“Can you blame my stupid imagination, Odd?” Cassidy countered.

“Doesn’t everybody wonder how many milligrams of that stuff she had?” Tracy asked.

“Even if it’s just for travel, some aliens are kind.” Odd slanted a brow.

**-Back to Lyoko and Ulrich-**

The Megatank was rolling closer to Ulrich and he knew he had to run away or get crushed. So he did.

Aelita tried an energy field but it did no good.

**-Back to the scanner room-**

“No way did the aliens zap your strength. You made that up,” Alexx chirped.

“Of course, my imagination is weird, Alexx,” Chessy argued.

“Pining for a Lyoko Desert Mission is what I want,” Cassidy mourned a little.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich tried to stay ahead of the monster, but it kept advancing toward him with every roll. “Super Sprint!” But it was too late. The monster now had rolled Ulrich over, devirtualizing him.

**-In the scanner Room-**

Ulrich’s scanner opened. “It wasn't enough that they shoot at us. Now they're trying to run us over! That's really not fair!”

“You know it. And the elevator isn’t working because Hunterr here wanted to go to a movie,” Cassidy recapped.

“Okay, thanks for that.”

**-In the lab-**

Jeremie typed on the keys. “It’s between the two of you, now, Aelita, before the scans calm down again.”

**-Back to Aelita-**

“Yes, I know,” Aelita looked from the hiding place. “And he’s pretty tough.”

The Megatank advanced but couldn’t get through. Instead it was stuck trying to move through the rocks. A grinding sound could be heard from it.

Aelita ran around to the other end of the fissure and tried an energy field on it. But it only hit; it never made it blow up.

**-Back to the six clones-**

“Darn it, Jeremie, when are the scanners going to cool off?” Tracy got impatient.

“Again, impatience is not you,” Ulrich whispered to Cassidy. That earned him an elbow in the gut.

_“Right now!”_

“Good thing the Della Robbia and McGuire families didn’t split,” Yumi smiled.

Odd and his clones went in first. _“Transfer Odd, Transfer Odd, Transfer Odd. Scanner Odd, Scanner Odd, Scanner Odd. Virtualization!”_ Jeremie did the work.

Then the scanners opened once again. Chessy’s eyes widened and tears filled up in them. “I—”

“You’ll be with me. I promise. You’re going to be okay,” Cassidy tried not to sniffle. “We’ll be together. Three in one!” She gulped down a huge lump in her throat. Then she recited the Lord’s Prayer with her clones:

_“Our Lord, who art in Heaven_

_“Hallowed be thy name_

_“Thy kingdom come_

_“Thy will be done_

_“On Earth and Lyoko as it is in heaven_

_“Give us this day our Daily Bread_

_“And forgive us our trespasses_

_“As we forgive those who trespass against us_

_“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen!”_

The three got into the scanners and Jeremie did the process. _“Transfer Cassidy, Transfer Cassidy, Transfer Cassidy. Scanner Cassidy, Scanner Cassidy, Scanner Cassidy. Virtualization.”_

The two landed in the Mountain Sector. Odd looked around.

_“Well, Odd and Cassidy?”_

“Perfect, all my clones are back within me,” Cassidy smiled.

Odd had his own opinions. “I suddenly feel a little lonely. But that’s cool. You’re the best, Einstein.”

 _“Of course I am. Did you or Cassidy have any doubts?”_ Jeremie asked.

Back where Aelita was, the Megatank still had a hard time getting to Aelita. But then it backed up and shot its laser at her. She tried to Fire an energy field but it hit the outer shell.

“Step aside, Aelita. Let the experts do the job!” Odd and Cassidy came in on the OverBoard.

They did a complete U-turn and Odd shot his arrows at the Megatank. He succeeded. “Some Bloks will come our way. I detect four of them,” Cassidy used her senses.

“Get ready, Aelita,” Odd said.

**-Back at the school-**

The smoke was coming toward the factory slowly.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Odd and Cassidy made their way to see four Bloks. She had a plan. “Odd, you take the ones up front. I’ll take the two in back. That way we have an equal number of Bloks under our belts.”

“I like the way you think, Cat-Girl.” Odd almost tickled Cassidy under the chin when she slapped his arm down.

“Remember the Torre.”

He shot an arrow at one Blok, jumped off his vehicle, and got on the second one.

Cassidy, meanwhile, had gotten onto the third one and shot it in the eye. She jumped off, raced over to the other side and waved to the fourth one. “You bore me, you blockhead.” So she shot at her opponent.

Odd had gotten the second one with ease. “Milady’s tower is straight ahead.”

Aelita was now given leeway to deactivate the tower.

She entered the Lyoko Code.

**-Return to the past, NOW-**

“I finally understand what went wrong with the teleportation process. If you want, I could reboot the program with no bugs this time,” Jeremie said.

“Jeremie, I have a feeling that Odd doesn’t want it anymore,” Cassidy smiled a little, then settled back to eating her lunch.

“No thanks,” Odd said.

“You sure?” Jeremie asked.

“Yeah, I sure am. You saw the last battle we had. I’m a top gun, a real fighting machine. A guy like me doesn’t need special powers,” Odd smiled proudly.

“Yeah, you’re funny, you’re handsome, but most of all you’re modest!” Yumi joked.

“Right. You hit the nail right on the head! You might say that I’m one-of a kind!” Odd relaxed in his chair, done with his umpteenth serving.


	40. Ay, yi, yi, We have Double Trouble

**Cassidy: My author boss/friend says for her to ask you guys to PLEASE do not sing that danged Pokémon running gag song. It annoys her to heck. She also would like to say that she does not own Code Lyoko but she does own me *Lifts up her sleeve; it shows the ownership*. On with the story.**

**-In Mr. Fumet's class-**

Ulrich started praying for a good grade. "Please, let me get a good grade. Please, let me get a good grade, just for once. I'm begging you. Please, let me get a good grade!"

"You know, you might have better if you studied before an exam. It beats praying for them," Jeremie looked at his paper.

Mr. Fumet was passing back the papers. "Excellent work, Hervé. I'm not surprised, either. I gave you an A- as usual. The minus to show you can always improve. Well done!"

"Thank you, sir," Hervé smiled.

"I don't get it. How can such a good student be such a nerd?" Sissi then eyed Jeremie. "But then again you did crush Jeremie who's even nerdier than you are."

Mr. Fumet turned his attention at the back of the room. "Keeping on time, honor, tradition, I—uh—saved the best paper for last."

"I'm the only one left. He did just say the best, didn't he, huh?" Ulrich asked his buddy.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but it sounded like sarcasm," Odd sang under his breath.

"Ulrich Stern, there were a few spelling errors in this assignment that, at first, I thought it was written in some obscure, primitive language. But no, in fact, it was in English with a few errors, unfortunately, I've given you a D+. The plus to give you worse to do next time," Mr. Fumet announced.

"That wasn't just sarcastic. It was bombastic," Odd put his head on his fist in a thoughtful wonder.

Ulrich sighed. It wasn't his fault he was hungry and had doodled all over half of the page. Luckily he erased it and put down the answers, mixing up a few.

**-Principal's office-**

Yumi knocked on the door. "Come in," Mr. Delmas called. When she and Cassidy entered he was delighted. "Ah, Ms. McGuire and Ms. Ishiyama. Well, I must say I'm flattered that you answered my requests to come and see me. Ms. Ishiyama, given your constant lateness and repeated absences over these past few weeks, I'm just flabbergasted that you actually decided to show up—"

 _Cassidy, al rescate!_   **(A/N: Yes, I've taken to watching Cow and Chicken again on Boomerang. Super Cow is Amazing)**

"Um…some of those absences were because um…"

"Yes, Ms. McGuire, Yumi and I both are listening," Mr. Delmas showed a bit of a Snape-like smile.

"Because she has had some troubles with her parents and she needed some time to clear her head. So she kept going to the forest…near the school."

Yumi was looking at Cassidy as if she had lost her mind.

Mr. Delmas showed a bit of emotion. "Okay, I believe you, Ms. McGuire." He then turned to Yumi. "To what do I owe this great honor?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Yumi sounded guilty. "I really am."

"Perhaps, but not as much as I am. I'm sincerely sorry to have to say this, Yumi, but unfortunately you don't leave me any choice."

Icy fear struggled to take hold of Cassidy's ways, but she tried to hold that down.

"If I hear that you are absent or late just one more time, I shall be forced to suspend you for two days from the academy."

The psychic girl's fears were diverted but not for long. After Yumi left, Mr. Delmas then turned to her. "Now, Ms. McGuire, Mrs. Hertz has told me that you've been having difficulties with Mr. William Dunbar, I suppose."

The girl gasped. "But…"

"Let me finish, Ms. McGuire. Anyway it seems that anytime she paired you up with him as your partner, he would hound you all day while you two worked. And at several intervals, she told me, you would look at her as if begging her to land you with a different partner. Was I wrong to up your grade?"

"No, sir, you did what you thought was best. I'm older than my friends and too smart for my age. Though I may be seven months younger than my friend Yumi, it's true. I'm older than Jeremie. Sir, you were right to put me…"

"No, I was wrong. Mr. Fumet also informs me that he kept yelling at you at one point during American history. And you just shuddered and wept like he was your parent. So, I'm lowering your grade and putting you back with Belpois's classes again. I'm so sorry to put you through that sorrow."

"Thank you, sir. But is it okay to keep the guest passes?" Cassidy asked.

"You do whatever you wish with them."

"And tomorrow is Mrs. Hertz's test. I was in a higher grade…"

"You will be excused from the test to avoid the pressure," Mr. Delmas nodded.

**-Nighttime at the factory-**

"Suspension? **!** " Odd was surprised as if the word just slapped him in the face. "You're kidding!"

"Oh, no, Delmas was dead serious this time." Yumi scowled.

"This can't go on much longer," Jeremie rubbed his eyes tiredly and put on his glasses.

"Even with XANA getting stronger and the Lyoko missions, it's getting very hard to keep up with schoolwork and fight against him," Cassidy sounded about ready to give up. "Danged if we don't do something about him soon." She yawned.

"Better believe it, Einstein and Cat-Girl," Odd said.

Cassidy yawned again. "It's even scarring, physically. I almost barely survived that vine attack or the crows. My espalda can't take much more cuts."

The cut she referred to was still healing.

"If you ask me, XANA's trying to wear us down," Odd patted her on the back above the cut.

Aelita then had an idea. "Well, there is one thing we can do. If we could recruit one more Lyoko Warrior, it would give us some breathing room."

"Even with me, I don't think we can survive without another." Cassidy tried to itch the cut on her back, but Odd stopped her.

"And who did you two have in mind?" Yumi asked.

"There's William," Aelita suggested. "He's already shown us what he can do."

Yumi gasped and disagreed on the spot, "No way! We've already been over this. William's too much of a hot head."

"Yumi…" Cassidy's eyes showed some exhaustion.

But Yumi didn't want to hear it. "No, he can't be trusted!"

"As far as I'm concerned, Aelita's right! It's a good idea," Odd made a motion with his arm.

Yumi grabbed it. "No, it's a very bad idea."

Jeremie had to set the peace. "Look, we're all really tired. Why don't we talk about this tomorrow? Let's take advantage of the fact that XANA hasn't attacked and get a goodnight's sleep. I'll stay up awhile and work on trying to find a way to virtualize you directly into Sector 5, okay, guys? I have some calculations to do."

"That's what you call getting a goodnight's sleep, Jeremie?"

"I don't need all that much sleep. And besides, I'll sleep a lot better once we defeat XANA. We all will, Aelita. Not before."

Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi headed for the elevator. Cassidy stayed behind. Aelita looked back. "Aren't you coming, Cassidy?"

"I want to stay here, too, in case XANA decides to rear his cabeza fea and attack Jeremie. That way, he has a defender to ward his attacker off so he can call you guys and presto. The tower has a good chance to get deactivated," Cassidy nodded. "You go along without me, Aelita. I'll be with you tomorrow if Jeremie wants me to."

Aelita nodded and went back to the elevator and took it up with the others.

Throughout the night, Jeremie worked on the data and Cassidy stood like a guard. He was making some progress for eight hours, and then they both passed out from exhaustion, Jeremie on the keyboard, Cassidy on the floor beside him.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

Cassidy woke up. "J-Jeremie…we…" she yawned. "We should call the others…because…" one of her eyes drooped shut. "…we have a better…chance to deactivate the…tower…that way." She swayed as she got up and held onto the "cushy chair" for support.

Jeremie woke up after, seeing the alarm and pushing his glasses up on his face.

Then shadows loomed over them. She spark-flashed a vision and gasped. "Is there one shadow, Jeremie? Or two?"

Jeremie looked at the sudden dark shadowing. "Two."

They looked behind themselves and gasped. The two tried to defend themselves against their copies, but it was too late.

**-To Aelita's room-**

Jeremie opened the door just as soon as Aelita put on her boot. "Aelita, I have to talk to you!" Cassidy was in tow.

"Jeremie has great news!"

"What are you two so excited about?" Aelita wondered.

"I did it. I finally found a way to virtualize all of you into Sector 5 directly!" Jeremie sounded a little bit flat.

"He really did it, Aelita."

That surprised Aelita.

"We have to run a test right now! Come on…"

"…we have to go to the computer lab," Cassidy sounded strangely off, too.

"But Jeremie and I have a physics test this morning," Aelita informed. "And you have Yumi's photography class this morning, too."

"I must've forgotten to tell you. Mr. Delmas put me back in you, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie's classes again," Cassidy smiled.

"You and I have fabulous grades, Aelita. We could afford to skip one exam," Jeremie kept at it.

Aelita seemed understandably suspicious. "I don't think we should. Besides we have to tell the others."

**-Going to the arches-**

Ulrich crossed his arms in front of his chest. "No. No way! We're not skipping the exam. I need a decent grade to bring up my average."

"Ulrich's right," Odd agreed. "What's more, if we're all absent, they're bound to suspect something."

"And I'm sure to get suspended," Yumi turned her back.

"Some adventurers you are," Jeremie seemed to growl.

"Don't be like that!" Aelita assured. "We'll go after the test is over, Jeremie, at lunch time."

"Okay, go ahead. I'll meet you at the lunch room," Jeremie accepted the fact. "I have to go back and get some stuff." He walked to the dorm entrance door.

"Me too," Cassidy nodded as she went with him.

The two fizzed and growled, closing their eyes. When they opened, the  **XANA symbol appeared.**

**-At the river near the factory-**

Two teens walked up the stairs to a dry spot and sat down to rest. XANA had bound the two with some conveniently placed yarn and threw them into the river.

The girl shivered. "Thank goodness you had your—" she coughed up some water. "Thank goodness you had your pocketknife, Einstein." She breathed in and out.

"Einstein" nodded. "No problem, Cassidy." He then checked his phone. "Oh, no!"

The two went up the rest of the stairs and raced into the factory. Cassidy shivered. "They say that sometimes water can wake you up, but that wasn't what I—had in mind."

**-Back with Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and…Jeremie and Cassidy?-**

Odd clicked his pen, trying to think of an answer to a question. Ulrich was scratching and racking his brains for clues and answers. Jeremie was writing down every answer at such a speed, as was Cassidy. He had gotten so far with Cassidy's Mental Cliff's Notes, but now he was stumped. "Hey, Jeremie, what's the answer to question number four?"

Jeremie had his own problems. "Is Aelita done yet?"

"How should I know?"

"Ask her," Jeremie and Cassidy chorused. Apparently they wanted to be done as soon as possible.

He turned to her. "Aelita, Jeremie and Cassidy want to know if you are finished yet."

That line made Aelita lose her focus. "Huh?"

Mrs. Hertz was alerted to the sound. "Odd? Would you like me to give you some help?"

"Oh, gee, thanks, Mrs. Hertz. I sure could use a little."

"Young man! To the Principal's Office," Mrs. Hertz said. "Jeremie, Cassidy have you completed the exam?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The two said.

Ulrich was still racking his brains.

"Good, now you two can escort your classmate to the Principal's Office," Mrs. Hertz walked on by.

**-In the lab-**

"Einstein" and Cassidy walked in and he got in the console seat.

"We must call the o-others! They need our help, Jeremie."

"I know," Jeremie nodded as he put in the headset. "And soon we'll be able to warm up to a blanket soon."

"Okay," Cassidy's teeth chattered.

He typed on the keys to Odd's mobile.

**-Near the Principal's Office-**

Jeremie and Cassidy led Odd to the Administrative Arches. "Why didn't you let me copy off you this time? We wouldn't be here now."

"And if you studied like everyone else, we wouldn't be here now," Jeremie opened the door to another part of the arches. Cassidy went through first, and then Odd.

"Look, A. Not everybody else studies and B. I am  _not_  like everyone else. I'm special, unique, like you two by the way!" Jeremie and Cassidy growled at Odd. Odd was about to take another step when his mobile went off.

**-The real Cassidy and Jeremie-**

They saw Odd's Lyoko Card pop up beside the phone symbol.  _"Hello?"_

"Odd, it's me, Jeremie!"

"And me, Cassidy! Wait a minute, don't tell me that the twosome are with you, now," Cassidy saw it in a light-color vision.

" _Today isn't April Fool's Day,"_  Odd joked.

Cassidy rammed her head on the back of Jeremie's chair. "Out of all the Lyoko members the card lands on Odd."

"Odd, listen to me. XANA has created clones of Cassidy and me from polymorphic specters. We fought at the factory and they tried to drown us. But we survived. I don't know what they're planning, but—"

**-Back where Odd is-**

"Who's that?" the clone Jeremie said sharply.

"Yeah, Odd!" clone-Cassidy nodded in agreement.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you two," Odd told them.

**-Back at the lab-**

"They're right next to you, aren't they?" Jeremie realized.

" _Uh, well yeah, I mean, I don't know,"_  Odd sounded a bit frightened.

"Crud, they're there. ODD BEAT IT, HURRY!" Cassidy yelled.

Jeremie stayed calm. "Look in their eyes, Odd. Can you see the sign of XANA?"

**-Back to poor Odd's predicament-**

Odd was stuck. He looked into Clone-Jeremie's eyes.

"You didn't answer me," the clone took on an undertone. "Who is it?"

The answer was smack in front of him.

"J-J-J-Jeremie, C-C-C-Cassidy, I think you two are right. What do I do now, huh?" Odd backed up as the clones advanced.

The two raised their fists, and electricity flowed from them. They threw the charges at him.

"Nothing! There's nothing you can do," The clones walked away as Odd went unconscious.

" _Odd? Odd? What's going on? Answer us, will you? Odd!"_  Jeremie was desperate.

**-With Yumi's photography class-**

"May I remind each of you not to spend too much time in the dark room printing your photos? Since the dark room is for everyone to share. It's nobody's personal dark room." He then went on reminiscing. "I remember when I was a war photographer. We had to develop our prints fast while bombs were falling."

"You were a war photographer, huh, Jim?" Christophe M'Balla asked.

Jim scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it." He straightened up and said. "Okay, Yumi…and William, you're the first up!"

The two entered the dark room. Yumi placed a tray on a table. William walked past her to be on her other side. "You know, I had another dream about you and Cassidy last night."

Yumi almost blushed. "Is that so?"

"There was this giant computer in this huge room, like a factory, you know. And then you, Cassidy, and I were on this bridge, fighting against some factory worker, who was doing these wild acrobatics," William recited.

That left Yumi shocked.  _But that wasn't a dream. That 'happened' three weeks ago,_  she thought. "You really dreamed that?"

"Yeah, I've been having that same dream for a very long time." He scratched his chin. "It's totally weird. And, yeah, of course, it's only a dream." He adjusted one of the projectors. "And they're always a little bit weird." He got done quickly. "Right. Shall we go?" With William walking over to the drapes, Yumi's phone rang. She picked it up.

"Jeremie? What's going on?" she asked.

**-Outside the dark room-**

The light above the room turned red.

"This light means that your classmates have started the developing. When you see that, absolutely no one should open the door. The light would ruin the pictures," Jim said.

**-Back inside-**

"Listen, Jeremie. If I'm absent one more time, I'll be suspended, ya get it. What would we do then?" Yumi asked.

William opened a drape. "I don't know what's going on, but you can always get out through there."

"And Jim?" She looked to him.

"Leave him to me. I'll take care of Jim," He opened a window. "He won't notice a thing. Just don't be too long." He smiled. "That's all."

"But why would you do that for me?" she got a bit suspicious.

"Let's just say that in my dream, I really enjoyed helping you and Cassidy out," William said. "So why not try it in real life? It might be just as much fun."

She put the phone back up to her ear. "Okay, Jeremie and Cassidy, I'm coming."

" _Great, find Odd, and go get Ulrich and Aelita,"_  Jeremie said.

**-Jeremie and Cassidy-**

"I'm going to need all of you to deactivate the tower that our evil twins set up!"

A blast of icy fear set itself in Cassidy's heart. "The clones are coming," she said in a small voice.

"Calm down, Cassidy." To Yumi he added, "Speaking of whom, I wonder where they could be right now."

"Don't say that? They're coming and I know it!" she shuddered. "They're going to throw us in the shaft with no elevator car."

"Relax, calm down. Please, we'll get through this," Jeremie soothed a little.

"They're at the BRIDGE!" She shrieked. "They're angry at us for surviving. And they made Odd unconscious!"

**-Back at Odd's place-**

Yumi grabbed Odd's arm and he grabbed hers weakly. She put his hand around her shoulder. "Jeremie, Cassidy, I found Odd. He's a little woozy, but he'll be okay. We're going to try to get Aelita and Ulrich and then we'll meet you two."

**-With Jeremie and Cassidy-**

"Okay, but hurry up. I'll start setting up your transfers to Lyoko," Jeremie typed on the keys.

"Uh…Jeremie…?" Cassidy's brown eyes turned frenzied.

"What?"

The elevator doors opened to reveal their clones.

"That!" she shouted, grabbing her friend's head and positioning him to look.

"Oh, I'm insulted," Clone-Jeremie mocked. "Calling us 'that'? Aw…"

Then he turned his attention to Jeremie himself. "Well what do you know? You two actually survived."

Cassidy gulped. "Y-you  _stay away from us_." Bravery was pumping slowly.

"Aw…you're placing bravery upon yourself. How sweet!" Clone-Cassidy mocked.

"You two are real swimming champs," the male clone walked in first.

Just then, the real female's brows slanted. "I warn you, I have three weeks of Pencak Silat practice under my—" she looked down and saw that she had no belt "—waistband!"

"We're almost proud to resemble you two, we really are!" Clone-Jeremie's eyes flashed with the blatant eye of XANA.

All of a sudden, that was it. Cassidy jumped up and kicked her friend's clone in the chest with what her friend Ulrich called a "Lanka".

"Don't  _ever_  insult my friend like that!" she growled.

The male clone recovered, stood up soundly, and shot electricity through his hand at her. She dodged. "This is where I keep my vow!"

"Your vow? You don't have a vow. You make empty promises that you can't keep," Clone-Cassidy snarled.

"Oh, yeah, XANA? Maybe you should get to know me better." The two clones started to circle her.

Jeremie had to continue preparing the virtualization processes.

"Maybe if we get the Schyphozoa to probe your mind, then you can tell us everything you know," The female clone purred to the male one.

"My mind is not a  _play thing_  to be toyed with!" the non-clone spat angrily in her clone's face. "There are places you can't get into like a locked filing cabinet." Then she landed a punch to Clone-Jeremie's face and kicked him in a place that no girl should ever kick a boy.

Jeremie finished and saw the fight just in time. "Nice one, Cassidy."

She couldn't let herself get distracted. Just then she roundhouse-kicked her own clone. "This is where I do it old school."

Her clone recovered and shot electricity from her hand. This time the aim was just right. Cassidy was thrown to the wire back-first. "I know Tracy would hate that," she stood up shakily.

"Who's Tracy?" Clone-Jeremie found his octave.

"One of my counterparts that now is within me," Cassidy panted. "You aren't our masters!" she took a step to them but then Clone-Jeremie raised his fist and electricity found its way to her, sending her back first into the wall.

"Cassidy!" Jeremie cried.

The male clone sauntered over to where Jeremie was, and did the same thing to the effect of throwing him off the chair into the wall where Cassidy was recovering.

"Again, don't breathe a word of this to anyone, ya hear?" Jeremie whispered.

"Amigo, you know that I can keep secrets. I never even told about that false Franz Hopper Attack."

"With the exception that we are  _far_  more powerful than you!" Both clones united, they started their electricity hands.

Jeremie and Cassidy cried out. "NO!"

**-Back at the test-**

Aelita was working on the test very well when her phone rang. She checked it. It was an envelope (meaning a message).

Mrs. Hertz was patrolling to make sure no other cheaters were at large.

Ulrich tried to think of an answer when his phone beeped/buzzed to him. He picked it up.  _"Ulrich, we have to go!"_  Aelita said.  _"It looks like there is an emergency."_

"Sorry, emergency or not, I'm not moving. I need the grade and this time, I'm off to a decent start," he whispered.

" _Okay, but I better go. Meet up with us when you've finished."_

Ulrich looked at his paper, dropped the phone in his hand, and took the pencil out of his mouth to work.

**-Back with the two clones and their human counterparts-**

Clone-Jeremie opened up the elevator. And the two humans knew that they had to overthrow their clones if they wished to survive.

"I told you that this time the ascensor will have no coche," Cassidy fought against her clone as did Jeremie with his.

It seemed like a close match, but then…

**-Inside the shaft with no car-**

A Cassidy and a Jeremie got thrown in, with the other two looking on.  **(A/N: I'm not telling you who won and who lost in this one.)**

The other two adjusted their glasses.

**-Back with Jim and William-**

The light was still red. "What are they doing in there?" Jim asked. "What's taking so long?" He knocked on the door. "Yumi! William! Come on!"

**-Inside the dark room-**

William was dipping prints in trays of rehalogenising bleach. "W-we're almost done, Jim. Wait until you see the prints. They're fantastic."

"Taken long enough," Jim called. "If I can see it. So hurry it up!"

"Believe me, Jim. We're going the fast as we can!" William was trying to cover up Yumi's absence.

**-Entrance to the factory-**

"So what does Jeremie and Cassidy's evil twins look like?" Yumi asked.

"Oh, just like Einstein and Cat-Girl, except with muscles and superpowers," Odd recounted, now all the way awake.

The elevator came for them (Aelita was in tow).

The three raced in and he pressed the button to go to the lab.

It took them there. Jeremie looked back and found them. Cassidy nodded her greeting.

"Where's Ulrich?" Jeremie asked.

Cassidy nodded in wonder. "Yeah, you guys."

"He'll be here as soon as he finishes his exam," Aelita answered, hands in her pockets.

"Okay, get down to the scanners on the double, huh?" Jeremie said. "I'll start up your transfer."

"What about you, Cassidy?" Yumi asked.

"I'll stick around in case our evil entities come to attack." Jeremie and Cassidy sounded a bit strange.

"Where did your nasty twins go?" Odd was a little suspicious.

"We have no idea, but the faster we deactivate the tower, the faster we'll be rid of them!" Jeremie was typing on the keys.

"He's right! Let's get going," Yumi agreed.

Odd wasn't too sure about something.

"Odd, what are you waiting for?" Jeremie asked. "Let's go!"

"Okay, okay, let's go, then!" Odd didn't sound too sure of it as Yumi pressed the button, but he snapped his fingers twice.

The elevator doors closed.

**-Mrs. Hertz's class-**

"Alright, time is almost up," Mrs. Hertz informed.

Ulrich was still jotting down answers to the exam as he was champing at the bit. "One more minute," he growled in a whisper.

**-Scanner Room-**

Odd's suspicions were still raised. "I'm just not sure. I should've looked them in the eye. You never know."

"I'm sure it was them, aren't you, Aelita?" Yumi got into her scanner.

He still wasn't sure as Aelita gave her affirmative. Something was not right with the two up in the lab.

"Female intuition, you can trust our flair," the Japanese girl smiled.

Odd shrugged. "If you say so."

" _Are you ready? I'll virtualize you the best I can to the activated tower."_

The doors to all three scanners closed.

" _I'm starting up the process."_

**-Back up in the lab-**

The Jeremie and the Cassidy in the lab showed identical eyes of XANA.

**-In the shaft with no car-**

Jeremie and Cassidy climbed up the ladder. "It's a good thing we survived, eh, Jeremie?" she asked. Up close, there was a bruise on her forehead where she hit a bar.

"Yes it is, but the battle is far from over," the genius looked down to the psychic. At least she held out.

The two kept climbing up the ladder.

**-In the Mountain Sector-**

" _Scanner Yumi, Scanner Aelita, Scanner Odd, Virtualization,"_  Jeremie said.

The three landed on the Mountain Sector.

Odd landed last. "Okay, Jeremie, bring our vehicles. We're raring to go over here."

" _ **Sorry, Odd, but we have…another plan!"**_ Jeremie's voice took an undertone.

The two bodyguards showed confused looks.

**-Back at the lab-**

Clone-Jeremie used electricity on the keys.  **"Such a great plan. Bet you guys are going to just…flip out!"**

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Odd scratched the back of his head. "We've been had by Cassidy's and Jeremie's twins. Nothing like female intuition, huh, girls."

"Oh, no, what are they going to do?" Yumi was stuck with the fact that Odd was right.

"Do you want a little male intuition? Something very nasty!" Odd's eyes narrowed.

The clones were laughing.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Clone-Jeremie was typing on the keys faster than a cheetah on thoroughbred blood after a double espresso. Soon he pressed enter.

Clone-Cassidy was watching.

**-With Odd, Aelita, and Yumi-**

Odd and Yumi started to flicker like a light bulb losing its light.

"What's happening to us?" Yumi worried.

 _If you want the truth, Clone-Jeremie made a bug in you and Odd's profiles,_  the true Cassidy's words floated in one of the Lyoko Warriors' heads.

"He's bugged you up!" Aelita realized in a snap.

"But…why us and not you?" Odd asked.

Yumi pointed. "There's your answer, look!"

The two turned to see the Schyphozoa and four Kankrelats.

**-The Lab-**

Clone-Jeremie seemed a bit angry as if he never planned the Schyphozoa coming at all.

**-The shaft with no car-**

Jeremie and Cassidy were still climbing the ladder.

**-Outside the darkroom-**

"William, Yumi, that's it, ya hear now. Open up!" Jim knocked.

"Can't, Jim. We're working on the contrast. You know how important the contrast is," William's voice shouted outside the darkroom. "I mean, you know better than we do. If we open up now, we'll lose everything."

"And Yumi, why do you leave all the talking William?"

There was a silence.

"Yumi, answer me!"

**-In the darkroom-**

"I'm right here, Jim. I guarantee you it'll be worth waiting for," William said in the worst imitation of Yumi ever heard. "William and I are making some wonderfully beautiful photographs."

"Uh…okay, but hurry it up, will you? **!** "

He shrugged. He was the only person in the darkroom.

"We will, Jim," William used his regular voice.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The Kankrelats fired at will at the flickering Odd and Yumi and the non-flickering Aelita.

Odd ran head first and tried some of his arrows, but the projectiles seemed to go through the monsters. Confused, he looked at his hands. "Oh, no, it didn't work!"

The Kankrelats kept firing their lasers.

Yumi dodged but she had to run away fast.

Odd tried again. "At this rate there isn't going to be any winner."

They shot lasers at him but they went through him. "Go on, knock yourselves out!" He taunted.

The Schyphozoa, now without its escorts, was now trying to gain on Aelita. She was walking backwards to keep away from it.

Yumi ran behind a rock and saw the goings-on from there. "Oh, no! Aelita!" She flipped from her hiding space and then got shot in the side.

It seemed that every time the effects waned off for a second, then the Lyoko Warrior was solid. Yumi did some acrobatics, and then flicked out her fans to defend herself. She flickered again and the lasers passed through her.

"We can't do anything bugged up like this!" she protested.

Aelita was looking at the jellyfish-like monster in fear. She knew that if it gained control of her, then it would be good-bye to the Mountain Sector.

**-Back to the shaft with no car-**

Jeremie and Cassidy made it to the Scanner Room. He got off first, walked a little ways, and then she got off next. The bang she received did not affect her balance at all.

They sidled over to the control panel. Then Jeremie whispered, "When the doors open, grab onto me and hold on tight. I do not want you to fall to the ground."

"Sounds good. I do not wish to trek all the way up here and get angry with you," Cassidy smiled a little.

**-Back to the Schyphozoa-**

Aelita was still backing away from the Schyphozoa.

Yumi then barked a command, "Aelita, go on, you have to defend yourself!"

Jumping to avoid the tentacles, she did so. She unleashed two energy fields to try to hit the monster. But it dodged them.

Seeing that as useless, she turned and ran to an edge. Stopping and looking over the edge, she couldn't jump. The sky-blue digital sea was there.

Turning, the Schyphozoa was not merciful.

Aelita raised her arm, energy field in her hand, and was about to strike when the jellyfish-like monster hit her arm away with one of its tentacles. It was time for its turn.

The possession was about to start…

"It's horrible not being able to do anything!" Yumi said, still flickering.

Odd walked away from his Kankrelat friends. They were still firing and the lasers were passing through.

**-With the real Jeremie and the real Cassidy-**

Jeremie punched the code 167 and Cassidy clung onto him like a vine. When he got in, Cassidy let go.

"Let's get to the Lab. I can tell that Yumi and Odd are in need of direct assistance."

Jeremie didn't need any telling twice. He and she ran to the next ladder.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The possession was complete and Aelita flipped to stick a landing. She started up.

"Now she's going to make a dash for the way tower," Odd said as two Kankrelats started to circle.

"This can't be!" Yumi cried.

"And given the circumstances, there's not much we can do." The Kankrelats were harmlessly passing through them.

 _Patience, Odd,_  Cassidy's words fluttered into his head.

**-Entrance to the Factory-**

Ulrich made it to the entrance of the factory at last.

Rushing to the ropes, he swung over to the elevator and took it down to the lab.

**-Back to that Lab-**

Clone-Jeremie and Clone-Cassidy turned to see that their counterparts came back.

"You know that was a real lousy trick you did on us," Cassidy spat on the ground next to her.

"I take back what I said. You two aren't even half as smart as me!" Clone-Jeremie insulted. "As a matter of fact, you two are stupid dopes."

That was it for the second time. Cassidy ran up, forcibly tugged Clone-Jeremie out of his chair and  _slammed_  him against the wall. "Say that again  _one more time_  and I'll let you  _have it!_ " She forgot about her clone. Clone-Cassidy snuck up behind her and gave her a surprise attack.

"YIPE!" The electricity went through her. "Oh, you are asking for it my formidable opponent."

Clone-Cassidy scoffed. "Like you would hit a girl."

She smirked. "Yeah, but here's the thing…" She bucked at her female clone, which didn't have time to dodge. "…YOU AREN'T EVEN HUMAN!" Not one drop of guilt fell upon her.

The clone flew through the air into the wall. Cassidy had unfortunately let go of the one that insulted the both of them.

Clone-Jeremie and Clone-Cassidy started to zap their respective counterparts.

" **Sorry, but two of us has got to go,"**  Both clones were about to attack their on-the-ground opponents.

Cassidy winced and was about to go unconscious when the elevator door opened. "U-Ulrich?" she wondered.

Ulrich hit the both of them. "Right! And I think it's going to have to be you two."

"Welcome to the party!" Cassidy got up weakly. "I need to go to Lyoko, NOW. Aelita's going to get rid of the Mountain Sector if I don't do something soon!"

"In that shape," Jeremie asked. "You can't."

"'Didn't stop Ulrich now, did it?" She knew exactly what she was talking about.  **(A/N: Check the Cruel Dilemma chapter)**

"Hey, I think I may need glasses because I'm seeing double," Ulrich joked.

"Not funny, Stern," Cassidy was clambering down the ladder.

"Cassidy, are you sure you want to do this?" Ulrich asked.

"If it's to save the Mountain Sector, and stop the terrible twins, then YEAH, I'm sure I want to do this." She showed a determined look.

"Thanks, Ulrich, you got here just in time," Jeremie then raced to the Supercomputer.

"What's going on, on Lyoko?" Ulrich asked.

"I wish I knew." He looked at all the interchanging red data.

"XANA's bugged the profiles of the bodyguards but not Aelita, and if we don't hurry fast, then we can kiss adios to the Mountain Sector."

**-Lyoko-**

" _Odd, Yumi!"_

"Jeremie, is that you? For real?" Yumi asked.

" _Yes!"_

" _I can vouch for him. It's him, alright,"_  Ulrich called throughout the Mountainous Region.

" _And the real Cassidy is coming soon. Though she's in bad shape, she'll be coming in fast,"_  Jeremie told them.

"Will she use her EMP bullet?" Odd asked.

" _We'll just hope to say yes now,"_  Ulrich soothed.

" _How's it going over there?"_  Jeremie wondered.

"Well, you could say that we're all bugged up." Odd kept looking around himself.

"And a little ridiculous, too," Yumi agreed.

" _Okay, I'll take care of that!"_  Jeremie said.

"Hurry, Aelita's under XANA's spell," Odd said as a Kankrelat passed through him. "And she's heading for the way tower."

**-Back in the Lab-**

Both clones were waking up.

" _We could lose the Mountain Sector,"_  Odd sounded grim.

"Don't panic," the real Jeremie said. "I'm sending in Cassidy as backup."

" _Hurry up, Jeremie. I need to use my EMP bullet as fast as I can here!"_  Cassidy chastised.  _"I don't want to lose the Mountain Sector either."_

"Okay, but hurry!"

Soon Cassidy was on Lyoko, un-bugged and ready to go. She landed on the OverWing.

She was off without a word and quickly caught up to Aelita. "I really hate to do this to you, Aelita. But XANA leaves me no choice." She took a deep not-necessary breath, and pounced on her roommate.

XANA-Aelita struggled, but Cassidy held her gun up in the air, and yelled, "EMP bullet!"

A few small nanoseconds later, a golden force field surrounded Cassidy and Aelita, ridding the second latter of the possession the multi-agent system left behind.

As soon as that happened, she got off Aelita, the pink cat female done with her job. The younger girl woke up and looked at her with green eyes wide with confusion. "Is that really you, Cassidy?"

"Yes, Aelita. Take the OverWing to the tower. It's in—" she pointed behind her. "—that direction. The real Jeremie will guide you. Just hurry."

**-Back at the Lab-**

The clones attacked Ulrich with everything they had.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Cassidy raced back to try and find her friends while Aelita went off to the activated tower's direction.

"I'm almost there, Jeremie." She kept running.

**-Back at the Lab-**

"I'm starting up the debugging. I sure hope that this is going to work," Jeremie pressed a key and the bugs stopped.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

The flickering stopped on the geisha and the ninja warriors. The ninja noticed that there was a Kankrelat on his shoe and kicked it off.

They then ran up to meet up with their friend.

"Odd! YUMI!" Cassidy panted. "It's okay. The way tower is safe. Aelita's heading off in the right direction."

Then, they saw something come up behind their friend and froze. "Cassidy, you seem to have a tail-gaiter on your, um, well, tail," Odd pointed.

Cassidy looked behind herself and her mouth dropped open. The Schyphozoa was there.

" _CASSIDY! RUN!"_  Jeremie yelled.

She nodded and almost did so when an array of tentacles surrounded her.

The second possession started right away. When it let go, Cassidy ran to the way tower.

"Oh, no! Now  _she's_  off to the way tower!" Odd pointed.

" _Try and stop her, HURRY!"_  Jeremie panicked.

Odd and Yumi ran off. "You're the main man, Einstein!"

" _Thanks! Now go and catch Cassidy before she enters the XANA code! I'm bringing up your vehicles."_

Soon, the vehicles the OverBoard and OverBike were there.

" _Sorry, Yumi, but Aelita's on the OverWing."_

Yumi didn't mind it. "I just hope we aren't too late."

The two hopped on their vehicles.

**-Back with Ulrich-**

The clones were giving him a hard time.

**-With Lyoko-**

"Here we go!" Odd smiled.

The Kankrelats kept shooting.

"It's great to have my svelte body back," Odd smiled.

Yumi laughed in agreement.

**-Back at the Lab-**

Ulrich got up from being electrocuted by the two clones, turned around, and pounced on the both of them.

"Things are heating up over here. 'Better hurry!" Jeremie told them.

" _We're on it!"_  Yumi told him.  _"Where's Cassidy?"_

Jeremie looked on the screen. "Almost at the tower, but you can still catch her."

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Odd and Yumi kept going on course on Lyoko's Mountain Sector.

"Go on, Yumi! I'll cover you!" he waved her off.

"Okay!" She said.

Yumi sped off on the OverBike, whilst Odd did a U-Turn to the Kankrelats.

He shot an arrow to one of them and got his target.  _Well done, Odd,_  Cassidy's kind words found him.

He dodged lasers as he sped back into the action. "YAHOO!" he jumped off his OverBoard, flipped, and made his way to the Kankrelats, jumping on them like stepping stones to the other side.

He ran to avoid a few lasers when one of the shots got to him and he devirtualized.

Then the Kankrelats looked to each other and turned around to shoot at Yumi.

**-Meanwhile-**

Aelita was still trying to find the activated tower.

**-Back to the action-**

Yumi's eyes were filled with worry. "I hope it's not going to be too late."

Cassidy was almost a few feet from the way tower.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Ulrich was experiencing the worst pain in his life from the clones.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Cassidy was almost there.

"CASSIDY!" Yumi yelled, both in worry and in anger. Unsheathing a fan, she jumped off her boyfriend's vehicle and tossed it at her friend.

The XANAfied girl dodged and kept running to the tower.

Yumi landed right behind her. "NO!" she cried.

She raced to try and stop her, but it was too late. Cassidy had entered the tower.

"Oh, Jeremie…" Yumi sounded about ready to start crying.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd came out and heard this news,  _"…there was nothing I could do."_

He put his head on his arm.

**-In the Lab-**

" _Jeremie, we're about to lose the Mountain Sector!"_  Yumi sounded down.

The clones were having a bit of a good time torturing Ulrich.

" _Tell the news to Aelita and materialize her."_

Jeremie did so.

" _Don't forget to bring Cassidy and me in."_

The clones smiled in pure victory.

**-Back inside the way tower-**

Cassidy entered the XANA Code.

She fell out of the way tower and with a gasping thud, she realized what she had done. In shock she looked to Yumi. "Oh, Yumi!" If tears were possible, they would've been streaming down her face.

The only thing Yumi was able to do was help her stand up.

The two saw the sector dissolve around them, mountain by mountain, rock by rock.

"Jeremie, now's the time!" Yumi told him.

Then the rock holding them disappeared and the two fell.  _"I'm going to rematerialize you."_

They disappeared before they could even touch the digital sea.

**-In the Scanner Room-**

Odd was contemplating the loss with Aelita when Yumi and Cassidy came out of the scanners.

The first thing Cassidy did was bang her head on the scanner's wall. Accentuating each bang with words, she said, "I. AM. SO. STUPID! THAT. DANGED. JELLYFISH. GOT. ME. WITH. MY. BACK. TURNED!"

Odd stopped her and brought her out. "It wasn't your fault."

"It was, Odd." Tears streamed down her face. "I should've paid more attention."

"Come on, let's have discussion time with Jeremie," And Odd had his arm around his real girlfriend every step of the way.

**-The Mountain Sector says good-bye. In the lab-**

The clones both disappeared, leaving Ulrich in tumultuous pain. When the others came up, Cassidy tried to help him, but every time someone touched him he gritted his teeth and yelled through them.

Jeremie ran to him. "You okay?"

Ulrich groaned his reply. "No…"

**-Later-**

"The Mountain Sector's completely disappeared," Jeremie announced.

Cassidy avoided looking at anyone until Yumi said, "It wasn't your fault, Cassidy. You couldn't have known the Schyphozoa was behind you."

"There's no way of getting into Sector 5, now!"

"Wait! Jeremie, I think in a few seconds something may surprise you," Cassidy's eyes went white with a vision until Ulrich smacked her arm (now fully recovered).

"Now XANA can attack the core of Lyoko at any time, and destroy it for good. And there'll be nothing we can do against it," Aelita sounded serious.

"It's all my fault. If I had kept my eyes open like everyone else, the Mountain Sector would still be here," Cassidy berated herself again.

"You saved me," Aelita soothed. "And that's what I call heroism."

"True."

"Lyoko's gone for good, and without it, there's not a thing we can do to fight XANA," Jeremie's words made Cassidy feel even guiltier.

Something made Jeremie sit up straight. He looked to the computer screen. A bar filled in light blue as white data scrolled on the screen.

"Wait a minute!" Jeremie looked a bit closer. "These are the calculations of the results I made this morning."

"What about them?" Odd asked.

"Jeremie, YOU DID IT!" Cassidy cheered.

"Did what?" Odd was getting a little frustrated with what Jeremie and Cassidy weren't telling the rest of the gang.

"I think I may have found a way to virtualize you directly into Sector 5 at last!" Jeremie said.

"IT'S A GREAT THING, EINSTEIN. YOU DID IT!" Cassidy celebrated.

"You mean the struggle against XANA goes on?" Ulrich asked.

"He's not rid of us yet!" Jeremie muttered darkly.

"If that's the case, then we need somebody else. After what's happened, we don't have a choice it seems," Yumi came to terms.

Everyone was now looking at her as if she lost her mind.

"What? I changed my mind, so?" Yumi defended.

Ulrich got up and gave the affirmative.

**-Outside the darkroom-**

Jim was trying to unlock the darkroom so he could give William a good talking to about hogging it.

"Hey, right now! Ya hear. William and Yumi, I'm going to open up this door and don't think I can't do it. I used to be a safecracker, I mean a locksmith." The door opened and the gym teacher fell in, undeveloped prints flew around in different places.

"Aw…we told you not to come in Jim," William groaned. "Now you ruined my pictures, I mean,  _our_  pictures."

Jim stood up. "Yumi? Where's Yumi?"

"Here I am," Yumi came in. "So un-cool for our prints. We worked really hard on them."

Jim was so ashamed.

**-In the Quad-**

William was piecing together the whole thing. "So then, you're saying my dream…really wasn't a dream?" Yumi and Cassidy turned around.

Cassidy nodded. "It's a bit hard to believe."

"Right!" Yumi said.

"It really happened? Are you two sure?"

"We are." Cassidy didn't even smile.

"And you two are also sure that you two need my help?" William smiled at the two girls.

"We are!"

**-A few yards away-**

"Do you think he'll say yes?" Aelita asked Odd.

"Of course. If you asked him to dive off a cliff, he'd do it in a second," Odd acted some of the parts out.

Jeremie turned to Ulrich. "By the way, how did your physics test go?"

"Hey, it went really well. Who'd have thought that studying for a test would help?" Ulrich asked.

"Ulrich's turning into a good student for once; William's turning into a Lyoko Warrior—our little group is going through a lot of huge changes," Odd noted.

The three agreed.

**-Back to the three a few yards off-**

Yumi, William, and Cassidy did a three-person high-five.


	41. We Hit the Final Round Right in the Nose

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but I do own Cassidy.**

**-That night in the elevator-**

William (Now part of the group) was commenting excitedly about the factory. All of a sudden a flashback appeared…

** FLASHBACK #10 **

_He was now on this bright orange part of this virtual world. He was fighting really tall monsters that were about ten times his size. He already got one, and then was almost killed by another when someone saved him. He looked up to see a girl that had Aelita’s voice._

_“Need a little help?” she asked._

_He collected his weapon and cut off two of the legs of the tall monster still standing. It crawled to him. Running up on it, he stabbed it in an eye symbol, and jumped off._

_“You’re back at last, that’s great!” she smiled._

_Back? Back from where?_

_He looked to her. “Good to see you again, **Aelita**!”_

** END OF FLASHBACK **

“Yikes!” He yelled out loud.

Cassidy, by his side, took concern. “What is it?”

“I was on the virtual world and I was fighting some monsters,” William explained. “And this girl helped me. And then I said her name was Aelita. Totally weird.”

“First flashback, perhaps?” Yumi sighed a little.

“Not his first,” Odd chirped. “He had had one before. He said that he was a Loco Warrior or something and swore to something one day.”

Cassidy stared at her boyfriend with wide eyes. He noticed. “What? I remembered it. It’s no big deal.”

They let Jeremie off into the lab and took it down to the Scanner Room. They explained everything about the supercomputer, Lyoko, XANA, and Cassidy’s powers.

William was in front of the center scanner.

“’You swear not to give away the secret?” Yumi asked.

“Even at the cost of your life, William Dunbar?” Cassidy nodded in agreement.

“I swear,” William said formally.

 _“Good answer, William. Now for the final step, the scanner. We’re going to record a virtual image of you into the Supercomputer. After that, you’ll be immune to the returns to the past.”_ Jeremie opened a scanner for William. _“That’ll really make you part of the group.”_

“Well, you ready? You scared?” Ulrich teased.

“Me, no, why? What about you, were you scared the first time?” William threw the question back at him.

“No!”

“Oh, yeah!” Odd acted like he was there when he wasn’t.

“Odd. No, he wasn’t. He came with me, and I checked his expression a little before the doors closed, they were determined and brave,” Cassidy smiled.

Ulrich smiled at her, glad that she was on his side for once. He whispered something in her ear. “I bet that on Lyoko, you will freeze there before anything bad happens. Loser has to do whatever the winner says for a week, within reason that is.”

She smiled wickedly. “In the Core Zone and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Hey, you can still change your mind,” Yumi told William.

“Are you kidding?” He stepped into the Scanner and turned around.

The doors closed.

 _“Scanner William!”_ Jeremie announced.

**-In the Lab-**

A virtual incarnation was being formed. “Welcome to the club, William!” Jeremie smiled.

**-In the scanner room-**

The scanner opened to reveal the newest Lyoko Warrior. Odd was concerned. “Well tell us. How do you feel now?”

“Ready to take on XANA and his monsters!” William smiled. “I just can’t wait to see what I look like on Lyoko or Cassidy’s look too.”

“Whoa there, hang on, bucko!” Cassidy used her almost-correct southern accent. “XANA is way too tough for the likes of you.”

“Plus, before you can put up a decent fight on Lyoko, it’s going to take time,” Ulrich agreed. “A lot of time.”

“At first, you better just hang back, check things out, and to try to learn,” Aelita smiled.

“Okay, okay,” William defended with a smile. “Don’t flip out. I’m not the kind of guy that steals the show.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Guys, in a vision last night, I heard that everyone’s going to be busy. I have come with advice for some. Aelita, you are good, and so is William,” The two showed confused looks but accepted it. “For Odd, if Ulrich is gone during the skateboard competition, you better get to the factory because it might be an emergency.” Odd was really confused. “Ulrich, give the most epic speech you ever gave in your life and then leave, because I have a feeling that your father is coming—a strong one—and you’ll need to do that fast. Yumi, give Sissi to Hiroki, she’ll watch over him.”

“But Sissi _hates_ me!” Yumi gulped.

William raised his hand. “I’ll get Sissi. You don’t have to worry about asking her.”

“Jeremie, if you need to, escape using the bathroom. In the morning, you’ll be interviewed by Milly and Tamiya,” She was easing advice like no other.

“Cassidy, why do you know that Aelita and I are fine?” William looked to his ex-sweetheart as if she stunned him.

“Because you two will be in the factory at the right time. And I’ll be with you, William,” Cassidy nodded.

**-In the elevator-**

Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Cassidy, and William were coming out near the entrance when Cassidy dragged Odd back in. “I need to talk to you for a bit, Odd. Come with me, please.”

He was confused but went with the drag. “What’s going on, Cat-Girl?”

“Samantha Knight is coming. All three of us know that if she sees you and me together, she’ll break up with you. That’s why I think we should only be friends for until the visit is over. I’m stronger now. Thanks for the help, Odd.” Cassidy’s heart didn’t like the decision, but it was needed.

“Okay, no big deal,” Odd smiled.

They then joined the group again. “I’m really hoping that XANA doesn’t go on the attack tomorrow like Cassidy said. I’m signed up for the inter-Academy skateboard championship. And I’m going to win it, too.”

“I know you will rock, Odd,” she smiled. “You are a maestro of the board.”

Yumi and Aelita laughed a little.

“You’re not someone who likes to steal the show either,” Yumi chortled.

“Odd is right, because in life you should always aim for the top!” William smiled.

“Why not? That way if you fall, you’d crash a lot harder!” Ulrich chuckled.

That joke made the missing-by-one-member group laugh.

**-The next morning at the competition-**

Odd adjusted his kneepad. “Thanks for coming with me, Ulrich.”

“Well somebody’s got to pick you up and dust you off every time you face-plant,” Ulrich joked. “I mean, what are friends for, Odd.”

Jim came in. “Good afternoon, everyone. Kadic Academy is very proud to welcome you all today to this grand skateboard championship. I’m sure all of you are going to knock us out with your nollies, your Ollies, your kick-flips, and other smith-grinds.”

“Wow, incredible. You’re really up on your skateboarding, Jim,” Ulrich was impressed as Odd adjusted an elbow-pad.

“Yep, I sure am. Actually I was a roller-derby champion way back in the 70s,” Jim said.

“Oh, what a shame that you’d rather not talk about it,” the samurai boy grinned.

“Actually, I’d be glad to, but I don’t have the time,” He blew his whistle. “Okay into it, Paibolia!”

Two contestants got up to the coping and Jim blew the whistle. The two did their best but then they wiped out. Ulrich winced. He hoped it didn’t happen to Odd.

Then two more contestants wiped. Ulrich was definitely worried. Would Odd wipe out?

Then it was Odd’s turn on the half-pipe coping. Ulrich looked very concerned.

Then when Jim blew the whistle…

Odd was pulling off some radical moves!

Ulrich’s worries dissipated. His friend was doing okay. He clapped and cheered.

When Odd was done, he slowed to a stop on the flat. “And there you go. The perfect combination of exceptional skills and elegance. In a word: Classy.”

A girl of African descent came up to him. “Hey, Odd, great run out there.” She had some red streaks in her hair, a black shirt, and a reddish skirt.

Odd didn’t take a second to figure who she was. “S-S-S-S-S-SAM?!” He fell on the flat and his board bounced and fell to his knee. Cassidy was right. Sam did come. “How are you?”

“Not bad,” Samantha smiled.

“Now that was real class,” Ulrich said.

Odd giggled a little, a blush was coming to his cheeks.

**-Jeremie and Aelita? What are they up to?-**

Jeremie was typing on the keys with Aelita watching.

A green (!) appeared on the screen and it sounded like Jeremie was about to make a call to someone. “Hey, it works!” He was really pleased.

“Really?” She was excited.

“Yeah! Thanks to this program, we should be able to find your father on Lyoko,” Jeremie was happier than Odd on spaghetti night.

“Let’s go check it out in the lab right now,” Aelita said.

**-Outside Jeremie’s room-**

A camera was rolling. Milly got in front of it. “And this is the room of our man of the hour, Jeremie Belpois!” She announced and knocked on his door.

Jeremie opened his door. “Huh? What are you doing here?”

“You’re kidding. Don’t tell us you forgot!” Milly was a hint surprised.

“We’re filming you for a whole day for our special edition of the Kadic Herrald: A Day in the Life of Jeremie Belpois.”

“You are? I did forget completely. I’m sorry but I have too many things to do today.” He wasn’t trying to be mean; he had just too many priorities on his plate.

“Great, we wanted to film the Kadic Academy valedictorian during his busy day,” Milly told him.

“You won’t even know we’re there. We swear,” Tamiya said.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go down to the computer lab by myself. I’ll call you after I tested the program,” Aelita whispered to her knight in glasses.

That took a weight off his shoulders. “Okay, I’m all yours now.”

Milly and Tamiya showed smiles.

**-Back at the competition-**

Odd smiled at the girl who came so suddenly. “I’m really glad to see you, Sam, but aren’t you supposed to be living somewhere out on the coast?”

“I am, but I’m also signed up for the skateboard championship. I’m only here for the day,” she smiled.

“Samantha Knight!” Jim announced.

“My turn, don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Samantha skated off.

The blush grew to a kinda fuchsia. “How weird is that to run into her. I’d almost forgotten how cool and how pretty she is.”

“And how you’re really _in love_ ,” Ulrich teased.

“Come on, can’t you like someone without being in love?” Odd was still blushing.

“You’re the one totally in love, good buddy!” his buddy teased.

He on the other hand was watching Sam do well on her run. The blush was evident on his cheeks.

**-At the Factory-**

Aelita was working on the program when a window appeared in front of the one she was working on. It showed Sector 5.

“Oh, no!” she gasped.

**-Jeremie’s interview under the arches-**

“Okay, so for breakfast, do you like juice or milk?” Milly asked.

“Hot Chocolate.”

“Eggs or toast?”

“Cereal,” Jeremie looked off to the side.

“Butter or jam?”

“Maple syrup!” Jeremie looked back at them. “H-Honestly, are you sure your readers care about this stuff.”

“Look, Jeremie, I’m the reporter, and I know what our readers want to read,” Milly was getting a bit hot under the collar.

His phone rang.

**-Back at the Lab-**

_“Aelita? Is something wrong?”_ He asked in concern.

“Yes, XANA’s launched an attack in the chamber of the core of Lyoko!” Aelita said quickly.

**-Back with Jeremie-**

“Okay, tell the others. I’ll be there just as soon as I can,” Jeremie hung up with her.

Milly and Tamiya were arguing. “So, _you’re_ the reporter. What does that make me, then? Jeremie’s right, ya know. Those are some stupid questions!”

“If you have better ones, what’s stopping you from asking them, huh?” Milly shouted.

“You are, okay?” Tamiya shot back.

Jeremie had to set the peace. “Um…ladies! I have an idea. We can do this interview later on, after you two have finished fighting with one another.”

The red-haired reporter didn’t seem to think so. “You’re staying here and answering some of my fascinating questions!”

Jeremie sighed. This was going to be one long afternoon.

**-With William and Cassidy (We interrupt this fan fiction with an interrupter)-**

William tried to punch Cassidy but she caught his blow by crossing her hands just like Ulrich showed her. “Good catch, Cassidy. I’m impressed!” Yumi smiled.

“Well—” she tried to kick him. “—I did have excellent profesores.”

“Excellent what?” William stopped to take a breather.

“Teachers,” Cassidy panted.

He smiled. “You are still a great fighter.”

“Yumi, Ulrich, and Jim taught me some of the ropes.” She went and leaned herself against a tree.

“And had beaten Ulrich a few times,” Yumi giggled. “She did really well.”

Cassidy guffawed and then sighed. “Something wrong, Cassidy?” he asked.

“No. Nothing is wrong. I just—” She tried to speak to William but her words caught in her throat.

“Calm down,” Yumi soothed.

“Tongue-tied?” William asked.

Then the psychic girl walked up and hugged William warmly. His eyes went wide. So did Yumi’s eyes. “Cassidy?” He was concerned.

She looked up and mouthed, “There’s no need to speak. I’m fine.”

The fires of love were heating up again.

**-Back to Odd’s contest-**

Odd was still doing very good moves.

Samantha watched with interest. “Oh, that Odd is so…so…”

“So messy. You wouldn’t believe what his room looks like,” Ulrich cracked.

“He’s like me. My room is a permanent disaster zone,” She had her head in her hands.

“Seems you two were made for each other,” Ulrich then heard his phone ring. He picked it up. “Aelita?” there was a pause. “…no problem. I’ll tell Odd and we’ll be right there!”

He just got off the phone when… “Ulrich Stern! Someone here would like to see you.”

The visitor looked to be Caucasian. He had dark brown hair, dark eyes, and was wearing a yellow business suit over a white shirt and a dark red tie.

“Hello, Ulrich,” He said.

Ulrich knew the man straight away. “Dad, but…”

**-Aelita in the Lab-**

She typed on Yumi’s number. “Yumi, emergency. XANA’s attacking the chamber in the Core of Lyoko!”

**-In the forest-**

“Okay, calm down, we’re on our way,” Yumi nodded and hung up. “I’ll tell William and Cassidy.”

William and Cassidy were still sparring with each other.

“XANA’s on the attack.”

**-Back with Ulrich and his problem-**

“What are you doing here?” Ulrich asked.

Ulrich’s dad was no-nonsense today. “I’m worried about your grades, son. That’s the reason I came. I think you and I have to talk.”

“I’m sorry, but today—today’s not a very good time!” He scratched the back of his head.

“And I think the time is long overdue,” Mr. Stern said.

**(A/N: While these Ulrich vs. his dad scenes go on, the author is cringing. She _hates_ his dad.)**

“It’s just that I—wasn’t expecting to see you…”

“And I wasn’t expecting to receive a report card as bad as yours was. Come with me, now. Mr. Delmas was kind enough to lend us his office!”

Ulrich looked back at Sam. Could she send a message?

He slid into her a bit quickly. “Sam, can you give Odd a message for me?”

“Yeah sure,” Sam said.

“Tell him to get to ‘he-knows-where’ right away!” Ulrich hastened.

“Okay.”

He then left her on the bleachers. Odd was still doing good stunts.

**-With William, Cassidy, and Yumi-**

William, Cassidy, and Yumi were racing through the sewers…Yumi on her skateboard, William on his skateboard, and Cassidy on her bike.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd was through with his run for now. He raced back to Sam. “Wow! Now this is what I call fun!” he noticed Ulrich wasn’t there. “Hey, where did Ulrich go, Sam?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said.

“He didn’t say anything?”

“No,” Her eyes were telling a lie.

The suspicion was there and back in a flash. “Okay, then tell me, how was I?”

“Wow! You really rock!”

**-Back to William, Cassidy, and Yumi-**

They were in the Lab with Aelita now. “If XANA’s monsters destroy the sphere, Lyoko is gone for good. And without Lyoko there isn’t any way to fight XANA.”

“This is turning into a grave day!” Cassidy’s eyes whitened a little.

“We read you loud and clear!” William smiled.

“Bad news, Ulrich’s with his dad, Jeremie’s at the interview and Odd’s at the skateboard competition,” Tears welled up in her nearly-white eyes.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?”

Yumi slapped Cassidy’s arm. “And I had another sporadic nightmare. It was clearer, but still very fuzzy.” Cassidy shrieked.

“For the others to get here,” Aelita answered William.

“They can meet up with us later,” he said.

“I’m not too sure on that,” Cassidy’s heart pounded loud enough for the whole factory to hear it.

“Let’s not waste time. After all, that’s the reason why you recruited me, right?” he smiled.

“Right,” Cassidy felt so many visions tugging her in different directions but she was able to keep them straight.

**-At Jeremie’s interview-**

Tamiya’s camera focused on different mushrooms. “Mycology is a very complicated science,” Jeremie announced. “It’s the branch of botany that deals with all forms of fungi. There’s several thousand species and they range in form from a single-cell to a mass branch phelemental typhade that authorizes sprouting bodies. The kingdom includes yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.” **(A/N: For all you mushroom specialists I’m sorry about the spelling.)**

“That’s what you call an interesting question?” Milly asked, miffed.

“The question is fine, it’s the answer that’s a bore,” Tamiya said.

Jeremie’s phone rang again and he picked it up. “Yes, Aelita.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve decided to take back control of this interview!” Milly said to Tamiya.

“Oh, sure, that’s typical. As soon as I’m the one who asks a question you get all bent out of shape,” Tamiya was angry.

“Really untrue!”

“Yes it is!”

“William’s right, Aelita. Saving Lyoko takes top priority,” Jeremie said.

**-Back at the lab-**

_“So go in, and I’ll be there as fast as I can to transfer Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi when I get there,”_ Jeremie said.

“Okay but don’t drag your feet!” Aelita told him.

Yumi nodded. “I’ll watch the Lyoko mission. If anything goes wrong, I can warn you.”

“Sounds good. Cassidy, William, come on, let’s go!” Aelita told the others.

“Yes!” William was finally going to Lyoko.

**-Back at the disastrous interview-**

Milly and Tamiya were still arguing.

Jeremie hung up his call and decided for himself to set the peace. “Uh…ladies, I have to…go to the bathroom. You weren’t planning on filming me in the bathroom?” he smiled. _Good, you’ve taken my advice._

**-With the three girls and the only boy-**

“I’ve started up the virtualization process to bring us three directly into Sector 5. We only have a few seconds to get into the Scanner Room and go in!” Aelita told the ones going.

“Let’s go!” William nodded and spun around to go to the elevator.

**-Outside the bathroom door-**

“How long are you planning to shoot this door?” Milly asked snidely.

“It’s really interesting how long the good students use the bathroom, right?” Tamiya had her camera rolling.

“Wrong!”

**-Outside the Science Building-**

Jeremie hung off on the eave and dropped to his own two feet. Then he raced on foot to the factory.

**-With Aelita, Cassidy, and William-**

They got into separate scanners, ready to go into Lyoko.

Soon they were virtualized into the Arena.

Cassidy however hid in her invisibility cloak (thanks to her tube). William looked at himself with amazement then to his zabanto. “Wow that’s some really classy gear.” He studied it as if he were a large knife.

He looked around for Cassidy. “Where’s Cassidy? Didn’t she get virtualized?”

“I’m right here and I’ll reveal myself when we get to battle. I—I don’t know how you’ll take my virtual form yet,” She shook her head.

William shrugged. He was in a silvery-white outfit with a nice silver and dark grey pair of pants and a dark red belt. “And you?” He asked Aelita. “No weapon? You fight with your bare hands? What’s your superpower?”

Aelita clenched a fist. “This isn’t a videogame, William. Let us remind you that we have an important mission to accomplish.”

“Okay, okay, sorry. So where are the monsters,” He turned around.

“Follow me; we only have about a couple of minutes to trip a key lever that gets us into the chamber of the Core of Lyoko.”

William sounded up to it. “Killer! This is ten thousand times better than Galactic Battle.”

“Reminder: This isn’t a videogame,” Cassidy said.

The wall opened up and the three ran inside to the transition room.

 _“You have two minutes and fifty nine seconds to stop the countdown,”_ Yumi warned the three.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie was getting to the factory as fast as he could.

**-The three in Sector 5-**

William, Cassidy, and Aelita were running the fastest they could run. Cassidy kept being invisible.

Then they entered the Core Zone. “It’s a movie set, wow!” William was amazed.

Aelita found the key. “The Key! It’s over there!”

“I’m on it!” William ran for it.

“No, wait,” Aelita and Cassidy told him.

He raced until a block came up, stopping him from running. “Oh…what?”

The sound of Creepers came to his ears. “What’s that noise I hear?”

Cassidy unveiled herself. “One of the monsters created by XANA.”

“Creepers!” Aelita answered.

As if the words were magic, a cube dropped out of the floor, like a trapdoor, and a few Creepers came out.

William had one look at his ex-girlfriend and then to the monsters. “Creepy crawlers. I love this! Aelita, you take care of the key. Cassidy and I will take care of these guys.” He lifted his zabanto and it just slammed down to the ground. He had to pick it up again.

“Watch it! They can be really tough!” Aelita warned as Cassidy jumped in to join him.

“Works for me, so can I!” William charged.

“Forgive the gung-ho behavior of my ex. He couldn’t help stop beating me in a videogame,” Cassidy shook her head as well as Aelita then charged into battle.

“GERONIMO!” He ran with his sword on his shoulder.

Aelita ran off to get to the Key mechanism.

There were four Creepers.

**-Ulrich vs. his dad; looks like his Dad’s winning-**

“I really want to understand why your grades are so consistently poor,” Ulrich’s dad drilled.

“It’s just that, I can’t seem to concentrate all the time,” Ulrich sounded like a little kid.

“Why not?” Mr. Stern was sitting in Mr. Delmas’s chair.

“Well you remember when you were my age…” he began.

“Yes, and at your age I had straight A’s. And I was preparing my college application,” Mr. Stern yelled.

Ulrich closed his eyes.

**-Back to Lyoko, PRAISE THE LORD-**

Aelita was making strides to the key mechanism, dodging the rising floor blocks that tried to get in her way.

William and Cassidy were busy getting rid of the Creepers. William got one with a sort of energy field and Cassidy shot at another. He slashed at another. He was smoking now. He slashed at the fourth one and ran in to get rid of three more. “William, lets not get too cocky now,” Cassidy warned, shooting at another.

He spun around to get rid of three Creepers at once.

“Okay, I take that back, that was cool!” She nodded.

“Wow, I can’t believe it! I am the man!”

After the monsters were defeated, William went up to her. _Is that the reason why you were scared?_ His thoughts sang to her.

“Y-yes,” she realized that she revealed herself.

He sighed. “You don’t have to hide what you are on the outside. I care about the inside that counts.” He smiled.

A tingly feeling numbed the pink cat female’s feet. “Really?”

“Really. Next time, don’t be scared to show me what you look like on Lyoko, because personally, I think it is cute,” William came closer to her.

The feeling numbed her knees next. “Even if I have a tail?” She didn’t know if she should faint or lose her footing.

“I like your tail.” He put a hand on her hair, smoothing it out, came closer to her face, and kissed her fully on the lips.

That shocked Cassidy. “W-William, you…” But she never got to finish her sentence.

Her eyes went blank and her body, rigid.

Aelita was wasting no time trying to get to the key.

 _“Only thirteen seconds left, Aelita!”_ Yumi’s voice echoed around the room. _“Cassidy, what’s going on?”_

Cassidy stood shocked.

Using one of the rising floor blocks as an elevator of sorts, Aelita managed to stop the countdown in time.

_“Great job, Aelita!”_

She turned to see William slicing a Creeper.

“It’s okay, William and Cassidy, you can come over here!” she told them.

She didn’t know that her roommate was frozen.

“Wait, just one or two more of them, okay?” William pleaded. “This is too cool.”

He got rid of two more as walls began to rise. “William,” Aelita said.

Cassidy was on William’s side of the room.

“No…” she whispered.

 _“Aelita, what’s going on? Where are Odd and Ulrich?”_ Jeremie asked.

“How should I know? They’re not in the computer Lab?” Aelita asked.

_“No!”_

“Hey, Jeremie, there’s this weird-looking creature that just showed up.” William was backing up from the Schyphozoa. “Some kind of…uh…giant jellyfish.”

 _“WHAT? **!** Aelita, you have to get to William!”_ Jeremie told her.

Aelita ran through a corridor. _“Hurry! You have to go around the outside. And why isn’t Cassidy doing anything?”_ Jeremie showed concern.

“I don’t know,” Aelita answered. “She was frozen when I turned to see them after I tripped the mechanism.”

She ran around the hole and passed a hallway. _“Take the next hallway on your left. NO, LEFT!”_

Aelita about-faced and went in the direction that Jeremie told her (half-belatedly).

_“Faster before the Schyphozoa goes after William!”_

She raced through the hallway. _“Take the Corridor on the right! Go on!”_

She did so.

**-Back to William-**

_“William, get out of there! Hurry up!”_ Jeremie ordered. _“William, do you hear me?”_

“I’m not afraid of some dumb jellyfish.” He lifted his sword.

Cassidy’s eyes didn’t see the events playing in front of her. Her ears didn’t hear the words.

 _“William, just do what I say!”_ Jeremie commanded. _“I don’t know what the Schyphozoa wants from you, but it can’t be good.”_

The jellyfish-like monster knocked his sword out of the way.

It landed a few feet away from him and a few yards from Cassidy.

“Rats!” William was now defenseless.

**-Back with Aelita-**

_“Aelita, take the next hallway on your left. It’s not much further,”_ Jeremie said to her.

**-Back to William-**

_“William, get out of there, NOW!”_ Jeremie told him.

William had collected his zabanto.

_“William, do you read me?”_

“Relax, the Schyphozoa hasn’t moved an inch,” William said.

But he was dead wrong. The monster had moved an inch, if not a few feet.

“Must be scared or—WHOA!”

William’s possession had begun.

Cassidy couldn’t see the action nor could she hear it. Her lips were frozen.

 _“I don’t believe it! CASSIDY, MOVE! USE YOUR EMP BULLET!”_ Jeremie cried.

But she was too frozen and her brain felt fried.

_“William’s been captured by the Schyphozoa! Oh, no! Cassidy’s still not moving!”_

**-Back to Aelita-**

_“Aelita, XANA’s possessed William through the Schyphozoa. Cassidy’s still not moving for some reason unknown!”_

“I’m almost there,” Aelita panted, racing back to the room.

She saw Cassidy first and tried almost everything to get her to move. The only thing that moved was her tail and it was thrashing as if in ecstasy.

Her tube was still in her hand.

Aelita then saw the Schyphozoa leaving and William on the ground. He was trying to get up.

She went near him. “William, are you okay?”

He panted and then looked to her. The eye symbol was in his eyes.

Aelita conjured up her energy fields and tried to hit him. But William cut through them.

It was his turn. William conjured up the energy field in his zabanto and let it rip on Aelita.

She devirtualized in a matter of seconds.

“YAH!” William roared.

He then turned his attention to the frozen one. A little voice told him to “leave the frozen”.

He ran off.

**-Back to Ulrich and his dad-**

“I’m especially concerned about your friends, Ulrich,” Mr. Stern said.

 _NOW,_ Cassidy’s words made him jump.

“What about them? You don’t know them. You don’t even know me in fact! Why must we keep having the fights? I am who I am! Nothing’s going to change that. I’m in love, I have a roommate. I have friends that care about me. And I am _nothing_ like you! You may have given me the breath of life, but I am through with this!”

He ran out, leaving his father dumbstruck.

**-Back with the two in the Lab-**

Things did not seem brighter for Yumi and Jeremie. Cassidy was stuck, William was possessed by XANA, and Aelita just got devirtualized. Odd and Ulrich were nowhere to be found yet.

**-With Ulrich NOW FREE of this father’s clutches-**

“Odd, what are you doing?” Ulrich ran through the forest. “You’re not at the computer lab? **!** ”

**-With Odd-**

“Why should I be in the Lab? I’m in the finals,” Odd protested.

**-Ulrich-**

“But didn’t Sam tell you?” Ulrich asked.

**-Odd-**

“Tell me what?”

Sam did her stunts. Then she put her board to her hand. “I’d like to see you top that!”

Odd was feeling betrayed. “Sam, why didn’t you give me Ulrich’s message. It was really important.”

Sam walked up to him. “Important? I’m sorry. I just—I just wanted you to stay. We’re so lucky to be together again. Even if it’s just for a day. I’m leaving tonight.”

“I know how you feel, Sam, but there’s something I have to do.”

“Even more important than hanging out with me? Are you still with that girl?” Sam asked.

“No. She broke up with me so you and I could stay together. And, unfortunately yes.”

“The next contestant is Odd Della Robbia. Odd?”

**-In the Lab-**

The situation wasn’t getting any brighter.

“I don’t believe it,” Jeremie said.

**-In the Chamber of the Core of Lyoko-**

William was there already.

 **“Ready?”** he asked the Creepers.

The ones around the core charged up their lasers.

 **“YAH!”** He said in a sort of battle cry.

The Creepers cheered.

**-In the elevator-**

“Jeremie, we’re here. Fire up the scanners,” Ulrich said.

 _“At last!”_ Jeremie was relieved. _“Get to the Scanner Room. I’ll explain everything to you two on the way!”_

Odd and Ulrich stopped to pick up Yumi and then they were on their way. The three went to the scanners and Jeremie fired up the virtualization processes.

**-In Sector 5-**

The Creepers charged up their lasers more.

William’s zabanto glowed white. Unleashing the field from his sword, he ordered, **“FIRE!”**

**-In the arena-**

_“Virtualization!”_ Jeremie announced.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi landed in the arena. The wall opened for them to get in. They raced to the Core Zone to find that Cassidy didn’t move one micron.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi fired off suggestions until Odd pointed his index finger in the air. “I have the perfect Idea!”

He whispered in her ear a school-and-age appropriate joke. A few seconds later, Cassidy unfroze and laughed. “Odd, that’s funny!”

Still not knowing what had frozen her, Odd fired off jokes (School-and-age appropriate, of course) until they got to the Elevator Room.

They jumped at the right moment and got to the Celestial Dome.

“By the way, what did William do to you that made you freeze like that?” Odd asked.

Cassidy froze in the Celestial Dome. “Uh…”

Odd fired off another joke off the grill and she laughed.

She got onboard with Yumi to get to the Core Room.

 _“We just lost the first shield layer!”_ Jeremie announced.

**-With William-**

His zabanto glowed white again.

**-Lab-**

“If the second shield layer goes…”

“…Lyoko will disappear forever…”

“And William along with it!” Jeremie finished.

**-In the Core Room-**

Odd, Cassidy, Ulrich, and Yumi raced quickly to the inside. They got to the top.

**-Lab-**

“At last, they’re there now!”

**-In Lyoko-**

The four found themselves in the chamber now.

William led the charge. **“Fire!”**

All that was left was just the core itself. The shield layers were gone now.

“WILLIAM!” Ulrich yelled.

That yell got William’s attention. He threw his sword down and then dropped down, making a crater as he did so.

“He doesn’t look too happy to see us,” Odd said.

William grabbed his zabanto.

“Yup, looks like me when I saw my father!” Ulrich didn’t seem to happy in that instance.

“Did you give the speech?” Cassidy wondered.

“Yes I did.”

“Bueno.”

**-Back in the Lab-**

“If we lose Lyoko, we lose my father as well!” Aelita worried.

“That’s right!” Jeremie nodded, frown on his face.

A window came up. “Is—is that the program I started up a while ago?” she asked.

“Yes, unbelievable. It really works!” Jeremie found reason to smile. “I found Franz Hopper!”

“Run the rematerialization program. Hurry!”

**-Back to the Gang in the Core Room-**

William had finally dislodged his zabanto and was showing a really nasty grin.

Ulrich gave the signal. “Okay…NOW!” He whispered.

Cassidy froze. “Ulrich…I…”

“If you want to fight with me against your ex, go ahead. Nothing’s stopping you!” Ulrich nodded.

“Thanks. Plus I owe you anyway!” Cassidy remembered the bet.

Odd and Yumi ran up the stairs. William didn’t like that as he shot a type of energy field at Odd. He devirtualized immediately.

Ulrich scowled and sprinted around to the other side. “It’s not very nice to attack people from behind!” He warned William.

Cassidy went into a freeze. Her eyes were blank and her ears forgot to comprehend any sounds.

Ulrich unsheathed his katana. William used the attack and got rid of the sword. Before Ulrich could go and get it, he smote him from behind. Ulrich devirtualized immediately.

Then William saw that Yumi got rid of a Creeper. He had to do something. He got to her stair and got her from there too.

Before she was gone, Yumi said this, “I knew it was a bad idea to bring you into the group…”

But William wasn’t done yet. He still had one Lyoko Warrior to devirtualize. Cassidy. She wasn’t moving.

He jumped to her level, played with her hair, and then smashed her with his zabanto.

She regained her senses on Lyoko too late.

 **“YAH!”** William cried.

**-Back in the scanner room-**

The doors that Odd got out of opened and Cassidy came out. “Franz Hopper is going to send a message…soon,” she said before she fell out of the scanner in a faint.

 _“Nothing can stop them anymore,”_ Jeremie told them.

**-Back at the Lab-**

“They’re going to destroy the sphere!” Aelita worried.

“Almost there!” He had to materialize Aelita’s dad.

**-With William-**

He floated to the layer-less Core. Nothing could stop them now. The Creepers cheered. This was it.

William, possessed by XANA, stabbed the Core of Lyoko with his zabanto.

Everything glowed gold.

**-To the Elevator-**

The three friends (Odd holding Cassidy), came to the Lab, holding despondent looks.

“This can’t be!” Aelita cried as Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi ran to the computer.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Streaks of gold went to the stabbed core and then…everything exploded.

**-With the Lab-**

“I couldn’t rematerialize Franz Hopper. I didn’t have enough time,” He told his friends.

“We lost everything,” Aelita frowned.

“William as well!”

**-Deep in the blackness-**

William was there, curled up in a fetal position in a black and red battle suit. Then he came out of there, the XANA markings on his chest and forehead but not in his eyes anymore.

**-At the Hermitage-**

Everyone (After dropping Cassidy at the dorms) was contemplating the loss of Lyoko, Franz Hopper, and William. “We have no other way to fight XANA now. The entire world is in danger,” Jeremie told them.

“It’s possible to even imagine it!” Ulrich sounded grief-stricken.

“And William…to think he’s…” Yumi sounded grim.

Odd put his head in his hands. “This is horrible.”

“I was really hoping I would see my father again.” Aelita held a picture of her father to her face. With Lyoko out of the way, the only thing she could do was see her father’s face in pictures.

“I’m sorry,” Jeremie sounded grim. “I did everything I could.”

Aelita set the picture down. “I know you did, Jeremie.”

Then the laptop beeped, alerting everyone to the sound. Jeremie opened up his laptop. “Hey—what the—this is incredible.”

“Well tell us. What’s going on?” Odd asked.

“I've just received a coded message, a message directly from the internet and it's signed...” Jeremie looked at it.

“Who? Tell us, Jeremie!” Aelita sounded a bit desperate.

“Franz Hopper. Like Cassidy said,” Jeremie sounded serious.

Ulrich and Odd gasped.

Aelita showed a sad look.


	42. Cassidy Hits into Shock Week

**I don’t own Code Lyoko and I do own Cassidy.**

**-In Cassidy and Aelita’s dorm-**

Cassidy awoke the next morning to the feeling of dread and a hint of remorse. _Ugh, why did I freeze up in Sector 5?_ Memory came flooding back to her. _Right, William. He k-kissed me?_

She was about to sit up when the door opened to reveal some shocked and some grief-stricken faces.

She sighed. “William…he…did it didn’t he?”

Yumi came up to sit beside her. “No one really blames you, Cassidy.”

“Figures, my ex just turns up on Lyoko and then I freeze before I see the Schyphozoa take him in to go to XANA’s side.”

“What happened between you and him that made you freeze up so badly?” Odd had a soda in his hand.

Just then, Cassidy’s words stopped. She couldn’t speak the way she wanted to. Trying to get the words out was harder than she figured.

Jeremie spotted her writing book, something that she had always carried if in case she needed to continue a story she was writing, and handed it to her. “Here, write on this.”

Instead of trying to force the words out, she took it, grabbed a pen from the table she shared with Aelita, and wrote out everything that happened in Sector 5, including her thoughts and feelings.

It took at least a page and the backside, but she managed to tear it off and handed it off to Odd.

He read it and when he got to a part (drinking his soda), he did a spit-take on the page and shouted, “WILLIAM AND YOU KISSED IN SECTOR 5? **!** ”

Cassidy wrote down her answer and gave the page to him again. It only read: _Yes_.

“HOLY MACKEREL!” Odd shouted.

Ulrich was scratching inside his ear because of Odd’s loud yelling. “Do you have to screech news to the whole world?”

“Why the heck did you freeze? It was just a kiss!” Odd got to his ex girlfriend.

Cassidy shifted her eyes to the wall. She didn’t feel like answering.

Aelita put a hand to her shoulder. “It’s okay if you don’t want to answer. We’ll go to breakfast and to classes.”

“We’ll cover for you!” Odd said.

Cassidy’s heart felt frozen in shock. All she felt like doing was going to sleep.

“See ya later, Cassidy. We’ll come by to check up on you after P.E,” Jeremie promised.

Cassidy was already staring at the wall, Elex in her hand. _Why couldn’t it have been someone ELSE on Lyoko instead of me that William went out with?_

Monday and Tuesday went by and Cassidy still wasn’t back in classes. When mealtimes came, her friends would save a tray for her, bring it to her room, have her eat it, and whatever she didn’t eat, she would hand off to Odd.

That satisfied the ninja warrior like no other.

When she didn’t eat her desert at lunchtime Monday, Odd dove into the cake easily.

She still wasn’t over the shock. By Wednesday, Principal Delmas and Jim were growing concerned.

They went up to check and asked her what was wrong. Cassidy gave them a fake story of how William fell on her in the forest and accidentally kissed her without her knowhow. It only took her a half-second to realize what he did.

Jim and Delmas left her alone after that.

On that Wednesday, Aelita grew more and more concerned. “She doesn’t seem to move from her room except for a shower.”

“Since you’re her roommate,” Odd declared, “I’d say you go ahead and see what Yolanda has for this.”

She stood up from the table. “Okay. I’m off!”

“Good luck, Aelita,” Jeremie called as she ran off.

“Thanks!”

When she got to the office, the nurse took concern. “Aelita, what is it?”

“My roommate is a bit shocked. Her ex kissed her and I think she is confused.”

“Let me see to her,” Yolanda said.

**-Back in Cassidy’s room-**

*Knock, knock*

“Yes. Come in,” Cassidy sounded not her usual self.

The door opened to reveal…

“Yolanda! What’s going…?”

“A friend is getting very concerned. Are you feeling all right?”

Cassidy shifted eyes over to the window. “I’m feeling very confused!”

“Was it your ex?”

She nodded and recited the same story that she told Jim and Mr. Delmas. “…And now I’m very much confused.”

“I see. Don’t worry; I’ve seen cases that were a lot worse than yours, Cassidy. One student was so shocked about her ex she spent the whole school year in the hospital. We had to send her home. Your case is almost toward moderate but still a little mild,” Yolanda smiled.

The psychic girl cocked a brow at the nurse. “Really?”

“What’s more, I know just what to do!”

“It’s not anything to make me feel a little grossed out, is it?”

“No. I’m advising you to sleep off this day and the next two after that,” Yolanda nodded, her blonde hair shining in the half-light.

“What if by Thursday, I don’t want to sleep anymore?” She asked.

“I know this great tea recipe my grandma taught me how to make. It’ll help you sleep through three days in no time. Would you be willing to try it?” **(A/N: Now I know that Yolanda probably wouldn’t do this. It just has to happen or not at all.)**

Cassidy thought hard on it. _Miss three days of school, get over the shock of William. Do not miss it, and the shock could get worse._ “What do I have to lose?”

“I warn you though. You won’t wake until Saturday. Just make sure you’ve gotten everything out of your system before you drink the tea.”

“I went a few minutes ago.”

Yolanda understood and went to make the tea. When she returned with the cup of tea, Cassidy was ready.

“I will tell your friends and teachers about this after you drank the tea. Remember, you won’t wake until Saturday,” she warned.

“I’m ready to get rid of this confusion,” Cassidy had a serious look on her face.

Bringing the cup to her lips, she drank the drink. Already the drink was starting to take effect. She started to feel tired, collapsing on her pillow. Before she shut her eyes, she handed the cup (surprisingly she managed to keep it upright despite the sudden collapse) back to Yolanda.

“Get some rest now, Cassidy…” Her words managed to penetrate her hearing for only a short while.

When Yolanda came out, Aelita was there. “Will she be okay?”

“She’s doing much better. She’s asleep right now. She will be for three days. On Saturday, she’ll wake and feel better, I promise,” Yolanda replied.

“Are you sure she’ll sleep through that amount of time?”

She smiled at Cassidy’s roommate’s concern. “She will. My grandma’s tea recipe can make anyone sleep for any amount of time.”

Soon the news spread to teachers and to Aelita’s friends. The gang agreed that it was for the best.

**-Three days later…on a Saturday at five o’clock in the morning-**

Cassidy’s eyes blinked open to the sight of some blurred vision. Someone probably removed her glasses.

After the effects unlocked her nerves and her movement, she saw fit to grab her specs. _Is it Saturday today?_

Putting them on, she realized that Aelita was still asleep. _I better try not to wake her. She seems to be dreaming happily…I hope._

Getting up she noticed that she felt a little weak from hunger. _It was for the best,_ she thought.

Cassidy breathed softly. _I better get a shower in so I don’t have to face a huge line._

She gathered her supplies and went to take a shower. The water’s spray was so warm in the darkness. Her muscles loved it, but the cut on her back was a force to be reckoned with. It still stung but at least it was healing.

After she was done and dressed, Cassidy went back to her and Aelita’s dorm.

Feeling she didn’t have anything else to do, she laid back down on her bed. _I feel better. I don’t feel confused anymore._

Seven o’clock in the morning, Aelita woke up. Turning her head to the side, she saw Cassidy turn her head to her and smile. “Good morning, Aelita.”

“How do you feel?” she smiled.

“A bit hungry, but I didn’t want to go down too early. Besides, the cafeteria isn’t open at five.” Cassidy’s stomach growled as if a lion came into her and roared.

The pink-haired girl was surprised. “How long have you been up?”

“About two hours?”

“Well, I’m going to take a shower. You better get one too for sleeping that long,” Aelita smiled.

“No, it’s okay. I got one while you were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you up, so I stayed silent getting my supplies ready,” Cassidy nodded. “You go on ahead. I’ll go down to breakfast. I’m starving from the sounds of my stomach.”

“Okay, I’m off. I’ll see you at breakfast.” Her roommate walked out the door.

Getting up, she calmly made her way to the cafeteria. Her walk was a little unsteady but she managed her way as steadily as she could.

Easing into the cafeteria, she grabbed her tray. _Let’s see, omelets were Thursday and…oh heck with it, I’ll just ask Rosa._

“Rosa, what food is it today?” she asked.

“Yesterday was oatmeal, so today is pancakes!” Rosa smiled.

“I’ll take a stack!” Cassidy instantly agreed.

“You’ve the stomach of your Della Robbia friend.” The cafeteria worker laid the pancakes on the tray.

“Well, I have been asleep for three days. Hunger is bound to show up in the equation somewhere,” She smiled to her as she walked away.

Sissi saw her. “So…sleeping beauty has finally woken and joined us.”

“And ran into the Warty Witch!” Cassidy smarted.

The principal’s daughter scowled. “I do not have warts!”

“Yeah, but you’re acting like one.”

The raven-haired girl stormed out.

As she sat down to eat, the door flew open, making her jump. _I’m hungry,_ were the shrill thoughts.

 _Of course, Odd and his stomach,_ she smiled as she cut into her food.

Odd Della Robbia was rushing to get his portion when he stopped. He saw a familiar face sitting at the usual table. “No way! That’s Cassidy!”

“Yep. She came up asking today’s breakfast item. I gave her a stack of pancakes,” Rosa explained.

“Maybe if she goes for seconds, you should…” He whispered his idea into the worker’s ear.

After the whispering was done, Rosa agreed.

Odd went over to his friend. “So, you’ve finally decided to come down, huh, Cassidy.”

Cassidy looked up from her finished plate. “Huh? Yeah.”

“At least you woke up. We were worried about you.”

She nodded and smiled. “Well, tengo hambre. I better get another portion.”

“You’re growing to be just like me, Cat-Lover-Girl,” he teased.

She cocked a brow. “Look who’s talking.”

“Touché.”

She went up to get more chocolate chip pancakes when Rosa added a few more to her stack. “Uh…thanks Rosa. Are you sure I should have that?”

“You said that hunger is bound to show up somewhere. So go ahead.” Rosa smiled at her the way that she did Aelita the first time she had lunch.

“Aw, thanks, Rosa.”

She went back to her table. Odd faked a look of surprise. “Wow! What a good stack of pancakes!”

She didn’t detect any faking. Smiling she said, “Yeah, seems that Rosa noticed my hunger level today.”

Digging in, she noticed that Odd wasn’t pining for her portion as always. “Is something wrong, Odd?” She asked after her mouth was cleared.

“Nope.”

“Strange. You usually like to ask me for my portion at every second. Are you enfermo, Odd?”

“No.”

Shrugging, she dug into her pancakes again.

Aelita, Jeremie, and Ulrich joined soon after. The other two boys were very pleased to see their friend chow down after three days of sleep.

“So, I see Odd’s stomach rubbed off on you,” Ulrich cracked.

“I guess it did. Plus I was out for three days,” Cassidy shrugged, on the fourth-to-last pancake.

“That’s right. And during that time, you didn’t move from the spot in your bed,” Aelita noted.

“She didn’t even adjust her position?” Jeremie asked, out of concern.

She shook her head. “Stayed perfectly still. Not a flinch.”

The other girl however was enjoying her extra pancakes. Apparently she was very hungry.

Odd laughed. “You know how to eat, Cassidy.”

She looked up from her second to last pancake. “Hey, I learned from you!” she teased back. Then Cassidy turned to Ulrich. “I owe you next week.”

“How come?” Aelita asked, confused.

“He made a bet that I would freeze in Sector 5 before anything bad happened. I sweetened the deal by adding in the Core Zone. So I froze; something bad happened after that, and Ulrich won!” Cassidy nodded. “Congratulations.”

“Yeah but I can’t think of anything at the moment for you to do except eat like Odd,” Ulrich smiled.

“I really need the strength because my walk was awkward this morning.”

All of a sudden, Yumi came in. “Oh, what a pest my brother is!” she growled.

“Hermano troubles again, Yumi?” Cassidy asked.

“Yeah…” Then the Japanese teen realized that her friend was awake. “I’m glad you are awake, Cassidy!”

“Me too,” then her stomach growled. “Oh my, thirds already, stomach?”

“You had _seconds_?” Yumi quirked a brow with a smile.

“I was hungry!” Cassidy fake defended.

“Go ahead. You know I won’t stop you,” her friend chuckled a little.

She went up to get her third stack, her gait now getting settled again.

“With that treatment Yolanda gave her, it’s no wonder she’s hungrier than usual.” Ulrich smiled.

After she got settled in a third time, Johnny passed by. “Hi Cassidy!”

“Hey, Johnny,” she smiled.

After he was gone, Jeremie started to get an idea. “Do you want to help Aelita and I get Lyoko back online and find William Sunday?”

“Sure. But first, may I?” She indicated her not-even-started-on pancake pile.

“Do as you wish.” Jeremie nodded.

Lunch passed by and Cassidy was now gaining her strength. She was packing away more food than Odd did on any other day.

“Slow down, Cassidy. You’ll be like Nicholas in this room,” Ulrich cracked.

“Don’t insult my ex, huh. Her manners are thirty times better than him,” Odd smiled.

The psychic girl smiled as she finally got done with lunch (she went and had fourths).

Dinner came around and she chewed through that like it was no big deal.

“Goodness gracious, Cassidy,” Jeremie took a little concern. “Just because you’re hungry doesn’t mean every meal’s your last.”

The girl gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

That night, Cassidy fell into a natural sleep for the first time since waking up. _Thank goodness the shock is over. Now all I need to do is regain my strength and help find William and rebuild Lyoko._


	43. William has Returned...and Changed

**Well, William’s going to return…I think.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. Cassidy is mine.**

**-In the Principal’s office-**

“I can’t hear you very well, Mr. Dunbar. Are you trying to say that your son William has gone overseas to stay with you, and he won’t be attending classes here until you bring him home?” Mr. Delmas asked to the person on the other end.

**-Let’s see who’s on the other end, shall we?-**

“Yes, that’s correct, sir,” Jeremie spoke. Cassidy tried to contain her almost-dead giggles.

The three had been working at the lab for at least a week.

**-Back at the office-**

“I see, but it’s quite surprising that he would leave without even bothering to tell any of us here.”

 _“Uh…”_ said a deeper voice, unlike Jeremie’s own.

**-Lab with Jeremie using his voice synthesizer-**

“…it was a very sudden decision. You know how youngsters can be at this age…”

**-Back to Delmas-**

_“…I’m sure your own daughter Sissi is capable of doing the same thing!”_

Delmas’s eyes shot toward a photo of his daughter. “That’s very possible, yes.” Then he realized something. “But I didn’t realize that you knew my daughter…and by her nickname, as well.”

**-Back to Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

Jeremie scratched the back of his head. Cassidy held her breath. “That is…well, actually, I don’t know her obviously but, well…you see, William talks so much…”

**-Back to Delmas-**

_“…about her. It’s always Sissi this…”_

**-Jeremie-**

“…and Sissi that, and so it’s almost as if I really _did_ know her.”

Aelita watched as Jeremie tried to convey the message. Cassidy’s legs shook a little from standing for so long.

**-Delmas-**

“Ah…I didn’t know that William was such a close friend of Elizabeth.”

**-Back to Jeremie-**

“Well, Sissi’s a role model for William—an example, and how could it be otherwise. I mean considering the sort of father that she has,” Jeremie went on and on.

**-Delmas-**

“Thank you, Mr. Dunbar. I was delighted to have this little chat with you, and please give William my best regards and we hope he’ll return to school very soon, and that he’ll always be welcome,” Delmas wanted to hang up.

**-Jeremie-**

“We’ll tell him. Good-bye, Mr. Delmas, and many thanks for your understanding,” Jeremie smiled.

**-Delmas-**

“You’re very welcome, sir!” Delmas hung up the phone.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie pressed a key. Cassidy smiled.

“Whew, I guess I make a good grown-up,” He removed the communicator from his ear.

The psychic girl nodded.

“Yes, but now all we have to do is find William,” Aelita pointed out.

Jeremie leaned forward to get to the keys. “You’re right. We all better get back to work.”

Cassidy yawned a little and stretched. “We’ll be able to bring back Sector 5 tomorrow.”

**-The next day-**

“Piece of cake,” Jeremie announced to his friends.

Yumi wasn’t too sure on this. “Okay, so it worked with the principal, but what will happen when William’s real parents want to see their son?”

“Yumi’s right, and I’m not so sure that voice synthesizer of yours is going to do the trick, Jeremie,” Ulrich agreed.

Cassidy slanted a brow. “Will you give him a break? So far, William’s parents haven’t asked once about their son.”

“Who knows? Maybe by then we’ll have localized William,” Jeremie had his glasses up like shades on his forehead.

Odd was curious. “How are you going to do that?”

“Thanks to the data we got from my father before he disappeared into the network, Jeremie, Cassidy, and I have just about recreated Lyoko,” Aelita smiled.

“You’re recreating Lyoko?” Odd was surprised.

“We may even be ready by tonight.”

Jeremie smiled too. “That’s right. In fact, Aelita, Cassidy, and I have worked on it every night for the last week.” He put his glasses back where they belonged.

“Oh, so that’s why you three looked like a couple of zombies. And I thought that you looked like wrecks because you were partying all night. I was getting jealous,” Odd smiled.

Cassidy fought the urge to Gibbs-slap him with a smile.

**-In the cafeteria-**

Milly was chewing on an apple while Tamiya drank her water. “Hi, Milly, hi Tamiya. You wouldn’t mind if we sat here with you, would ya?” Yumi asked.

The two got up and went their separate ways.

Everyone noticed, even Jeremie seemed a bit guilty. Cassidy looked to him with a look of sympathy. “It was to save Lyoko, Jeremie,” she whispered as she put a hand on his shoulder.

They sat down at the now-empty table. “They’re still sulking?” Ulrich asked.

“What do you think?” Jeremie asked.

“Well, you did sneak out the bathroom window during an interview,” Odd sat down. “And for ace reporters like them, that was pretty insulting.”

“Being mad at me isn’t as bad as they’re being really mad at each other,” Jeremie took the tab off the can of soda.

“But how come?” Ulrich asked.

“They had a massive argument over the newspaper, I think.”

“You mean the Kadic News is folded for good? That’s the best news I’ve heard in a—” Yumi was interrupted by Odd elbowing her.

“No! It’s not! How am I gonna find out who’s going out with who, now?”

“And what great knitting patterns are yet to be there, too?” Cassidy sounded a bit bushed. “I guess I’ll just look in the knitting books again.”

“That might be good. Psychic or not you are our best friend,” Ulrich said. “And I think that…”

Sissi overheard that.

Hervé and Nicholas were just talking about something.

“Well, personally, out of all the seasons of the year, I like spring most of all.”

Nicholas gave his favorite. “I like the summer best because it’s nice and warm.”

Sissi couldn’t hear the perfect plan to get revenge on Cassidy for when she caught her trying to record Jeremie and Aelita’s conversation. “Quiet, huh, I can't hear anything.”

Hervé was a bit annoyed. “Well, if you can't hear anything, then we should speak louder, shouldn't we?”

“Dork, it's not you I want to listen to.”

**-Back to the gang’s table-**

Cassidy shushed Ulrich. “I think that’s on the too much info list. You know we can’t say that I’ve got powers in public.”

“Soon it won’t matter anymore!” He shrugged.

“Ulrich, SHUSH! If that info gets to You-Know-Who from You-Know-Where, He would be able to use me in all the evilest ways possible,” the psychic girl nodded.

“Is evilest even a word?” Odd asked.

**-Sissi’s-**

“I don’t see what makes their conversation more interesting than ours,” Hervé told her.

Nicholas took the straw out of his mouth. “Yeah, me neither.”

Sissi had a sinister smile on her face. “Well, I do, okay?”

**-Sissi’s room-**

*Knock, knock, knock*

“Come in,” Sissi said.

Milly opened the door. “You wanted to see me, huh, Sissi?” After the affirmative, she then spotted Tamiya. Winking an eye, suspicion crossed her path. “Hey, what’s she doing here?”

Tamiya winked an eye too. “That’s what I was going to say. What’s she doing here?”

“I thought it was me you wanted to see.”

“Same here!”

Sissi walked through the space in between the girls. “Well at least you agree on that.” She shut the door, keeping the two inside. “It’s not much, but it’s a start.” She pulled the two disagreeing girls closer to each other. “And it’s all thanks to me.” Patting the girls’ shoulders she walked through the space in between Milly and Tamiya again. “Which is why for the good of the Kadic News, I’ve decided to become the editor-in-chief!”

That shocked the two of them. “You’ve decided WHAT? **!** ” Milly was appalled.

“Who do you think you are?” Tamiya showed suspicion. Something wasn’t right.

“A daughter of the principal, the only person that can stop you from printing that poor excuse of a paper that you’re so proud of,” Sissi was manipulative as she was crafty.

“But you’re not a real journalist!” Milly protested.

“She’s right; you don’t even know the meaning of the word scoop,” Tamiya said.

Sissi leaned on her closet. “Wrong again, little ones. A scoop, huh? How about an enormous scoop?”

The two reporters looked to each other with suspicion in their eyes.

**-At the factory at night in the lab-**

Jeremie looked to the others. “I’m all set.”

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy nodded.

He pressed a key. “Here we go.”

The rebuilding process was on the screen in no time. It was going kind of slow.

Even Odd noticed the slow-going processes. “I don’t want to be a party pooper but there doesn’t seem to be much happening.”

Cassidy smiled a little. “Patience is a virtue, Odd. Never waste it.”

Smiles didn’t appear on Jeremie or Aelita’s faces however.

“The data my father transmitted wasn’t enough,” Aelita sounded a bit downhearted.

Jeremie took off his glasses. “I guess he must’ve been really crazy to think that we could recreate Lyoko.”

“Don’t sound like that,” Cassidy yawned.

Yumi noticed something. “Hey, wait! Look at that.” She pointed on something on the center main screen.

Indeed a sphere was there.

**-Back to Lyoko for the first time in ever-**

A hub was being built.

**-Back at the lab-**

Ulrich was impressed. “That’s incredible! It worked.”

“Aelita, Jeremie, Cassidy, you three are gods!” Odd smiled.

“Aw, please. I ain’t a god!” the psychic girl used her almost-correct Southern accent.

Aelita showed a prideful smile.

“Almost, but not quite.” The pink-haired girl’s smile dampened just a hair as the genius pressed a key. On the Holomap was the sphere of Sector 5. “For the time being, all we’ve been able to recreate Sector 5 of Lyoko. We still gotta work to create the other sectors, but we should be able to do that soon.” Jeremie adjusted his glasses.

Yumi spun the chair around. “Okay, but it can wait a night or two. You guys deserve a goodnight’s sleep.”

Aelita and Cassidy agreed. “Yes, Yumi’s right, Jeremie,” the former said. “We’re going to be needing every bit of our strength to look for William.”

“And I haven’t slept in a week,” Cassidy yawned.

“We’ll get started tomorrow.”

Jeremie yawned a bit. “Yeah, well, alright.”

**-On the bridge-**

Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy walked back to the dorms.

“Hey, do you think I should take some dancing lessons for my next film?” Odd asked. “At one point, the hero is challenged to a disco dancing duel.”

**-Back to the factory-**

**Some data turned red.**

**-In the scanner room-**

A scanner door opened. There was a lot of smoke.

**-The next morning with Ulrich-**

Ulrich just finished getting dressed when his door opened. In the door way was a worried and agitated Cassidy. “Look what we have here!” She snarled, throwing a book face down on his bed.

“A book?” Still dazed from sleep, he was very confused.

She turned the book face up. “Look at the front page! Look at it!”

“Cassidy Rene’ McGuire: Psychic, or normal student?” Ulrich read the headline.

“I told you to hush, but did you ever listen? ‘Soon it wouldn’t matter anymore’, huh? The wager’s off, now!”

Ulrich gulped. When she was angry within reason, she had something in mind for revenge.

**-Later on in the courtyard-**

Ulrich threw the newspaper on the bench in between Milly and Tamiya. “Do you have any good idea what Cassidy’s going to do to me for this?”

Sissi flipped a page of her magazine. “No, but I can’t wait to find out! And I’m sure that my readers are dying to know too.”

The rest of the gang, with a hungry-for-revenge Cassidy, came in.

“Sissi, since when have you been involved with the Kadic News, huh?” Jeremie asked, laptop on his back.

“Ever since I made myself editor-in-chief. Oh, and since you’re all together as usual, I’d like to ask Yumi and Cassidy a few questions for the next issue!”

Cassidy scowled. Today was not the day for her to have an interview.

Sissi looked to the two reporters. “What are you two waiting for? Come on! We’re rolling!” Her tone went softer. “Well, Yumi, Cassidy, our readers would really like to know how you two and William are getting along?”

“That’s _none of your business_ , Sissi, so _back off_!” Cassidy growled.

Sissi took it calmly.

“W-William? Me and William?” Yumi was a bit incredulous. “You should ask his ex.”

_Oh, sure, land the plate on me just as soon as I tell Trouble with a Capital S here to BACK the HECK OFF!_

“Would you rather I ask the same question to William? He might not be as shy or as angry as you two are,” Sissi smirked. “As a matter of fact, where is he? The last time I saw him was two weeks ago.”

“He’s gone abroad. His father called your father to tell him,” Ulrich said.

“Ulrich, you don’t know that! William didn’t tell anyone about him going abroad,” Cassidy tried to cover.

“Oh and how did you know that, huh?” Sissi asked the two.

The samurai warrior stuttered. “Uh…I uh…”

A new voice hit the sound waves. “Are you talking about me?”

The camera focused on…William!

**-Later on-**

“All I can remember is being virtualized on Lyoko and getting captured by the Schyphozoa.” William did the knocking the head gesture. “It’s a blank after that. That is until this morning when I woke up in the factory.”

Odd wasn’t too sure, neither was Cassidy. Cassidy poked his shoulder lightly while Odd pinched his arm.

“Hey, what are you doing, you two? You’re hurting me,” William asked.

 _Something’s not right. XANA’s up to this, I’m sure!_ Cassidy’s suspicions

“Just checking to make sure that you’re not one of XANA’s ghosts,” Odd smiled and covered for his friend.

“No danger of that. There isn’t any activated tower on Lyoko,” Jeremie was on his laptop. “William couldn’t have been sent by XANA.”

William ruffled Odd’s hair. “So you can stop pinching me, Odd.” Then he tickled Cassidy’s back. “And you can stop poking me, Cassidy.” He accidentally touched the healing place of Cassidy’s cut.

That almost set Cassidy off. Clenching a fist, she looked as if she would hit him, but, remembering that she’s a pacifist, she clenched her teeth instead and unclenched that fist. “William, that was my cut,” she tried to keep calm.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he backed off.

The bell rang.

“Anyhow, you're just in time for a quiz in math,” Yumi winked an eye.

William sounded a bit sad. “Timing huh? I haven't studied at all.”

“So? Since when have you _ever_ studied?” Yumi smiled.

The two then chased each other to math class.

“The next problem is explaining William’s sudden return to Delmas,” Odd straightened his hair.

“Yeah, you said it,” Jeremie agreed. “What I don’t get is why, when Lyoko disappeared, William didn’t fall into the digital sea.” He put his laptop back into his bag. “It’s really weird. I’d love to know how he managed to escape.”

“Something tells me XANA is up to this,” Cassidy inputted.

**-That night-**

*Knock, knock, knock*

Aelita and Cassidy were enjoying a calm evening in their dorm room when they heard the knocking.

“Who is it?” Aelita looked up from her book.

Sissi, Milly, and Tamiya came in. “Hi, Aelita, Cassidy, we’re not disturbing you, I hope,” the former said. “We would really like to do a feature story for our next issue.”

Cassidy growled as she accidentally slipped a stitch in her knitting. “Oh…The pattern doesn’t even call for a slipped stitch.”

“What are you knitting there, Cassidy, huh?” Sissi turned to her first.

“It was a knit dish cloth with a simple ridge. It didn’t even call for a slipped stitch!” She was about ready to yell at Sissi when the other girl turned to Aelita.

 _I want to kick her butt_ so _much, but I know that I’m nonviolent on Earth except in some situations._

“It’s true we don’t know a lot about you. Are you really Odd’s cousin? And, well, is it really all that cold in Canada? Were you really all alone a lot? And why did you suddenly come here in the middle of the year? Our readers would like to know,” Sissi bombarded.

The psychic was seething so much that if looks could make flames appear, Cassidy’s knitting needle tips would catch fire.

Milly and Tamiya showed uneasy looks.

Sissi then turned to the other girl. “Are you really from the U.S.A.? If so, how did you come here?”

“Can’t you let them study and knit in peace, huh?” William was standing in the door way.

 _A blessing_ and _a curse at the same time. Huh, I’ve probably experienced worse,_ Cassidy shrugged but then… _Wait a second. Oh, my, GOD! XANA…and Aelita…oh, holy crap!_ She gulped. _Franz Hopper, too…HOLY HELL! THIS IS BAD!_

“Alright, get going, all three of you,” William gestured outside their room. “You annoyed them enough!”

“Oh, William, you came back! I thought you were overseas,” Sissi was surprised.

“Get going, I said,” He insisted.

The principal’s daughter led the way out. “Okay, okay, we’re outta here!”

Milly and Tamiya smiled as they walked out.

Cassidy wasn’t too sure of William’s behavior, so she sat in the chair nearest Aelita’s computer.

“Thanks, William. Without you, we would’ve been Sissi’s next victim, and that’s even worse than…” Aelita flipped a page.

The psychic’s stomach whirled in fear and she swallowed a big lump in her throat. _Uh-oh!_

“…than becoming a prisoner of XANA, is that you’re saying?”

Aelita saw the sign in his eyes.

Cassidy snapped. She jumped up and stood in a defensive position. “XANA, if you want Aelita, then you have to go through me to get her!”

William smirked, making the defending girl’s stomach whirl again. “Don’t worry, Cassidy, I’ve got a special seat for you!”

She jumped and kicked him in the face. “Aelita, corre! ¡CORRE!”

The XANAfied boy recovered and the psychic revved to drive a punch in William’s stomach. He caught her fist. “NO!” She sweated buckets. Turning to Aelita again, she yelled, “Aelita, get to Odd and Ulrich’s room. Tell them what happened—AGGHH!” An electric shock went through her arm. “HURRY! CORRE!” Another shock went into her arm. Fighting to stay conscious, she revved up using her remaining strength and tried to punch him again. “No, William, you won’t get her. I won’t let you throw her into the digital sea, ya hear!”

William grabbed the other fist. Her eyes widened. “NO!” Her jaw went slack. Looking up through her shock, she saw William grin evilly.

Aelita watched in horror.

The other girl’s legs were locked in the stance. She couldn’t break out of it.

She gulped.

“You’re mine now!” William’s voice took an undertone.

Cassidy squeaked.

Heart thudding fast, she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the electricity to knock her out. She was trapped.

The deed was done.

After Cassidy fell to the floor, he then turned his attention to Aelita.

**-With Sissi, Milly, and Tamiya-**

“William only came back because of Cassidy and Aelita. That’s a scoop, isn’t it,” Sissi asked the two.

“No!” Milly disagreed.

“I can’t wait to show the news to Jeremie and see what he has to say,” Sissi led the way.

“Now, hold on,” Tamiya warned.

“There’s no reason for him to know before our readers do,” Milly said.

“Once we printed it, then we’ll ask Jeremie what he thinks of it.”

**-Sissi obviously disagreed-**

Jeremie was shocked. “William came into Aelita and Cassidy’s room? You’re kidding! Are you sure he did?”

“We sure are. We were there. What do you think?” Sissi asked.

“I think that…uh…I know why! They’re going to help him catch up on, um…what he missed in math!”

That confused the three girls.

“Look, I’m sorry, but uh…I gotta go now and take a shower.” Jeremie walked off.

It was then that Milly put her foot down. “Sissi, do you want a scoop?”

“Hm…?” Sissi turned around.

“A real one this time?”

Sissi was confused.

“Okay, I quit!”

“So do I, Sissi!” Tamiya agreed.

“But you couldn’t possibly do that!” Sissi was shocked.

The two girls were friends again. “Wanna bet?”

**-Jeremie on the other hand-**

He opened the door to Aelita and Cassidy’s room. It looked as if the two girls never were there.

**-With Ulrich…OH you are going to enjoy _this_ -**

Ulrich growled. “Losing a bet is one thing! _This_ takes it too far.”

He was in Cassidy’s clothing, courtesy of the girl’s revenge trick.

His phone rang. “Yeah, Jeremie?”

**-Back where Jeremie is-**

Jeremie typed on Aelita’s computer. “Ulrich, there’s something weird going on with William.”

 _“Why, what’s wrong?”_ Ulrich asked.

“He left for the factory with Aelita and Cassidy,” Jeremie found their phone signals. “I picked up the signals of their cell phones. I’m pretty sure, like Cassidy said, this is XANA’s doing.”

_“What makes you think that?”_

“Just a hunch!” He looked at the screen again.

**-Ulrich-**

_“It’s strange that he managed to escape the digital sea. Meet you at the factory, okay?”_

“Right. No problem. You get Yumi, I’ll clue Odd in.”

 _“You mean he’s not with you?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Odd? He went for his lesson for his film.”

**-Odd-**

“Go on, keep trying. I’m sure that you can do a lot better than that,” Jim encouraged.

Odd practiced in his day clothes. He was sure to make the film’s moves realistic.

“That’s very good, Della Robbia. You sure got the disco down now,” he smiled.

“It is for the film, Jim. Plus I don’t want to end up dancing wrongly now,” Odd smiled as he panted.

“There’s more to disco than the John Travolta finger,” Jim said. “I remember when I was acting for Paco the King of Disco.”

“I didn’t know that you were an actor,” Odd smiled.

“Yeah, but I’d rather not talk about it.”

**-With Yumi’s place-**

Yumi was reading one of Cassidy’s books. “Cassidy is right. Fang and Max should be together.”

Then her phone rang. “Oh, no. Just when I was trying to chill out!”

Seeing the message, she knew it was a bad sign.

**-With William, Cassidy, and Aelita-**

William was typing on the keys with his superfast typing (granted by XANA).

Aelita and Cassidy were both unconscious in the elevator, but one of them started to stir. A pair of brown eyes found themselves focusing.

Cassidy struggled to her feet, but felt them wobble.

_I won’t allow William to—throw Aelita into the digital sea. NEVER!_

Her chest felt like it was full of lead.

The psychic girl wobbled forward. “No…” she panted. “William. Ya can’t…do this…”

That alerted him.

Regaining her strength, she tried for a defensive stance. She was gasping for breath to keep herself moving.

William gave her a look that obviously said “What the crap” in a bored way.

Pressing the enter key, he zapped her to full unconsciousness into the elevator.

He walked into the car and turned around, the symbol in his eyes.

**-Back to the conquering cavalry on the bridge-**

“Impossible to reach Odd! I already tried three times,” Ulrich checked his phone.

“Yeah, I bet he’s living it up somewhere, just when we need him!” Jeremie said.

**-To the scanner room-**

Cassidy and Aelita were each in a scanner, still unconscious, while William was standing in the center scanner, awake and XANA sign in his eyes.

The doors closed.

**-In Sector 5-**

The two girls were still unconscious as they hit the floor of the arena.

William stood before them in his black and red costume. He charged up a black smoke and fired. It split, encompassed Cassidy and Aelita, and lifted them up. He moved them with his mind into the corridor.

**-Back in the lab-**

Jeremie made his way to his chair as Ulrich looked around the lab.

“They’re not here,” the now-dressed-like-Cassidy samurai warrior said.

“I can see that. They’re all in Sector 5, and I don’t like that at all.” The genius of the group looked to his friend. “Hurry, Ulrich. Head for the scanner room.”

He nodded. “I’m on my way.” The warrior ran uncomfortably to the elevator.

Jeremie entered Odd’s cell phone number. “I keep trying to reach Odd. We’re really going to be needing him.”

**-Odd-**

Odd was dancing up a sweat for his film. Little did he know that Aelita and Cassidy were in danger, and that Jeremie was calling him.

Jim stopped the music. “Not bad. Just a few more steps and you’ll have it made for your film.”

He nodded. “That’s great, Jim.”

**-Back to Jeremie-**

“Oh, no. Where could Odd be, I wonder?” Jeremie asked.

_“I’m ready, Jeremie.”_

He leaned forward to type. “Okay. I’ll launch the procedure. Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization.”

**-In the Arena-**

Ulrich landed in the arena. _“Ulrich, you’ve got to take the corridor right in front of you.”_

“Is there a key I gotta trip?”

_“No, when we recreated Sector 5 we got rid of that procedure.”_

“Okay, here I go!”

 _“Better step on it!”_ Jeremie warned. _“While the three are not too far away, Ulrich. Once you’re in the Core Zone, I’ll guide you.”_

Ulrich ran, ready to find and save the two girls.

**-With the two girls-**

William had levitated them into the next room of the Core Zone.

Now Aelita started to stir. “Where am I?”

Cassidy woke. Looking around, she gasped. “We’re in Sector 5.”

Aelita looked to William. “What’s going on?”

The boy kept mind-nudging them into his direction.

“William, where are you taking us?”

“Into trouble!” Cassidy tried to break the restraint.

“Let us go!” Aelita ordered.

He tried to knock them out again, but Aelita and Cassidy both broke free.

“ENERGY FIELD!” Aelita shot her field into him first.

That field blasted him dead center.

Cassidy shot a silver bullet but missed. By then the two found it wise to run.

After running into a corridor, Cassidy popped the question, “Why in hell am I a victim to XANA? I don’t have any family relations here!”

**-Back to William and…-**

William recovered and got up. The two girls were getting away.

“So, having fun without inviting us?” Ulrich’s voice surprised him. “You sure have changed, haven’t you?”

He conjured his zabanto and chuckled darkly.

_“Be careful, Ulrich. XANA’s sent some Creepers just behind you!”_

**“Super Smoke.”** William reduced himself to smoke and went off into the general direction that Cassidy and Aelita took.

The two Creepers behind him shot. He deflected the shots. “And I thought this was going to be easy.”

A third Creeper came and he had to deflect it from himself.

**-With Cassidy and Aelita-**

_“Aelita, Cassidy…”_

Cassidy was relieved. “Jeremie, man am I glad to hear your voice. Thank you, God!”

 _“…can you two hear me?”_ Jeremie asked.

Aelita and Cassidy stopped for a half-second. “Jeremie, what’s going on?” The former was very concerned.

_“Be very careful, girls. William’s coming after you two.”_

“I don’t have relatives… _here_ on Lyoko! I don’t know _why_ he’s going after me,” Cassidy protested as the two ran into the hallway.

“What’s the matter with him?”

“One word: XANA!”

Jeremie came in with his answer. _“I have no idea. The tower in Sector 5 hasn’t been activated, but it seems that William’s under the control of XANA. You two better get out of there fast, Aelita and Cassidy.”_

“We’re trying to do just that,” Cassidy panted.

They ran through more path when the psychic girl still took a gander. “Why me as well?” She scoffed a little. “I don’t have any relation to you, Aelita. I swear.”

_“I don’t have a clue either. We’ll have to scan you later.”_

They took a right turn.

William still followed the two as if he was a smoky snake.

**-The Lab-**

The elevator opened to reveal…

“Yumi! At last,” Jeremie exclaimed. “Head for the scanner room, fast! Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy really need your help.”

Yumi pushed a button. “And Odd?”

Jeremie kept typing. “I’ve been trying to reach him. I don’t know where he is.”

The elevator doors closed.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd was now closer to his phone. Jim stopped the music for a last time.

“You did great. I think your film will be great. Lesson over!” Jim was very impressed.

Odd nodded and checked his phone. There was a message.

SOS XANA

J

“Well what do ya know,” he muttered.

There was no time. He ran to the park.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

“William’s still after us. We better keep running,” Cassidy tried to stay in step with Aelita. She was just an inch faster than Aelita.

The two found themselves in a dead end. The two looked for alternate paths but found none.

The psychic girl looked to her friend in fear. “The lady killer is gonna get us now!”

As if on cue, William appeared. The two were trapped.

Aelita fired an energy field. “ENERGY FIELD!”

William dodged.

Cassidy fired a silver bullet to which he dodged too.

He proceeded to walk forward.

The girls walked backward into the hole in the wall. “Not what I wanted to do today.” Cassidy tried firing again and again, but kept missing.

_“No, Aelita and Cassidy, No!”_

“No, William, listen to us!” Aelita tried to reason with him as she and the other girl walked forward.

He fired his smoke and blasted the two into unconsciousness again. He threw them in the (XANA put it) right direction and followed them to the Celestial Dome.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

_“Ulrich, better make it snappy. William’s taking Aelita and Cassidy straight to the Dome area!”_

“I’m doing my best, Jeremie!” He ran back in an effort to defend himself. “Obviously, my best isn’t good enough.”

Then Yumi came in. “HII-YAH!” She threw her fan and got rid of a Creeper. “Looks like you could use a hand.”

“That’s right! Let’s go!” Ulrich smiled. His girlfriend was with him.

Using the false “lady in peril” trick, Yumi was made aware that there was a Creeper staring down at her.

Ulrich slapped the monster with the side of his katana, gaining its attention and it shooting his katana out of his hand. He gathered his sword.

She hopped up in an instant. Throwing her fans, she succeeded in getting rid of another monster.

“On three, we attack. One…two…three!” the two ran off in different directions.

With a call of “IMPACT!” Ulrich slashed at the second-to-last Creeper.

Yumi spun around five times and threw her fan at the last one.

The two met up with each other and took the corridor in front of them. “Let’s get outta here,” Yumi said.

**-Lab-**

The elevator opened to reveal Odd! “I didn’t get here too late I hope.”

Jeremie was relieved. “Odd! It’s about time. What were you doing, huh?”

“I was taking a disco dancing class.”

“Right, now get to the scanner room. You're going to go on a little trip.” The genius worked on the keys.

Odd pulled a move. “Funky!”

**-With the two captured girls-**

William transported the two to the Dome Area. He looked around. **“Manta!”** he called.

He was rewarded with his own black Manta. He flipped both Cassidy and Aelita around, then climbed on to gently put them on the monster.

The former girl started to slip when he used his smoke to act as a seatbelt.

He kept a foot on Aelita to keep her from doing the same.

Conjuring reins, William was able to control the Manta.

**-Lab-**

“What’s he trying to do now?” Jeremie asked.

 _Something horrible, Jeremie. Really, really, horrible,_ Cassidy’s thoughts were very serious.

**-Elevator room-**

Yumi and Ulrich were on their way.

“What’s going on, Jeremie?” Yumi stood by him.

_“It looks like William wants out of Sector 5.”_

“But, I thought you hadn’t managed to create any other sectors,” Yumi protested.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie was scratching and racking his brains. “That’s what makes it so hard to understand. At the end of Sector 5 there’s nothing, except…” Then he realized the answer. “The digital sea.”

**-With Yumi and Ulrich-**

Yumi and Ulrich made it to the Dome.

_“If he jumps into it with Aelita and Cassidy, the two girls will be virtualized for good, just like Aelita’s father. And we all know Cassidy will hate that.”_

“Don’t worry, Jeremie. We’re going to do all we can to stop him,” Ulrich reassured.

“But for that we’re going to need our vehicles,” Yumi looked up to the ‘ceiling’.

 _“Right, I’ll see that you’ll get them in…no time flat!”_ Jeremie almost sounded nervous.

The OverBike and OverWing came up in a snap.

The owners (Ulrich and Yumi) each hopped on to his or her vehicle.

**-Odd-**

Odd was doing his best to get to the Dome area. He was running his hardest.

**-Back to the soon-to-be fray-**

William was still in the lead.

Ulrich and Yumi tailed him.

That tailing angered both him and XANA. William ordered his Manta to drop its mines.

_“Better watch out. There are mines.”_

Yumi and Ulrich found it wise to dodge. The former had no trouble dodging them. But one of them exploded underneath her vehicle, making her spin.

“Are you okay, Yumi!” Ulrich asked.

She stopped spinning. “No problem.” She noticed something quickly. “Ulrich, in front of you!”

He was able to avoid a three mine explosion.

But one of them ambushed him. He devirtualized in an instant.

“ULRICH!” Yumi cried.

It was up to her now. She followed William, Cassidy, and Aelita into the tunnel.

It was bright orange out there as if the Desert Sector had been recreated.

Yumi kept following him.

**-Back to Odd-**

_“Move it, Odd. They just went into the tunnel.”_

Odd was in the Dome Area and on his OverBoard in no time flat. “No problem, Einstein.”

**-Back to the pursuit-**

Yumi was in hot pursuit of William and the other two girls.

Aelita and Cassidy woke up. They looked around. Aelita asked Cassidy, “What’s going to happen?”

The other girl tried to break the restraint. “William is going to throw us into the digital sea.”

 _“Yumi, you have to stop William from jumping into the digital sea!”_ Jeremie told Yumi.

“I know, Jeremie, I’m on it.” She dove down into the chase.

Aelita and Cassidy saw Yumi on the horizon. “YUMI!” Cassidy shrieked. “You gotta get outta here. William…he’s gonna…throw you off the OverWing!”

As soon as the geisha warrior unfurled her fan, William conjured his sword. He threw a type of energy field at her. Yumi dodged but fell off at the mere gravity of it.

_“Yumi, NO!”_

“NO! **!** ” Cassidy yelled.

“Yumi!” Aelita called.

Then…two laser arrows got Yumi on her shoulders.

William was surprised and looked up.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie fell back in his seat in relief.

**-Yumi-**

She almost passed out in her scanner but held strong.

**-The pursuit goes on-**

”Banzai!” Odd launched three laser arrows at the Manta.

It threw Aelita off, but not Cassidy.

Odd caught her.

“That’s fine by me,” Cassidy urged. “But what about me?”

Odd gained altitude and shot again. “Hold on, Cat-Girl!”

“¿En qué? I’m about to be thrown into the digital sea!”

The arrows sliced through the restraints.

Odd launched a few more arrows. The monster threw the last female off.

He dove again as soon as Cassidy started screaming, and caught her.

“Gracias, Odd!”

He turned the OverBoard around to go back to Sector 5. William turned to get at him.

“I hate to cut in William, but Aelita and Cassidy have always preferred the company of a real gentleman,” Odd joked a little.

William urged his Manta forward.

Odd launched another arrow. “LASER ARROW!”

That destroyed the monster.

William floated on his sword.

“Sorry, but I hate being tailgated,” Odd looked back, then made his way with Cassidy and Aelita to Sector 5.

William, angry at his failure, dove into the digital sea.

**-Back at the lab-**

“You think William's gone forever?” Ulrich asked Jeremie.

“No. I think he just went back to his new master—XANA,” Jeremie typed on the keys to rematerialize Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy came out of the scanners.

“Thank God you saved us, Odd!” The psychic girl hugged him tightly.

 _“Cassidy, do you want to do the scan?”_ Jeremie asked calmly.

“Yeah,” She let go of Odd.

_“Great, get into the scanner.”_

She did as she was told.

**-After the scans-**

“Well,” Yumi kept hold of Cassidy’s shoulders.

“Any connection between Cassidy and Lyoko, or XANA?” Aelita asked.

Jeremie kept typing. “Nope. No connection between Cassidy and Lyoko or XANA.”

“So why is XANA after Cassidy?” Odd asked.

Cassidy gulped. “Maybe it’s because of the psychic thing. Maybe he wants to use me for evil purposes.”

“It’s still a mystery,” Ulrich said. “He had her battle 87 Megatanks, he had her get rid of the Forest and Mountain Sectors, and she was attacked by the Schyphozoa two or three times.”

“Why would William want to drag me into the digital sea? I don’t get it.” Aelita was confused.

“I think it’s XANA’s new scheme,” Cassidy felt worried.

“So we gotta be real careful,” Jeremie agreed. “William could come back at any time.”

The gang agreed.

“And now we have to think up another excuse for his absence,” Yumi said, “and Delmas might not buy it this time.”

Jeremie nodded. “We’ll start work right away.”


	44. We can Do a Double Take Now

**Cassidy: *does a double take* I thought that Jeremie was done with…**

**Me: Yeah but you know that this will mark the last time.**

**Cassidy: I wish—**

**Me: *Reads her mind* don’t say it. He’ll come soon.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. I only own Cassidy.**

**-Jeremie’s room-**

Jeremie was working on his program when a bickering Cassidy and Ulrich came in.

“And I say that if you had your powers on the time you were attacked, you would’ve been able to survive that attack.”

“That was not my fault. I was in shock the first week and working the second week on the program to bring back William and rebuild Sector 5!”

“Well, it still is your fault.”

“No it isn’t. I was trying my best to defend _the both of us!_ ” Cassidy barked.

Jeremie was very annoyed by that. “Stop! If you two are going to fight, at least dress in drag and do it in the mud!”

The two stopped and looked at Jeremie strangely.

“Who are you and what the heck have you done with Jeremie Belpois?” Cassidy narrowed an eye with the look of “O…kay…?” all over her face.

“Sorry, guys.”

“Not to worry, mi amigo. It just struck us as strange.”

The rest of the group came in after all was calm. A few minutes later Odd decided to crack a joke. The punch line was:

“…so then, the guy gets up and starts to scream, ‘Oh, no, my canoe just sprang a leak!’” He started cackling.

Cassidy cracked up laughing. “Good one!” And she kept having a laughing attack until the need for air was of great command.

To the others, Odd wanted a bigger audience than just one. “Come on! It’s hysterical. The guy thinks his canoe just sprang a leak.”

“I got it, Odd, if it makes you feel any better,” Cassidy consoled.

“Aw, forget it. Besides Cassidy, you guys have no sense of humor,” Odd grumbled, sitting on Jeremie’s pillow.

“We do. That’s the problem,” Ulrich smiled, reading his comic book.

“Don’t worry, Odd. A sense of humor comes with growing up,” Yumi said.

Odd still wanted a bigger audience. “Come on, I’m the funniest guy in school. In fact, if I wasn’t me, I’d be president of my own fan club.”

Aelita laughed. “Now that’s what I call funny.”

“Yeah, but the fact is, I didn’t mean it to be funny,” Odd smiled.

Jeremie just lost it. “You mind making a little bit less noise? Some of us are trying to work. I’ve already spent a lot of sleepless nights recreating the rest of Lyoko and improving the digital equipment for all of you. Now I’ve gotta figure out what to do about William.”

Cassidy rubbed her fingers. William’s electrical attacks when he ambushed her and Aelita in their room did not come without burns. She was also a bit twitchy from all the electricity still remnant inside of her minus the heart rhythm.

“If you haven’t forgotten that while you’re doing your bad stand-up act…”

“It wasn’t me, it was them,” Ulrich pointed.

Cassidy twitched. Real smooth, Ulrich.

“…that William is stuck on Lyoko…”

“…under the control of XANA…” Jeremie and Cassidy chorused, the latter still remembering.

“…and if we don’t do anything, people are going to start noticing his absence. So keep it down.”

He typed on the controls.

Cassidy’s leg almost twitchingly kicked Ulrich.

**-To Delmas’s office-**

Mr. Delmas was playing a computer game whose music sounded a bit like Pac-Man. He liked to do that when he didn’t have report cards to send or students (or his daughter) to see. His phone rang. He paused the game and then picked up the phone. “Delmas Academy. Jean-Pierre Kadic here. Uh, Kadic Academy. Jean-Pierre Delmas speaking.”

“This is James Dunbar, William’s father. I’m calling to say that my son won’t be able to attend school this week. He’s got a very high fever and he has to stay in bed.”

“RATS!” he made a mistake on his game. “I hope it’s not game over for him. Uh, that is to say, nothing too serious.”

**-Jeremie’s room-**

“Just a very bad flu,” Jeremie said.

**-Back to Delmas’s office-**

“Oh, that’s a relief. Please tell your son that we all wish him a speedy recovery, Mr. Dunbar. Good-bye and thanks for calling.”

He hung up the phone and continued playing with his game.

**-Back to Jeremie’s room-**

“Whew, I honestly don’t know what we’d do without my voice synthesizer!” Jeremie smiled, thankful that Delmas fell for it.

Odd clapped his hands together. “Well, now that we handled Delmas, maybe we can go to the more important stuff.”

“Yeah…? Like what?” Jeremie took a gander.

“Meatballs and spaghetti!”

Cassidy’s twitch accidentally kicked Ulrich in the ankle.

“Hey! I thought that we were supposed to be in drag!” Ulrich rubbed the area.

“Remember, Ulrich, William got to me. Jeremie’s evil twin got to me. Even my evil twin got to me. Lately, I’m not getting any relief, but I have to get on with it anyway.” She didn’t mean to kick.

“Odd, I know that you’re a walking stomach, but I haven’t got enough time to go to lunch. Cassidy and I have to get to the factory to test out the latest codes for your new equipment.”

“Are you sure I should go? What if I twitch and end up doing the same thing I did to Ulrich onto you?” Cassidy wasn’t too sure on it.

“It’s fine,” Jeremie reassured.

“Could you program me some bellbottom pants with an orange stripe on the side?” Odd asked.

“Odd, I’m giving you tres seconds to run. Jeremie’s not what you call very sunny today,” She warned.

“Will ya?! I need a little thinking time!” Jeremie was just about fed-up.

Odd thought differently. “What you need is to hear a good joke. You don’t laugh enough. Lighten up!”

Cassidy stopped twitching.

-Back to Delmas-

Nichole Weber helped Mr. Delmas on his game. “It doesn’t look that hard, sir…There we are.” She was proud to have helped Delmas win.

Delmas didn’t think so. “By the way, Nichole, don’t you have some work to finish up?”

The phone rang again. He picked it up. “What now?”

“James Dunbar speaking. I’m calling you, sir, because I’m getting worried.”

**-At an undisclosed location-**

“I haven’t heard from my son William for several days. And whenever I try to contact him on his mobile, he doesn’t pick up.”

**-Back at the Academy-**

“Well, isn’t that a shame. I assure you I’ll do everything I possibly can to find your son. I’ll call the army, the FBI, even the President so don’t worry!”

“Well, there’s no need to go that far now.”

“Now, listen, Mr. whoever alias Dunbar, you would do better to think about your own fate, and not that of your so-called son once I discover who it is that’s calling.” He hung up rudely. “So there!” He turned to his assistant. “’Hear that, Nichole? That’s the way you have to talk to practical jokers who enjoy playing tricks on you.”

Nichole was not sure on that. “There’s one thing that I don’t get. How do you know that _he_ was the practical joker and not the person on the phone that you spoke to before, hm…?”

Mr. Delmas realized that she was right. Something must be up.

**-In the cafeteria-**

Odd finished almost all of his portion and pushed his tray to the middle.

“Huh, you don’t want your banana or the cupcake?” Aelita asked.

“They’re for Einstein and Danger Psychic. The walking stomach has to look out for our local genius and dangerous psychic.” He smiled.

Ulrich did, too, until he realized something. “Uh-oh. Delmas and Incredible Hulk at eleven o’clock.”

Jim and Mr. Delmas walked to their table. “Hello, Yumi. I was wondering, have you had any news on William Dunbar by any chance? Jim said that you were close friends.”

“Somebody told me that he was sick in bed with a very high fever,” Yumi played with the excuse that she heard from this morning.

Mr. Delmas tried to say something when Jim came in, “Let me handle this, Jean-Pierre. Listen, Yumi, be honest with us. I know perfectly well that William isn’t any more sick than I am.” He sneezed.

“Bless you, Jim,” Aelita said.

He rubbed his nose on his arm. “Thank you.” He turned back to Yumi. “If you want to know what I think, I think that William is somewhere, and something tells me that somehow you know where that somewhere is. And sometimes it is better to be honest with someone. So uno, somebody should tell William that we know that he’s around and doso, he ought to get back before tonight. If not, Mr. Delmas, our beloved principal, will call us some police.” **(A/N: Can Jim keep a conversation or what?)** He straightened up and turned to Mr. Delmas. “That ought to do it.”

**-Jeremie and Cassidy’s reactions-**

“WHAT?” Cassidy shrieked.

“No way!” Jeremie was flabbergasted. “That means we have to slog away all afternoon trying to finish a program to get William out of XANA’s clutches…”

“It’ll take a long time!” Cassidy started to pace a few feet away from him.

“…and who knows if it’ll even work, besides Cassidy?” He panicked.

**-With the rest of the group-**

Ulrich immediately cut to the negative. “That’s impossible. We’ve got track this afternoon. You two can’t keep cutting Phys. Ed all the time. One more time and you two are going be in a lot of trouble.”

“Oh, okay. We’ll get back to you,” Jeremie came in.

“What are you going to do?”

 _“Improvise, as usual!”_ Ulrich swore he heard a smile from the genius.

He hung up.

**-Back to Jeremie and Cassidy-**

“Problem: Being here and in class at the same time.”

“Why do I feel déjà vu vibes?” Cassidy’s voice rose a little in panic. Her eyes turned into a white area.

“Relax. If a tower is activated, Aelita can deactivate it,” Jeremie reassured.

“I know, but this reminds me of our terrible twins.”

He realized that she was having a vision. And he backhanded her. “Calm down, please.”

**-Vending Area-**

Odd inserted a Euro into the vending machine. He looked for his drink but nothing came out. He punched the number seven a few times, but still nothing. Angered, he punched the machine and winced on the recoil. Nothing was coming out of the vending machine today.

He gave up. “I don’t believe it!”

Ulrich read his comic book again. It was a new issue and it drew him in instantly.

Yumi showed Aelita her new phone. Her old one died after William’s ambush.

Odd exited the vending area and couldn’t believe what he saw. “I don’t believe it!”

Yumi looked. “Wow, they sure got ready fast.”

Jeremie took a gulp of soda, crushed it, threw it behind him over his shoulder, kicked it into the trash can, and said, “Two points.” He was in his gym clothes.

Cassidy on the other hand was very calm, crushed her cup, walked her way over to the trash can, threw it in, and said, “Obeying the rules.”

“Hey, everybody!” They both said.

“You two have already finished with all you had to do?” Aelita asked.

“Piece of cake, Sweetie Pie, huh. What Cha think? Sure we’re done. You’re looking at the man and woman.” Jeremie used a flirtatious gesture.

Ulrich cocked a brow.

“How's it going kid? You must've got all dolled up for me today. You won't believe the vibes I'm feeling right now.” Jeremie was not looking at Aelita but at Yumi.

The former girl looked very jealous. Since when did Yumi cross Jeremie’s territory?

Cassidy smiled and looked at Ulrich. “Looks like you got all hot for me today.”

Yumi looked very angry at her. She knew she (Cassidy) and Ulrich weren’t the closest bunch of friends in the group.

That really set Ulrich on high alert. Since when did she act like Sissi? “Cassidy, did you get knocked for a loop today or something?”

Yumi backed away from the two. “Hey! Go back to being Jeremie and Cassidy, will you.”

“It's just that... when ever I see you, I don't feel like I'm myself,” Jeremie said.

Everyone around the two was very suspicious. “XANA!” Odd spouted and went to initiate the first move. But Jeremie grabbed him and threw him into the vending machine. Odd’s drink came out.

“Hey, cool!”

The three bodyguards went into fighting positions when Yumi’s new cell phone rang. She picked it up. _“Hello, Yumi?”_ a familiar voice came into her ears.

That set some suspicion. Was that _Jeremie’s_ voice?

She pulled her phone back. “Jeremie? But then…”

A familiar picture came up on the little screen of her phone. Jeremie was smiling and Cassidy was sheepish.

She looked to the two in front of her in confusion.

“Oh, what do you think of us, guys?” Jeremie asked.

Yumi was in dead confusion. “Hold on. You mind explaining this?”

The genius on the phone answered for both him and the psychic. “You mean you haven’t figured out that I made doubles of Cassidy and myself? Digital copies by activating a tower on Lyoko. This way we can work on the program for finding William and be in gym class at the same time.”

**-On the Desert Sector. The author is happy-**

The tower in the Desert Sector glowed green.

**-Back to Yumi and the others-**

“You two might’ve warned us about it, Einstein and Cat-Girl,” Odd rubbed the back of his head.

 _“Sorry, guys, but we were in a big hurry,”_ Jeremie was a bit sheepish now.

Yumi smiled. “Anyway you ought to know that your doubles have got to be the biggest flirts we’ve ever met!” She turned the phone’s screen to face the two clones.

The two were now looking smug.

_“That’s strange. Must be some sort of an emerging quality in the program that appeared unexpectedly. Anyway, guys, we might not have hit a home run with it, but doubles are still pretty good.”_

**-Gym class-**

“Abulabas?”

“Here!”

“Belpois?”

Jeremie lifted his two fingers on each hand. “Present.”

Jim looked to him and Cassidy. “No, this has got to be a dream. Jeremie Belpois in person has finally decided to honor us with his presence, in the flesh, although there’s not a whole lot. After holding the world’s record of absences for every single sport, we’re all going to watch Mr. Skin-and-Bones make up for lost time by throwing his lack of weight around.” He cackled.

**-Yumi’s science class-**

“And so it was in 1671 that Isaac Newton created his famous reflection telescope, as I’m sure you can see on this very rare and precious model of it,” Mrs. Hertz lectured.

On her desk was a small telescope.

**-Back to gym class-**

“Okay, let me get out of the line of fire before I give you the signal,” Jim took a step back. “Go on!”

Jeremie threw a shot-put ball.

**-Mrs. Hertz-**

“The law of gravity…the apple that fell…” The shot-put landed on her model, destroying it.

Yumi quirked a brow.

**-Gym class-**

Jim looked at where the ball flew. “Holy Toledo, Belpois.”

Jeremie blew on his hand. Jim looked at him. “I mean, incredible, Belpois. How could you throw that thing so far with arms as scrawny as the wings of a chicken?”

“Uh…well, you see, Jim, he’s been working out a lot,” Odd covered. The clones looked to him and shook his or her heads.”

Mrs. Hertz yelled from the window. “Jim! You're worse than those barbarians who burned down the Alexandria Library!”

“Why, thank you, Suzanne,” Jim smiled.

The science teacher was not amused.

“Jeremie, you’re gonna participate in the inter-school competition against the top student gymnasts. Those dodos at Central Prep won’t know what hit him,” Jim told the clone.

**-With Jeremie and Cassidy at the lab-**

Jeremie typed and saw something.

“William and three Tarantulas are heading to the tower to turn our clones evil. Now I’m getting déjà vu vibes. This is terrible twins all over again!” Cassidy shook as her memories played the scenes in her mind. “I don’t want to get electrocuted again. I’m still recovering from the William Ambush!”

She twitched.

“I don’t believe it!” Jeremie looked at the screen.

**-Desert Sector-**

Three Tarantulas triangulated around William as an evil plan set in the possessed boy’s mind. He dug his zabanto into the ground. **“Go on.”** He ordered two of the Tarantulas. He turned to the third. **“You, too!”**

As they clunked off to defend him, He looked to the tower and pushed his arms forward, smoke emanating from his body. William levitated and waited.

The tower’s wires pumped red energy into it.

He concentrated.

**-Jeremie and Cassidy-**

“If he manages to get control of the tower, your clone is going to—” Cassidy gulped.

“I know.”

**-Back at Odd, Aelita, and Ulrich’s PE class-**

Ulrich’s phone rang as he tried desperately to get Cassidy’s clone off his back.

He answered it.

“Okay, champ. Now, let’s see how well you can throw the Javelin,” Jim told the Jeremie clone.

The clone took it and twirled it in his hand in the speed of a helicopter.

Ulrich held his phone to his face. “Jeremie and Cassidy, this better be important.”

 _“It is, Ulrich. XANA is about to possess our tower!”_ Cassidy was worried.

**-With Jeremie and Cassidy-**

“If it keeps up, XANA will be able to activate it in red and use it for his own evil purposes,” Jeremie said.

**-Back at gym class-**

The javelin stopped in Jeremie’s clone’s hand and poised to aim.

Jim was standing proud.

“I get the idea. How can you get the process to stop?” Ulrich stared at the clone.

“To buy a little time, we can channel some of Sector 5’s energy to shore up the tower’s resistance!” Jeremie told him.

**-Lyoko-**

The tower started to fluctuate to red.

William was done with his task a demonic frown on his face turning to a small evil grin.

**-PE class-**

The Jeremie and Cassidy clones closed their eyes. The boy clone was about to impale one of the bodyguards sitting around.

“Jeremie, hurry up!” Ulrich was watching with worry as was Odd and Aelita.

The Cassidy clone was about to charge up electricity to Odd.

Ulrich and Odd were getting worried.

“We’re almost there!”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The tower’s wire was still pumping XANA’s red energy.

William lowered to his feet.

**-With Jeremie-**

The tower’s resistance shored. “Okay!”

**-The tower-**

The tower turned green, much to William’s disappointment.

**-Gym class-**

The Jeremie and Cassidy clones acted as if they were electrocuted but returned to normal.

He turned around in the right direction and threw the javelin in his hand.

It flew far into a window and somebody protested, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Jim whooped for joy. “I’m going to be your personal manager, Belpois! Wait til they get a load of this! You and me, we’re going to go far. Trust me! We’re going to take the thrill of victory. We’re going to breeze through the championship, the nationals, the planetary, the inter-planetary, the inter-galactics!” he went on and on.

Ulrich looked to Odd and Aelita. “To the factory?”

The three started to shuffle away when Jim caught Odd and Ulrich. “Stern! Della Robbia! Go on. Pick yourselves a lane and let’s how you run in the 400 meters against Belpois.”

The two stood up, cocked a left eyebrow, and went into the two open lanes that the clone didn’t occupy.

“You ready, champ?” Jim asked the clone.

He gave a smile.

“Get ready, get set, GO!” Jim said.

The three were off, but the Jeremie clone was 100 times faster than the samurai and the ninja warriors combined.

**-Lyoko-**

William was ready to get the tower back under XANA’s control. He tried again. The tower turned to red. He creepily smiled.

**-Back to the 400 meter dash-**

The Jeremie clone’s eyes turned to XANA as did the clone of Cassidy’s. She rushed onto the field as he stopped.

Ulrich and Odd stopped, only for Ulrich to get tackled from behind by the female clone and Odd to get jumped on by the male.

They both revved up to punch the two human Lyoko Warriors.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie typed on the keys while Cassidy finally got over her twitching. “You won’t get us that easily, XANA.”

The tower’s protection shored again.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

The tower turned green again.

**-Back to the gym class-**

The Jeremie and Cassidy clones turned to good and froze mid-punch. Odd and Ulrich were able to throw off their attackers.

Jim came onto the field. “Della Robbia! You better be careful not to rough up my champion!”

He looked over his shoulder. “You okay, kid.”

The clones did a cart-wheel. “I’m good, Jim.”

“Okay, better safe than sorry is what I always say. Any volunteers to go with Belpois and McGuire to the infirmary?” Jim asked.

Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita raised their hands.

As the three herded the clones, Ulrich put a hand on Odd’s shoulder. “I’m going to the factory with Aelita. Isolate Jeremie-2 and Cassidy-2 and watch them.”

“Yeah, right, easy for you to say!” Odd grumbled.

Ulrich typed Yumi’s number.

**-Yumi’s class-**

Yumi received a message. It was the eye of XANA—he was on the move.

She didn’t waste a beat. “Ma’am, can I please leave the room?”

Mrs. Hertz bumped her head on the underside of her desk. “Yes, go. You haven’t seen any pieces of mirror around, have you?”

**-How Odd is doing-**

Odd opened a door. “If the Olympic champion and the Sissi-flirting machine would be so kind as to enter.” The clones walked inside.

He shut the door and pushed the seemingly unused lockers to bar the door.

He slumped down to rest.

**-Back to Jeremie and Cassidy-**

“Okay, hurry up. I hardly have enough energy to protect the tower.”

Cassidy clambered down to the scanner room. “I am _not_ going through the nightmare again!”

Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi when into a scanner.

“Okay, Jeremie!” Aelita gave him the approval.

“Okay, I’ll start the procedure. Transfer, Aelita, Transfer, Yumi, Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Aelita, Scanner, Yumi, Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization.”

After one scanner opened, Cassidy leaped inside. “I’m in, Jeremie.”

“Transfer, Cassidy. Scanner, Cassidy, Virtualization.”

**-On the Desert Sector-**

Cassidy landed in the middle of the triangle. She found she was in an upgraded version of her original costume. It was a bit thick but she didn’t feel it. She had cat ears on top of her head. On her new pinkish sash were two tubes. “Wow.” She also noted that her costume was purple again. “Neat.”

One thing that made her crease a brow was a heart charm on a bracelet on her arm.

“I’m not one for jewelry but I like the bracelet.”

Ulrich was in skin-tight orange-yellowish with some brown everywhere spandex. He had an open backpack with four swords inside. His headband stayed. “Quad blades, not bad for ripping XANA’s monsters into shreds.”

Yumi was in a dark red skin-tight outfit with her obi still strapped to her back. On her shoulders were shoulder pads. She had red shoes. “I like your skirt, Aelita.”

Aelita looked at her mini-skirt. Her pink and green attire was replaced with a full pink body suit with a transparent skirt. She also had transparent shoulder pads. “Thanks. Those shoulder pads aren’t so bad either.”

“Hey, you all can discuss fashion later,” Jeremie warned. “The activated tower is north by northwest.”

The four were off on the OverWing, OverBike, and OverBoard. Cassidy also decided on calling her vehicle the OverDrive.

The four were in hot pursuit of the tower. Yumi spotted it in an instant. “I see it!” She told her friends.

William looked behind him. The cavalry was coming, and he and XANA could hear it.

He lowered to the ground again and possessed his zabanto. It was time!

He walked forward and stopped in between two Tarantulas.

**-Odd-**

Odd played with a broom he found when he heard a bang. The clones wanted to break free. “Oh, great, here we go again.” He ran over to try to barricade the barred door. He was having trouble. “Hey, stop pushing, will ya? Don’t you like it in there?”

The clones succeeded.

Odd stood at the ready.

They jumped over the lockers and was about to unleash their fury on him.

“What is going on around here?” Mr. Delmas’s voice was there.

The three stopped in their positions.

“Just where do you think you two are, McGuire and Belpois?” Delmas came down the stairs.

Odd had to think quickly. “No big deal. They’re just a bit edgy!” He smiled, even though the situation looked dire.

Delmas acted reasonable. “Now, now. Try to calm down, Belpois and McGuire. Don’t you two think that talking it out would be much more constructive than lashing out blindly and violently?” He put a hand on their shoulders.

The two showed the eye-sign and the he-clone electrocuted the principal.

He fell unconscious.

The two clones super-quickly got to the door. Odd tried to stop them when the she-clone threw him into the principal. The two were out the door after that.

“Thanks a lot for the psychology lesson, sir. Now I gotta catch them,” Odd muttered.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

“Are you up to this, Cassidy?” Yumi asked in concern.

Cassidy closed her eyes. “I don’t want to, but my heart knows that XANA controls him now. I have to fight him.”

William’s zabanto blade was on the ground. He was ready for them at any given cost.

Ulrich was in the lead.

William growled.

Ulrich was determined to bring him down. He put his vehicle in auto-drive, jumped off, and watched his OverBike go.

 **“Super Smoke!”** The XANA victim dissolved into smoke and met up with the vehicle. Using his sword as a ramp, William rematerialized from the ground. The vehicle went up the sword and over him. But it hit a Tarantula and brought it down an edge.

“That was partially a good idea,” Cassidy told Ulrich.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd ran to the park sewer entrance. Stopping, he used his stick as a balance as he caught his breath. He called Jeremie. “Jeremie, your XANA-possessed copies are on their way to the factory.”

**-Jeremie-**

_“They’re too fast for me to catch up to him. You’re on your own, good buddy!”_

Jeremie started typing. “Okay, Odd, let’s see what I can do!”

He locked the elevator.

**-To Lyoko-**

The two Tarantulas regrouped and watched the action, poising to fire.

Yumi and Cassidy gasped.

The two (plus Aelita) went up into the air. The lasers were shot and shot fast. Two of them hit the two vehicles. The three started to fall.

Aelita and Cassidy thought that this was the end when…

The star-bracelet and the heart-bracelet flashed. Aelita was caught up in the air first.

Then Cassidy was caught in the air. The two girls grew wings and they dove down then gained altitude to the air.

“Where did these wings come from?” Aelita wondered.

“And when did I place an order for them?” Cassidy looked warily at her brown, pink, and purple virtual wings.

_“Ya like them? They’re just a little surprise I invented in my spare time, Aelita.”_

“Jeremie, you are the wind beneath my wings!” Aelita smiled.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie blushed.

**-Lyoko-**

“But why did I receive the wings, too?” Cassidy asked.

 _“Uh…I didn’t type in the codes to add wings to you. You’ll just have to live with them,”_ Jeremie sounded unsure.

“Okay. Aelita, Yumi!”

Aelita didn’t need any telling twice. She dipped down with Cassidy to save Yumi.

The two flying girls grabbed her (Cassidy with one arm, Aelita with the other arm), flew up a few feet, found some land, and helped Yumi to the ground.

Yumi ran a few paces to get her bearings then turned around to look at Aelita and Cassidy. “Aelita, Cassidy, you’re angels!”

If blushing was possible on Lyoko, the cat-like girl would’ve blushed. “It was nothing, Yumi.”

Meanwhile, Ulrich was in a fight with William. The two used their swords. At first the two seemed too be evenly matched. Ulrich was not running out of land.

Soon, they stopped for a little bit for a breather.

**-With the clones-**

The clones displaced themselves until they were at the elevator. The Jeremie clone punched the box and pulled on a cord.

The car came up.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie saw that while typing on the keys. “Okay, I can be just as resourceful as you, pals. You’ll see!”

He pressed enter and the door to the elevator closed.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi and Cassidy ran across the way to get back on top when the Tarantula stopped them.

Cassidy growled at it. “You are a dumb arachnid! Idiota grande!”

“What does that mean?” Yumi asked.

“It means big idiot, and I meant the Tarantula!”

**-With Ulrich and William-**

The embittered rivals were in a stalemate.

Then Ulrich got an idea. _Ulrich, NO!_ Cassidy’s words floated around.

_SHUT UP!_

He crossed his katanas in front of his chest and said, “Triplicate.”

Three Ulrichs were there in a triangular formation around William.

 _Bad idea. Bad, BAD idea,_ Cassidy’s words were a bit wise today.

_SHUT UP!_

William looked around the three. **“Super Smoke!”** He went behind one of the Ulrich clones and smote him where he stood. It killed him off and then the two clones disintegrated afterward.

**-In the scanner room-**

Ulrich almost passed out in the scanner. “I should’ve heard her words.”

He gripped his stomach after he stepped out of the cabin. “Oh…!”

**-Back to the clones-**

Clone-Cassidy and Clone-Jeremie were on their way to the real Jeremie.

They found that the door was shut. The Jeremie clone decided to pry the doors apart with Cassidy clone watching.

**-With Aelita-**

Aelita dove and looped around to avoid the Tarantula lasers. William came up to watch the scene.

She was able to avoid getting shot.

William looked to one of the Tarantulas. **“Go on!”**

Aelita was doing fine when she heard a Tarantula growl. She looked up to find one doing a dive at her. She was caught in the stream.

The Tarantula landed near the vicinity of the tower.

Aelita corrected herself and flew up.

**-With Odd-**

Odd ran through the entrance and to the elevator. He noticed the damage. “They leave an impression wherever they go.”

He ran off to an alternate route.

**-Desert Sector-**

Yumi and Cassidy were trying to square off with the Tarantula. One of the shots the monster fired caused Yumi to lose her fan.

 _“Yumi, Cassidy! Watch out!”_ Jeremie warned.

“We’re doing our best!” Cassidy was about to get fake-tired.

_“You two lost forty life points already.”_

“Sixty’s still enough,” Cassidy nodded.

Yumi flipped and used her only fan to try to get rid of the Tarantula, but missed.

Cassidy shot off a bullet, but missed too.

The Tarantula jumped to meet the both of them. Cassidy looked at it with wide eyes behind her glasses. “Oh my butter sticks!”

Yumi only scowled at the monster then softened her expression as she looked to her friend. “You’ve fought a monster like this before…”

“It’s been a while!”

Then the psychic heard something as she sparked a flash. “Yumi! Your fan! It’s going to kill this monster soon.”

Just as soon as the word soon was uttered, a fan whizzed through the air and sliced the Tarantula’s head. It raised an arm as if in pain and in a victory cry at the same time as it exploded. The two jumped to a lower level and turned as Aelita flew up.

Cassidy smiled. “You go do your best work, Aelita.”

She nodded and flew up to go beat William and the Tarantula Up-Top.

William growled as she whipped around and, charging two separate energy fields, fired at him and it.

He deflected the shot while his “friend” took the blow. Looking behind him, he saw Aelita flying downward inside the crater.

**-Back at the lab-**

The clones had managed to get through. Now their target was in plain sight. The two started to walk towards Jeremie.

“Odd, where are you?” Jeremie called desperately.

Clone-Jeremie and Clone-Cassidy bumped their fists together and made electricity come out of their hands.

“You-who, Jeremie 1 and 2 and Cassidy 2!”

The three looked up, the two clones’ hairs standing up. Odd came!

“BANZAI!” He jumped on the twins. “You two may be their evil twins, but you two fight like lousy twins.” He tried to hit them when their electricity when it burned the stick-end off. He realized it. “It’s not too late to take back what I said, is it?” Odd asked.

The clones started to electrocute Odd.

He involuntarily shot up and hit a top part of the supercomputer’s monitor, crashing down into the Holomap bowl a second or two later.

The clones reached up. Jeremie screamed a little too early when he realized that they were straightening their hair. **(A/N: To which the author is asking, since when does XANA care about his minion’s looks?)**

Then when they were done, the electricity came alive in their hands.

They easily threw Jeremie off, making the chair spin.

**-Back to the Lyoko action-**

Aelita flew around the lasers with no trouble at all.

Cassidy smiled. _Almost like Maximum Ride, except we aren’t hybrids._

The pink-haired girl almost got hit, but easily dodged it, going under the land under the tower.

The Tarantula looked under the land trying to find its target. Aelita charged an energy field. “Energy field!” She fired at the monster. Surprised, it fell off the formation and a second later, exploded.

She flew back from under the land to fly up a few feet.

“Well done!” Yumi yelled.

“Congratulations, Aelita! That took it by surprise!” Cassidy nodded.

She swooped down to the land the tower was on. She was cleared to deactivate the tower.

She landed and entered.

**-Back to Jeremie and Odd’s situation-**

Jeremie recovered a little when he noticed that the clones were standing before him.

They were ready with the electricity.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita rose up to the second platform in the tower.

**-Back to the factory-**

Odd ran up, fully recovered, to his friend’s rescue. “Keep your hands off my buddy!”

He bumped into Jeremie 2 and then Cassidy 2. The two intensified the electricity.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita made it to the second platform and went up to the interface. Placing a hand on the interface, she was ready to deactivate the tower.

AELITA

It blinked three or four times. Then it said

CODE

Aelita typed the code.

LYOKO

“Tower deactivated.”

**-Back to the lab-**

Jeremie was about to get hit by Jeremie 2 and Cassidy 2 when they disappeared.

The genius boy came out of the duck and cover position he was in as Ulrich came up. Odd was slumped against the Holomap bowl.

**-Lyoko-**

The tower turned a whitish-blue.

Yumi and Cassidy smiled. The XANA attack was finished. Now all they had to do was wait until either the return trip or Jeremie to bring them all home.

William jumped from behind and landed. Yumi and Cassidy gasped and turned.

Looking to Yumi, Cassidy said, “Yumi, I hope you can forgive me for this.” She pushed her friend forcefully out of the way.

William slightly touched the back of Cassidy’s neck with his zabanto as soon as the girl turned. That sent shivers down the cat girl’s virtual spine as she spun to face him.

He smiled a small smile.

The girl was gulping in fear. Flashes of memory danced before her eyes. Dating, the kiss, the hug in the forest, the kiss on Lyoko…

_The kiss on Lyoko…_

“Jeremie, William is about to force me into the digital sea!” She repeated the phrase two more times. “SEND THE MAGNIFICENT ODD!” She shrieked.

William didn’t seem fazed by the scream and wielded the zabanto. She almost slipped when a rock stopped her.

“Send Odd!” she prayed in a small voice. “Please, oh, please send Odd.”

 _“Cassidy, I’ll bring you back in!”_ Jeremie informed.

“That’s not going to do any good; the supercomputer is probably fazed by the attack.”

The sword was dangerously close to her neck. She whimpered.

_“Oh, no! It’s not working!”_

“I was afraid of that!”

 _“What do you expect?”_ She heard Odd. _“Everything’s breaking up.”_

“That’s worse!”

 _“That’s bad news!”_ Ulrich was next to be heard.

**-Back to the Lab-**

“Only one thing to do!” Odd walked to the elevator.

**-With Cassidy’s situation-**

Cassidy kept her chin up to keep from being poked by the sword when he took it away. Her eyes widened. “Holy—” She whimpered. William was still at large.

He came closer. Cassidy put up her hands up to her chest though it was useless. She put them down. _W-William, you’re not gonna…_

William gave a small, heavy sound. He ran a finger across her left temple to her cheek and to her chin. _Oh, my, GOD! He did!_

Then he put the same hand on her right cheek. _Do not fall for the charm! Do not fall for the charm! DO NOT FALL FOR THE CHARM!_

Her arms disobeyed her. Her left hand went up to his left arm. _DANG YOU MIXED FEELINGS! LEAVE ME ALONE!_

His right hand pushed her chest and she grabbed William’s arm.

The two fell over the edge, to Yumi’s horror.

“CASSIDY! NO!”

Cassidy screamed too scared to activate her wings.

Someone came on the OverBoard and saved her. Looking up, she saw Odd, in almost exactly the same costume she was. Odd didn’t have the sash. “Odd? Is that you or am I seeing double?”

“You didn’t think I’d let you down, did I?” He looked at William who decided to go back to the digital sea.

“Odd, you did it! You saved her,” Yumi was overjoyed.

Odd rode the board through the crater. “Hey, what do you think of my new outfit, huh?”

Cassidy tried to give him an up and down look but was still a bit shaky about William. “Uh…”

“Yeah, that’s what I think, too!” Odd was a little bit seeing past her.

He got the girl to safety.

**-Lab-**

“Return to the past, now,” Jeremie pressed a key.

**-Back in time in the lab-**

The others were in the factory with Jeremie and Cassidy.

Cassidy was hugging Odd way too tightly. She was shaky over what happened between her and William. Odd understood.

“So there’s no hope of bringing him back right?” Aelita asked after scratching the back of her head a few times.

“Not for the time being.” Jeremie leaned back in his chair.

“Have you got a Plan B?” Yumi leaned on the Holomap bowl.

Jeremie got out of the chair. “Well, we haven’t got any other choice. We’ll have to make a copy of William to replace him at the academy.”

Ulrich crossed his arms from his chest. “Isn’t that a little risky?”

“Yep, but it’s the only way to calm Jim and Delmas.”

“Okay, but don’t ask me to take the copy to the infirmary, okay?” Odd squeaked.

**-At school-**

Odd, Ulrich, Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie waited for Yumi.

“Hopefully William’s copy hasn’t developed any ‘emerging qualities’ like some people I know,” Odd smiled to Cassidy and Jeremie.

The girl blushed. “Did my clone really flirt with Ulrich?”

“Yeah, and it made Yumi really mad,” Odd confessed.

“What a mess!” She imitated him while blushing.

Yumi and the William Clone walked outside.

“From this distance he looks normal,” Aelita looked at them with some hint of mild suspicion.

“But up close?” Ulrich asked Aelita.

**-With William and Yumi-**

The principal walked up to William and Yumi. “Well, Dunbar my boy. I’m glad to see that your fever has broken and you’re feeling well.”

“Uh…did I break anything else?” the clone asked.

Yumi looked concerned.

Delmas took it as a joke. “Don’t forget to keep taking your medicines.”

Yumi laughed nervously.

**-With the younger members-**

“Well, we’re not out of the woods yet!” Odd concluded.

“Not by a long mile,” Cassidy agreed, blush disappearing.

**-Lyoko-**

The tower was green. 


	45. We've Landed TWO Opening Acts Now

**What an opening act, huh? We’ll have more episodes to come.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, the Subdigitals, or the moon. I only own Cassidy.**

**-In the cafeteria-**

Everyone was reading fresh-from-the-press newspapers. Yumi, newspaper-less, walked to her friends’ table. “Hi everybody!” she greeted warmly.

“Hey, Yumi,” Jeremie smiled.

“Snare a seat and sit down, this table’s always open for one more,” Cassidy patted the empty seat between her and Ulrich.

“Thanks, Cassidy,” Yumi nodded and sat.

Ulrich was reading an article on something. “What’s happening, Yumi?”

“Do I need to tell you that there’s actually a little news from the Kadic news this time?” Yumi asked.

Odd roared from across the table. “Don’t tell me you haven’t _heard_?”

Ulrich handed his girl the paper. Yumi read off the headlines. “Scoop of the year…blah, blah, blah, Chris coming to Kadic…blah, blah, blah, too amazing.” She put down the paper. “Chris? Chris who?”

“You’re kidding! Haven’t you ever heard of the Subdigitals?” He turned to her.

“Chris is their drummer,” Odd looked up from his newspaper.

“And he’s going to be here today. Oh…” Cassidy had a spark-flash. “He’s on a mission of some sort. I think I’ll keep this as a surprise.”

“Hey, you guys, cool it! It sounds like a phony scoop,” Yumi sounded skeptical.

Cassidy shook her head with a smile. “It’s a true scoop this time! I feel that this is not going to be phony.”

Jeremie agreed with Yumi. “Yeah, sure does. Just another one of Milly and Tamiya’s dumb stories.”

“Well, Cassidy could be right. It could be for real. It seems that Chris is coming here to visit his uncle,” Aelita read the article.

“You mean that Chris has an uncle who works here?” Yumi seemed piqued.

The pink-haired girl put on a sly smile. “I wonder who that can be.”

Jeremie was a bit appalled at his sweetheart. “You, too, Aelita? How can you believe that stuff?”

**-Under the Arches after lunch-**

Odd kept reading his newspaper while the others walked behind him. Yumi was still a bit curious. “If it is true, who do you think his uncle really is?”

“Fumet…”

“Too strict,” Cassidy gave her opinion.

“…Chardin, Mr. Delmas—not Mr. Delmas. Chris could never be Sissi’s cousin,” Ulrich gave his opinion.

“If she was, she would be shouting it out to anyone willing to listen to her,” Aelita said.

“In fact, she hasn’t said anything about Chris being her cousin. Delmas is out! Definitely,” Cassidy ruled it out.

“What about Rouiller?”

“Huh? Michael Rouiller the custodian? Right, in that case, why not Jim—g” Odd ran into something big.

“Well done, Della Robbia…”

**-Inside Cassidy’s visions-**

_“You can’t go through life like a clumsy cow, Odd.”_

_Jim was talking to Odd like he was in the present._

_“You have to pay attention…”_

**-Slapped to reality-**

“…just as clumsy as ever,” Jim was looking at Odd.

Cassidy looked to Jim confused. Wasn’t he going to say something like a big speech?

“Jim, what a coincidence! We were just talking about you,” Odd smiled.

Jim cocked a brow. “Who me?”

“Uh, yeah, it seems that the Subdigitals drummer is coming to Kadic to visit his uncle and we thought you’d be the first to know,” He smiled.

“Uh, me? Now who gave you an idea like that?” The physical education teacher waved a dismissive hand.

 _Holy cow,_ Cassidy realized something.

Odd slapped his head lightly. “Oh, I must forgot. How stupid of me! That’s not your style of music at all, is it, Jim? You’re more into, like, oldies, huh?”

“Yeah, but wait a second. I also happen to like rock music, and I love the Subdigitals. Those guys are very talented artists, especially my nephew. He’s really great!” Jim checked his nails.

“Hey, I was right! You’re Chris’s uncle!” Odd smiled.

“Holy cow! I had a _feeling_ that Jim’s nephew was Chris!” Cassidy winked to Odd and the others. “I had a feeling” was a code phrase for “I had a vision” to the gang.

“I can’t believe it!”

“Uh…I didn’t say that, did I?” Jim asked.

“Uh-huh. You sure did, Jim!” Odd was excited. He turned to his friends. “That’s what he said, right?”

Jim felt that there was no sugar-coating this one. “Okay, okay, I know Chris is my nephew, but…”

“Wow, now, that’s what I call a sensational scoop.” Odd was very excited.

Cassidy felt that she would keel over laughing in joy.

Jim had to take control. “I’m counting on you all to not tell anybody, especially you, Della Robbia. I don’t want this getting around.”

Odd placed his right fist on the left side of his chest. “I promise not to tell a living soul, Jim.”

 _Boy is he wrong,_ Cassidy thought, cackling at the outcome before it could become the outcome.

The others stared at her.

**-Outcome-**

A crowd of fan girls were chasing after Jim at high speed.

Jim tried denying it. But he learned an important lesson. Never trust Odd with a secret like that.

**-Later, in the auditorium-**

Tamiya flashed a photo from her Polaroid camera.

Jean-Pierre Delmas was at the podium. “My dear Chris, on behalf of the entire staff and student body of Kadic Academy, I would like to wish you a warm welcome. Chris, all yours.” He stood aside to allow Chris to come up to the microphone. He wore a dark red shirt with a bright red logo and had white hair. He also was wearing orange pants with a gray belt and purplish bracelets on each arm. His eyes had a light with them.

Applause erupted from every seat in the Auditorium. Girls screamed, boys clapped and cheered, raising his or her hands in the air and/or standing up.

Chris took it all in stride and put a hand up in an attempt to stem the applause. “Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for this enthusiasm.” The cheers became even louder. “As I guess you already know, I came here to visit my uncle.” Jim smiled in pride. “But there’s another reason as well.”

Cassidy buzzed eagerly with excitement. _This is it! Chris is going to announce his other mission! I can’t wait!_

“The Subdigitals have decided to do a school tour to discover new talent and to develop that talent by giving you guys a chance to be the opening act at our next concert!” Chris announced.

Yumi looked to Odd, Ulrich looked to Aelita, and Cassidy looked to Odd, too. Odd looked back at Yumi and Cassidy, and Aelita looked back at Ulrich. This was the chance of a lifetime.

More applause, cheers, and squeals emanated in the small room.

Tamiya snapped another Polaroid picture.

Chris raised his hand again. “And thanks to the kind authorization of your principal, we’ve organized an audition for this afternoon in your gymnasium.”

The auditorium went wild with applause, cheers, and squeals.

**-Odd and Ulrich’s dorm-**

Odd threw his door open and raced over to his side of the room. Ulrich and Yumi walked in behind him. “Now, where did it go? I’m positive I put it here!” The now-cat-like warrior was getting panicky.

Ulrich smiled slyly. “Since when do you ever actually put any of your things away, Odd?”

Odd was throwing things behind him left and right, but hitting no one. “Ha ha-ha, very funny. You know, you guys could give me a hand.” He turned to them.

Yumi showed a little confusion. “Maybe if you tell us what you’re looking for, maybe we could help.”

The blond-and-purple haired boy went back to his stuff. “My CD demo. Oh…I absolutely have to play it for Chris.”

Yumi spotted something underneath Kiwi’s paw. It was a CD case with a yellow and purple pattern on it. She picked it up. “Well you did put it away, in Kiwi’s drawer.”

Odd took the case from her hand. “Let’s see…” He then saw the hand print on the back and smiled.

 _Thank Yumi first,_ Cassidy’s words found their way to Odd’s head.

“Thanks!” Odd yelled to Yumi excitedly.

She smiled.

Then Odd turned to Kiwi. “And thank you, my adorable little diggity dog!” He petted his doggie and then looked at the CD. “Glory and fame are just around the corner. I hope not too many kids show up.”

They went down to the entrance where they found many kids ready to be the opening act.

“Uh, you were saying,” Ulrich asked his buddy.

Odd’s hopes shrunk.

**-Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy checked their closets. _Where could they be?_

In their room there were a few pairs of thrown shoes. They didn’t hit anyone but they littered the ground.

Then the two girls sparked an idea. Opening a drawer from under their beds, they found a box. Aelita dumped the contents of her box on her bed while Cassidy sorted through hers. Finally, they found the CDs they were looking for.

The pink label on Aelita’s CD was: Aelita’s Remix.

The purple label on Cassidy’s CD was: Cassidy’s Remix.

“There you are…” The two smiled.

Aelita picked up her CD and kissed it. Her chance to shine was right around the corner.

Cassidy hugged her CD as soon as she picked it up. She knew she wasn’t going to win but there was no chance not trying.

They picked up their shoes, put them up, and then turned to walk out the door. Jeremie came in, making Cassidy trip over her own feet. She got up and brushed herself off.

“Oh, Jeremie, it’s you!” Aelita said surprised.

Jeremie had a notepad in his hand. “Yeah, I was thinking, Aelita and Cassidy, that since Delmas cancelled class today, we could make some headway on the program for our new virtual ship.”

Aelita and Cassidy looked back, a bit shamefaced. “Well, we’d like to, but…”

He saw their CDs in their hands. “Oh, no. Come on. Don’t tell me that you two are going to waste your time going to that audition. Imagine what XANA might be plotting on the network even while we’re talking. We gotta find a way to travel there, and I was counting on you, Aelita and Cassidy.”

Cassidy looked like she’d been caught with her pants down, shamefaced and about close to tears.

Aelita put her CD in her pocket as did her roommate. “Alright, we won’t go.”

Jeremie smiled.

**-Back to Odd and his waiting-**

Sissi started flaunting her CD. “Chris has got to choose my demo. He’s got a good ear for talent and then I’ll be the greatest DJ of all time.”

Odd was impatient. “The greatest DJ of all time, huh? What does DJ stand for? Dumb Jerk?”

“Just cool it, Odd,” Sissi turned to him and jabbed her finger in his face. “You’ll eat those words when you see me in a stretch limo!” She turned back.

Odd’s hopes didn’t stop shrinking.

Yumi sensed her friend’s distress. “Odd, don’t worry. You’ll see. Your mix will blow everyone away.”

“Yeah as long as you don’t bust our eardrum,” Ulrich cracked.

“Hey, man, with friends like you, who needs enemies. Thanks for your support, Ulrich,” Odd scolded.

**-With the competitors-**

Mathias had a smooth soothing mix of music. Chris didn’t seem all that amazed or amused.

As soon as Mathias was done, Chris said, “Thank you…Mathias, was it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Next!” He crossed his name off his list.

Sissi was next. “Hello, I’m Sissi Delmas, daughter of Jean-Pierre Delmas, the school principal.”

Chris was getting physically thirsty. Traveling to Kadic left him parched.

“Um…I’m going to play my best track for you. It’s called _I’m Headed for the Stars_.”

“Okay, Sissi. I hope it really takes off for you.”

“You won’t believe your ears Chris,” Sissi put the vinyl disc on the platter.

She put the toning arm on it as it started to play.

It was the worst music audition Chris had ever heard. The pitcher in his hand and the glass on the table broke in agreement.

Hervé and Nicholas clapped for her.

“Thank you, Sissi!” He was not very amused.

She walked off angered.

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi passed her, Hervé, and Nicholas. Odd decided to crack a joke. “Hey, Sissi, your stretch limo have a flat tire?”

“Dork!” Sissi was angered enough.

When Odd was up onstage, he put his CD in the player, then held up a vinyl record. “Uh, hi, my name is Odd Della Robbia. And I think I better explain that my music is a little experimental. Actually, uh, well, a little different. Well anyway, you’re going to love it.”

Chris wasn’t so sure. After Sissi’s performance, he looked as if he’d rather start running than listen.

He cocked a brow.

**-With Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

“See, this is where I’m stumped. I still don’t understand the real nature of the transitional interface between Lyoko and the network even though I’ve gone over and over the flux and…”

Aelita and Cassidy were disinterested, staring vacantly out into space.

“Hey, Aelita, Cassidy, are you two listening?”

Aelita snapped out of it. “Oh, I’m—I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

Jeremie looked over to Cassidy. “And you, Cassidy?”

Cassidy snapped out of it after that. “Whoa, what?”

“Never mind,” Jeremie grumbled a little. He turned back to the computer. “There might be a way. I discovered that we could reconfigure the navigation parameters in relative function to the frequency of the flux…”

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd turned the pitch control down. “And there you go!” He took off the headphones.

Chris was a bit blown away. “Um…well, um…I—”

“Odd! Odd Della Robbia and what you just heard is just a little taste of what I can do. I swear. I’ve got lots of other tracks. Do you want to hear them?” Odd asked.

“Some other time, maybe. Thanks a lot, uh—Odd,” Chris marked his list.

Odd went up and put his CD on the table. He felt shot down. Yumi and Ulrich put arms around their friend as they walked to the exit.

“I was good, wasn’t I?” Odd asked, not a hint of pride in his voice.

“Well…you gave it your best shot, and that’s the main thing,” Yumi comforted.

“One thing’s for sure, you said it was different and you weren’t lying,” Ulrich said.

They passed Jim.

Jim looked to them, and then went over to his nephew. “Well, now, kip, did you find your future star?”

“I’d rather not talk about it, Uncle Jim,” Chris sounded downhearted.

That confused Jim.

**-Back to Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie-**

Beep, beep

Jeremie got a little irritated. “What do you mean system error? Okay, don’t blow your cool, Jeremie. We’ll just shift the polarity of the contact flux and…” he turned to Aelita and Cassidy. “Hand me those figures.” He noticed the two were about-meditated on his bed. “Huh?”

Concerned he asked, “Are you two okay, Aelita and Cassidy?”

The two snapped out of it this time. “Huh? Something wrong?”

“It’s okay; I can finish up on my own. And if you two wanna go, you two can go.”

“Are you sure,” Aelita asked.

“Yeah, I can see what’s holding us up,” Jeremie sounded down.

“Okay, we’re off, then,” Aelita set the laptop off her lap as Cassidy brushed off a piece of paper she didn’t understand. “See you later.”

The two rushed off.

Jeremie felt down but turned to resume his work.

**-With Chris and Jim-**

“It’s not that simple. It’s all part of a promotional operation. If we don’t bring the record company some new talent, they’ll be down on me like a ton of bricks. We already made us change our name,” Chris had put on his sunglasses.

“Don’t worry, my boy. There’s gotta be a youngster around here with a ton of talent,” Jim reassured.

Aelita and Cassidy ran by without them noticing.

Three or four girls surrounded Jim and Chris.

“A few words for the Kadic News?” Milly asked.

“Just one or two questions,” Tamiya told Chris.

“Can I have an autograph, Chris?” Veronica asked.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy burst in to see it was empty in the room except for the turn tables.

“Oh, no. We’re too late,” Aelita said.

“Well, we could play our music anyway,” Cassidy said as a vision flashed in her eyes.

She smacked Cassidy before she could make an earthquake in the gym.

**-Back to Chris and Jim-**

“When’s your next concert?”

“Are you working on a new album?”

“Sign my note book, please?”

Jim had to stem the girls. “Calm down. He can’t answer your questions if you all talk at once. Now let’s try one at a time…”

Music filled the air waves; it was excellent, vibrant, and new. The music flowed into Chris’s ears. It stopped and more music, almost as excellent, vibrant, and new flowed in.

He put his hands up. “Hold on. Quiet down. That’s fantastic. It’s what I’ve been looking for all day today. The same with the second one.”

**-On Lyoko-**

A tower in the Forest Sector turned an ominous shade of red.

**-In the gymnasium-**

Chris walked in. “Hey, I—uh…”

But whoever was there had gone. Not even leaving a trace.

 “Oh, no, I’m too late!” Chris put on his sunglasses again and exited the room.

But little did he or anyone else know that **XANA was on the prowl.**

**A specter came out of the turntable.**

**-At the vending machines-**

“And do you figure that compared to the rest of the candidates, I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting picked? Just thinking of being the opening act for the Subdigitals gives me the chills,” Odd buzzed.

Ulrich looked to him. “Odd, uh, it’s not in the bag just yet.”

Aelita and Cassidy sat behind them, looking tired.

Milly and Tamiya came up to them. “Do you wanna hear a scoop?” Milly asked.

Tamiya was excited. “Chris finally found the opening acts he was looking for!”

Odd was happy. “I knew it. Fame, fortune, and glory are all mine now!”

“Forget about it. Nobody knows who they are, not even Chris.”

Cassidy cheered up and tapped Aelita on the shoulder. “Aelita! Escucha! Hablan de nosotras!” she squeaked in Spanish.

“But how can that be. I haven’t started repeating my name,” Odd said.

“No. It happened after the auditions. All he did was hear the music. He didn’t see the DJs,” Tamiya told him.

“I don’t believe it,” The now-cat-warrior whined.

Aelita and Cassidy realized that it was them that they were talking about!

“He went to see the principal to see if he could find his Cinderella’s, whoever the two boys, two girls, or boy-and-girl are.” Aelita and Cassidy ran passed the three girls and two boys.

Milly was confused. “Huh? What’s the matter with them?”

“Huh, well, when you gotta go, you gotta go, I guess.”

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was working on the virtual ship when the super-scan popped up. “Oh, no! A XANA attack!” He pulled up Ulrich’s number.

 _“Yeah, Jeremie?”_ Ulrich asked.

“The super-scan just picked up an activated tower. We’ve got to get to the factory fast!”

 _“Okay, but Aelita and Cassidy took off and no one knows were they went,”_ Ulrich informed his friend.

“Wait for me under the Arches. I’ll stop by their room first. See you in a few minutes,” Jeremie hung up with his buddy.

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy ran over to find Chris under the Administrative Arches. “There he is!” Cassidy panted.

“Chris,” Aelita cried. “We were looking for you.” She pulled out her CD from her pocket.

Cassidy did the same when her senses wired themselves into a vision. _Wait a minute!_

“We wanted to give you these,” she was surprised when Chris grabbed her wrist.

 _No!_ Cassidy’s thoughts screamed.

Aelita dropped her CD and tried to pull free. Cassidy tried to help, too.

The shades the clone wore showed the eye of XANA.

“You ain’t getting Aelita on _my_ watch, _XANA dork!_ ” Cassidy yelled.

If the situation wasn’t as dire, Aelita would’ve said something along of the lines of, “Good one, Cassidy!”

Then the clone grabbed Cassidy’s wrist with his other hand. The two tried to pull away.

“NO!” Cassidy shrieked loud and clear.

She tried to run when she dropped her CD.

“You won’t get away with this, XANA!”

The XANA sign pulsated and electricity sprang from him into the two girls. Both of them shrieked. Aelita went unconscious first, but Cassidy held fast. She was strong but not stronger than her friend. “You’re not going to get me,” Cassidy’s eyes welled with tears as a hammer-like pain came into her head.

The clone’s eyes flashed and pulsated as more electricity leaped into her. She hissed and shrieked as the realm of unconsciousness drew into her. _No…I…won’t go into…the…digital…sea…_

She sank to the ground, eyes closing.

XANA succeeded.

**-Later-**

Milly and Tamiya were walking when they spotted Chris.

“Chris, I bet you found out who the mystery DJs are. It is—” The cheery demeanor from Milly changed to fear. They gasped as they saw who was on his shoulders: Aelita and Cassidy unconscious.

They recoiled in fear as he walked past them.

**-With Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich-**

_“Hi, leave me a message,”_ Aelita’s voicemail said.

 _"Hola, you've reached Cassidy's cell phone. Leave a message,"_ Cassidy’s voicemail told the gang.

“They’re not picking up!” Yumi concluded.

“They’re not in their room, either,” a voice told them. They looked to see Jeremie coming to them. “We were working together, but they weren’t concentrating. They were more interested in showing their demo to Chris at the audition.”

“Oh, now I understand why they shot off like rockets,” Ulrich put two and two together fast.

“Do you think Aelita and Cassidy are the mystery DJs?” Odd asked.

“Kinda looks like it,” Ulrich said.

Jeremie was confused. “You mind filling me in?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll tell you on the way,” Yumi reassured. She then turned to the samurai and now-cat warriors. “You two go and find them. They might’ve gone to the principal’s office to see Chris. Meet us at the factory.”

Odd and Ulrich nodded.

**-With the clone, Cassidy, and Aelita-**

The Chris clone was walking in the sewer with the two girls on his shoulders.

**-With Yumi and Jeremie-**

Yumi and Jeremie ran passed Milly and Tamiya who were wide-eyed.

They stopped. “You look like you’re in shock. Did Sissi say something intelligent for once?” Yumi asked them.

“Chris has just kidnapped Aelita and Cassidy,” Tamiya said.

“What?” Jeremie was shocked.

“Yeah, we saw him pass by with Aelita and Cassidy on his shoulders. He was totally weird like the mad killer in _Executioner 2_ ,” Milly stood up.

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Tamiya stood up beside Milly.

“Uh…I wouldn’t do that. That was for the—the uh—video! I mean, the new Subdigitals video. They’re doing a new science fiction thing with robots invading the school!” Yumi came up with an excuse on the fly.

Jeremie followed easily. “Right, we ought to go now. We’ve got parts in the next scene they’re shooting.”

Milly and Tamiya were confused as they raced off.

**-With Odd and Ulrich-**

“Yes, Jeremie,” Ulrich was on his cell phone. “Huh? Chris? Okay.”

Ulrich and Odd raced for the office when the now-cat-warrior spotted something on the ground.

“Huh?”

There were two CD cases on the ground. One was labeled Aelita’s Remix and the other was labeled Cassidy’s Remix.

“Hey! Look!” Odd picked up the two CDs. “These have to be Cassidy and Aelita’s demos.”

Ulrich looked in the window. He saw two people outside of the principal’s office. “Odd, look! Chris and Jim!”

“Outside?” Odd asked.

“They walked right into the lion’s den.”

“Aelita and Cassidy aren’t there. Chris must’ve locked them up somewhere.”

Ulrich took a closer look. “That’s weird. He doesn’t look XANAfied, does he?”

Odd turned to his buddy. “Only one way to find out.”

**-With Jim and Chris-**

“Look, kid. There’s nothing to worry about. We’re going to find your DJs,” Jim gave his nephew a little pep talk.

“Chris,” Odd came in. “Check out these CDs; they’re just the ones you’re looking for!”

“Hey, Stern, Della Robbia, cut that out!” Jim told them.

“It’s important Jim!” Ulrich said as Odd made his way to Chris to give the CDs. “Look! We’ve got the demos Chris has been looking for.”

Chris put his sunglasses up on his face to look at the CDs. There was a little struggle as Odd looked into his eyes, not letting go of them.

“What’s wrong? You want an autograph or what?” Chris asked.

Odd saw no eye of XANA and let go of the CD cases. “Oh, sorry, Chris, but I…uh…” He almost had nothing to say.

“Beat it, you two! Scram. And I suggest you watch your step. I’ve got my eye on you. We’ll discuss this later,” Jim said.

The two scrammed out of there.

**-Outside the admin building-**

“I just don’t get it. If he didn’t kidnap Aelita and Cassidy, then it must’ve been…” Odd said.

“A polymorphing specter,” Ulrich and Odd looked to each other.

**-At the factory-**

Clone-Chris carried Aelita and Cassidy to the scanner room. He placed Aelita in one scanner, and then proceeded to place Cassidy in another.

After the unconscious were in their place, the clone ghosted up inside the wiring as the scanner doors closed.

He started two virtualization processes without typing on the computer.

Jeremie and Yumi came up to the lab to see something on the computer. “Huh? What’s going on?” Jeremie panicked when he saw two virtual avatar cards about to get to Lyoko. “Aelita! Cassidy!”

He tried to stop the process. “Oh, too late!” he lamented.

The countdown went to zero.

**-On Lyoko’s Forest Sector-**

Aelita and Cassidy virtualized on the sector and landed unconsciously on the land.

The impact made the two slowly wake up. They stood up and looked around their surroundings. “What are we doing here?” Aelita asked.

Cassidy looked ahead. “Uh! A name starting with W is here with Krabes!”

“How do you know,” Aelita looked to her friend.

“They’re in front of us coming in fast,” Cassidy watched the horizon.

She was right. In front of Aelita and Cassidy were William and two Krabes.

**-Back to Ulrich and Odd-**

Odd and Ulrich were running in the forest when Ulrich’s phone rang. He picked it up. “Yeah, Jeremie, I’m listening.”

**-To Jeremie and Yumi-**

“You can stop looking for Aelita and Cassidy. They’re on Lyoko,” Jeremie said.

**-Odd and Ulrich again-**

“I know. There’s a polymorphing specter on the loose. Okay, we’re on our way. We’re at the secret passage,” Ulrich and Odd stopped.

They were about to open the secret passage when they heard a laugh.

Odd and Ulrich looked to see Jim and Chris there.

“You guys are as easy to track down as caribou in the Great North,” Jim said. “Stay where you are. We have a few questions to ask you.”

Ulrich stood up. “Look, Jim, but we don’t have time. We have to—”

“Well, we happen to be in a hurry, too.” Chris showed Odd the CDs. “Are you the one who put these together?”

“Well, yeah, uh, no. They’re friends of mine—Aelita and Cassidy,” Odd answered.

“What are their last names,” Chris asked.

Ulrich was getting impatient. “What’s the difference? They’re in danger and that’s why we’re in such a big hurry.”

“What do you mean in danger? What’s this all about?”

“Take us to her immediately unless you’d rather settle this in the principal’s office,” Jim commanded.

Odd and Ulrich looked to each other and then back to Jim and Chris.

“Okay, then, come with us, but let me warn you about two things. Try to avoid asking any questions, and get ready for a workout,” Ulrich said.

“Works for me, Stern. There’s no work that I like better than working out,” Jim was easily swayed.

**-In the scanner room-**

“Jeremie, I’m ready,” Yumi said, standing in a scanner.

 _“Okay, here we go,”_ Jeremie said.

The scanner door closed.

_“Scanner, Yumi. Transfer, Yumi. Virtualization.”_

**-On Lyoko-**

William and the two Krabes were now only a few feet in front of Aelita and Cassidy.

The two backed up and Aelita made the first move. “Energy field.”

The field was sliced in two by William’s zabanto. He charged up some smoke in his hand and threw it at both Aelita and Cassidy.

It blinded the both of them a little, even though the latter was wearing glasses.

He concentrated until he heard the sound of fans whizzing through the air. He broke concentration to deflect one of the fans and dodge the other.

He turned around to see Yumi behind the Krabes.

She caught her fans. “You may be possessed by XANA, but you’re still a rookie on Lyoko, William.”

 **“ATTACK!”** William ordered.

The two Krabes turned around and attacked Yumi, firing their lasers at her.

Yumi cart-wheeled and flipped around to try to avoid the fray.

Aelita and Cassidy took it as a signal to run. William was no longer facing them.

Yumi did a back-flip when William looked backward. His targets were running away.

 **“FOLLOW HER!”** William ordered again.

The two Krabes clunked off to follow them.

He watched.

“Hey, William!” Yumi called his attention.

He turned to face her.

She unsheathed her fans, ran out, and threw them.

William deflected the two of them but was unprepared for her kick to his stomach.

He flipped and landed on his feet, sliding backwards a little, then ran over to slice Yumi. She jumped on him with one foot on his head and one foot on his back and pushed him down.

“Jeremie, where are Odd and Ulrich? We’re going to need some backup over here!” Yumi asked.

**-Back at the Lab-**

“They’re on their way. Meanwhile, try to get to the activated tower. It’s bearing south of your position. I’ll bring you up a vehicle,” Jeremie typed on the keys.

Meanwhile, the wires sparkled and cracked with electricity as the clone rematerialized in the lab.

**-On the bridge-**

Ulrich, Odd, Jim, and Chris raced to the factory entrance.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Yumi dodged another two zabanto strikes by flipping.

She threw her fans again, which William deflected, but then caught them while jumping.

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy were running from the Krabes avoiding shots when Cassidy realized they were coming toward an edge.

They stopped near that edge.

The Krabes were not too far off.

“We’ll have to jump,” Cassidy said.

“You read my mind, didn’t you,” Aelita asked as they backed up to get a good running start.

“I—I think so!” The cat-girl was surprised.

The two raced up, jumped, and landed somewhat clumsily on the other side. They were able to regain their balance by using their other foot.

They looked over their shoulder. The two Krabes were a little indecisive about what to do.

Aelita taunted, “What’s wrong ladies? Having a bad leg day?”

Cassidy smiled. “Good one, Aelita.”

Then a laser shot, making the two dodge. They looked around to see another Krabe.

They had to run again.

It followed.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie was typing when he was caught off-guard by the clone grabbing him and throwing him off to the side harshly.

The clone advanced onto him.

**-Back to William and Yumi-**

William was chasing Yumi now.

“Jeremie, where’s that vehicle, huh? The old William was hard to get rid of but this one is a lot worse,” Yumi turned around to face him, flicked out her fans, and threw them.

William was ready to deflect when Yumi used her telekinesis to move the fans away and get him. He was surprised as he was knocked down.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Jeremie was receiving hell when the elevator opened to show Ulrich, Odd, Jim, and Chris. He was thrown to them.

Ulrich, Odd, and Jim exited the elevator first, all three worried for their friend/student.

“Jeremie!” Ulrich cried.

Jim looked to the clone. “What is this place? A mad scientist’s hideout?”

Chris saw his clone. “Who’s that guy over there, a stunt double or a clone?”

“A polymorphing specter,” Ulrich said.

“Yeah, well, specter or not, he’s not getting my autograph,” Chris went up to his clone.

The clone grabbed his shirt and threw him over to one side. He went over to finish him of when Jim came up behind him. “Hey, hands off my nephew, pal!” He grabbed his chest and one of his hands. “Now you’ll see what it’s like to mess with an old Special Forces agent.”

The clone fazed and went behind him.

“Hey! We really need you, Einstein,” Odd was getting a little scared. “So wake up!”

Jeremie got up, rubbed his head, looked at the fray, and said, “Get—get to the scanner room. Aelita—Cassidy—they’re in trouble! Hurry up!”

The clone was about to beat down on Ulrich, Odd, and the resident genius when Chris came up behind him and hit him with a doubled fist. “Hey, what’s going on around here?”

“I told you not to ask any questions,” Ulrich said.

**-With Aelita, Cassidy, and the Krabe-**

Aelita and Cassidy were still running from the pursuing Krabe then found another Krabe in their way.

“Ugh, two against two,” Cassidy shook her head as they swiped a hand over their pendants.

Their wings popped out from behind their backs. They flew away from the chase.

“Thank goodness, now I think the tower is south,” Cassidy said.

They had to avoid the laser fire but then they got hit. The wings disappeared and they fell to the edge. Cassidy looked down. “Oh, HELL!” She hated the digital sea for she had been in it once.

“Jeremie!” Aelita called up to her Savior.

**-Odd and Ulrich-**

Odd and Ulrich were in the scanners.

“All set, Jeremie,” Ulrich said.

 _“Okay, first let me program an OverWing,”_ Jeremie told them.

**-In the Lab-**

Jeremie programmed the vehicle.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

The two girls scrambled to get a hold, but even with one of them having claws, they couldn’t get a grip.

They fell and Cassidy started saying panicked, vehement prayers to God.

They fell on something hard.

**-With the Scanner room-**

_“Transfer, Ulrich, transfer Odd.”_

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy got up.

“Thanks, Jeremie. That was a close one,” Aelita said, putting her hands on the bar.

 _“Move out, girls. Hurry up!”_ Jeremie warned them.

“Alright,” Aelita nodded.

They rode over the Krabes.

_“Virtualization!”_

Odd and Ulrich landed in the middle of the Krabe-fest.

Odd landed _on_ a Krabe. “Hey you little crab cakes. Did you miss us?” He fired three or four laser arrows at it, then flipped off to help Ulrich get the next one.

Ulrich flipped and got on his one. Unsheathing one of his katanas, he  stabbed it in the Eye. “Impact!”

He leaped off as the Krabe exploded. “You can have the last one. Super Sprint!” He ran off.

“Great! I love having seconds!” Odd smiled.

**-Back to the fray in the lab-**

The clone stood up, making Chris turn around.

Jim woke up and saw the action. “I’ll get rid of that imposter now!” He stood up and charged. “No one does that to me and gets away with it! GERONIMO!” He got his nephew.

His nephew protested. “No, Uncle Jim.” But Jim ended up putting him unconscious.

Jim realized his mistake.

Then the clone changed into Jim.

That stunned him.

**-Back to the fray with William and Yumi-**

Yumi back-flipped a few times to avoid slam after slam of the zabanto.

She unsheathed her fans and threw them after him but he deflected them again.

She caught them. Then ran over to a small island-like place with logs to get to the island.

Yumi flipped over and over to get to the middle of the island and William followed. He unleashed some smoke and it got to her. Yumi collapsed on the log.

He came over to her and devirtualized her.

William then eyed the horizon. His XANA enhanced sight showed him that Aelita and Cassidy were almost on the way to the tower.

Ulrich came over soon after. “If you’re trying to get a date with Yumi, I’m not sure that’s the right way.”

**-In the Scanner room-**

Yumi came out with a growl. She was so close.

**-Back to William and Ulrich’s fight-**

The two stared each other down before Ulrich unsheathed his katanas and charged at William.

**-Back to Chris and Jim-**

“You don’t have to be a math genius to know that there is one too many Jims here. It reminds me of the time I fought against hurricane windstorms in Vegas back in ’94! In the third round, I just—” Jim hopped around his clone, ready to fight.

Chris got up, retrieved a pipe, and accidentally hit his uncle.

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry!” Then the clone neared him.

Jeremie was giving those on Lyoko news. “How are you guys doing? We’ve got our hands full here, and if this keeps up, the Subdigitals are going to need a new drummer!”

Chris was backed against the wall with the Jim clone.

**-Back to Odd-**

“We’re doing our best, Einstein,” Odd said.

The Krabe Odd was battling was still in play.

He climbed a tree (“Okay, let’s get down to business!”) and flipped, shooting three arrows at the Krabe. “LASER ARROW!”

He ran off to meet up with Ulrich.

**-With Ulrich-**

Ulrich was still battling William. He dodged, deflected, and tried to slice him as did William.

At one point William’s zabanto was dug into the log.

Ulrich saw his chance to charge at him but ended up failing as William dissolved into smoke and rematerialized to kick him into the island.

He woke up quickly and crossed his katanas just in time to keep William’s zabanto from devirtualizing him.

He used his foot to separate the three and ran to a more spacious part of the isle.

 **“Manta!”** William ordered.

His black Manta obeyed his call and floated up, preventing Ulrich of any escape.

William landed off the log onto the island and Ulrich hopped backward.

Now it was a real duel.

Ulrich kept the zabanto at bay but one of the Manta’s lasers connected with Ulrich’s heel.

It didn’t seem good when…a laser arrow connected with the black Manta and destroyed it.

“Surprise!” Odd yelled, coming in on his OverBoard.

William was distracted. **“Huh?”**

The two broke free while William looked up.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy were near to the tower when a Krabe came in. Aelita stopped the OverWing.

“Leave it to me. I haven’t killed un monstruo in a coon’s age,” Cassidy whispered to Aelita.

Aelita nodded and landed the vehicle.

Cassidy hopped off, raring to fight. “You don’t look so tough.” She grabbed her tube, turned it into a gun, shot a bullet into the laser bulb. She smirked smugly, then jumped on its back and shot the Eye symbol, dodging a few lasers along the way.

Aelita ran in the tower as soon as the Krabe was distracted.

Cassidy was excited. “Finally, a good kill on Lyoko. I missed that part!”

 

Aelita rose to the second platform.

 

**-With the clone and Chris and Jim-**

The clone of Jim grabbed Chris’s neck and electricity sprang from the hand.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita made her way to the interface on the second platform. Placing a hand on the screen, she was ready to deactivate the tower.

AELITA

It blinked three or four times. Then it said

CODE

Aelita typed the code.

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated."

**-Back in the lab-**

The clone went away.

Jim and Chris recovered and looked to each other.

Chris showed a nervous grin.

**-With William, Odd, and Ulrich-**

William looked to see that the tower had gone blue. Then he looked to Ulrich.

“Don’t worry, William. I’ll fight you every step of the way,” Ulrich vowed.

 **“Super Smoke!”** William said as he disappeared.

**-Back to the Lab-**

“Belpois, I want an explanation right now. What is going on? And what in the world is all the equipment for?” Jim demanded.

“I would, but I'm getting tired of explaining it to you, Jim, 'cause in 10 seconds you won't remember any of it anyway,” Jeremie sounded beat.

“Not so fast. First tell me who Aelita and Cassidy are,” Chris held up the CDs to Jeremie’s face.

“Return to the past, now!” Jeremie said.

**-Back to the auditions-**

“I finally figured out what was wrong with my demo,” Odd said. “I didn’t push the second break with a series of scratches. You’ll see, I’ll do a lot better next time.”

Yumi and Ulrich rolled their eyes.

**-With Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy-**

“Well I guess in the end, XANA’s attack ended up giving us another free afternoon to work on our virtual ship,” Jeremie looked over the data, “huh, Aelita and Cassidy.”

“Yep,” Cassidy agreed.

Aelita nodded and gave an affirmative sound.

*knock, knock, knock-knock*

“Come in!” Jeremie cheerily called.

The door opened to reveal Chris. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Aelita Stones and Cassidy McGuire.”

“That’s us!” Cassidy pointed to Aelita and herself and nodded.

“Wow, I’m very glad to meet you two, Aelita and Cassidy. I heard your demos and I think they’re really great. Can we go over to the gym? I would love to hear them live!” Chris showed their CDs.

“Really?” Cassidy’s heart nearly exploded with excitement.

“I’d like to, but um…I’m not sure we can.” Aelita turned to Jeremie.

“Go on, girls. It’s an offer you two can’t refuse,” Jeremie showed them a sign.

“Okay, then let’s go!” Aelita set the laptop off her lap again as did Cassidy with that confusing sheet of paper.

The two ran off. Jeremie showed a happy look on his face.

“By the way, how’d you get a hold of our demos?” Aelita asked Chris.

“Oh, one of your friends gave it to me,” Chris said.

Jeremie was smiling.


	46. And Clone William Wrecks the Room

**Wow. We wrecked this room, huh?**

**Cassidy: Wrecked it? We damaged it at first sight.**

**Me: You’re crazy! But Heaven knows I love you.**

**Cassidy: So when will he come?**

**Me: You just wait.**

**Cassidy: We don’t own Code Lyoko. But she does own me.**

**-Boy’s Bathroom in the morning-**

Odd was brushing his teeth, feeling something on his chest, but it wasn’t a thing. It was something on his mind.

Ulrich walked out of the showers in his light greenish shorts, drying his hair. “You aren’t sick, are you Odd? Usually, you start the day by singing something from the Subdigitals.” **(A/N: Odd didn’t squeal about Paco, so the Subdigitals there you go.)**

“I dreamed about a deadly epidemic that was transmitted by potatoes, meaning there were no more French fries or potatoes for lunch. Do you believe in nightmares like that, huh?”

“Absolutely, but don’t worry. If you ask Einstein nicely, he’ll program you some virtual fries,” Ulrich said.

He turned to face him. “Food is sacred, Ulrich, so no jokes okay?”

“Speaking of Einstein, I wonder where he is.”

Ulrich got dressed and walked to Jeremie’s room. Cassidy met up with him. “You get to wake Jeremie this time.”

The last time she woke Jeremie was when she accidentally deleted the Forest Sector.

They went in to see Jeremie slumped on his keyboard.

With a wink from the brown-haired girl, Ulrich walked up to him. “Hey, Jeremie, forget you had a bed?” He shook his shoulder gently.

Jeremie woke, giving a grunting-sounding yawn. “I spent the night on the recovery program to bring back William.” His voice got to his regular tone. “Hey, what’s the time?” He adjusted his glasses.

“Ten-two. Better hurry. We wouldn’t want to miss the blockbuster math class on Thales’ Theorem, would we?”

Jeremie stretched. “Okay, see you two there!”

Cassidy ran out of the room, detecting something. “ODD! YOU ARE NOT GETTING JEREMIE’S PORTION!”

“OH, YES I AM!”

Ulrich gulped down a chuckle.

 “Anyway I finished the program. As soon as classes are over, we can launch it!” Jeremie rose from his set to stretch some more.

**-Cafeteria-**

Jeremie came up with his tray. “You’re too late. You can’t have seconds today!”

“But—I didn’t even have firsts,” Jeremie protested.

Rosa pointed her spoon at him. “You did, Jeremie. Odd Della Robbia said you gave him your portion.”

That sunk Jeremie’s hopes of getting a meal.

He went to the table with only a glass of water. Cassidy was glaring at Odd.

Ulrich took the time to joke. “Well done. No sleep, no meal—nothing like leading a healthy life.”

He looked to Odd. He turned to him. “What’s wrong? Ulrich told me that you were skipping breakfast. It would’ve been a pity to waste a good meal.” He offered his banana. “You want half of my banana?”

Jeremie put up a hand. “No thanks, I lost my appetite.”

Odd shoved the rest of his banana in his mouth and chewed it.

Aelita barely held back a snicker. “You better not deny that you pig out all the time.”

“It’s not exactly pigging out. It’s more like…a survival instinct,” Odd said, swallowing the banana.

Jeremie was confused. “Huh, survival?”

Cassidy shook her head. “Come on, Odd. You don’t think that going to Lyoko and hoping we keep our life points as survival?”

“I’ve gotta store food reserves in case potatoes get contaminated. Like, in the nightmare I had last night,” He swallowed again.

Aelita and Ulrich laughed until…

“Your attention, please, boys and girls. I have an important announcement to make,” Mr. Delmas said.

Odd buried his face in his hands. “That’s it! My nightmare’s come true! Good-bye, potatoes, forever!” he dreaded.

“This afternoon after class—” (To which Odd groaned as if in mourning) “—you will have the grand opening of the recreation room you’ve all been waiting for.”

Odd realized something. “There’s no epidemic?” He stood up. “LONG LIVE FRENCH FRIES! YAHOO!”

Delmas seemed fazed at first, as were the staff and students, but then continued. “This recreation room for boarding students was designed for relaxation. You’ll have at your disposal a foosball table, in addition to a table for ping pong and a television set.”

Students cheered.

“Alright, quiet down, please,” Delmas tried to calm. “Remember that with privileges come responsibilities, meaning taking care of your rec. room. And that responsibility begins today with the election of a monitor to supervise its use.”

**-Outside the cafeteria-**

Everyone was talking about the rec. room when Yumi walked up. “Hi, everybody.”

“Hey, Yumi!” Cassidy greeted.

“What’s happening?”

“We have to elect a monitor for the new rec. room,” Aelita explained.

Jeremie felt at his computer bag. “Oh, no, I left my computer upstairs. I’ll see you later!”

“It seems to me, that as the principal’s daughter, I’m the most obvious choice,” Sissi said.

“Huh?” said Milly.

“No way! Forget about it. If Sissi’s elected monitor, I think I’d rather go to the study hall. We want a rec. room where we could have a lot of fun,” Odd remarked.

The snob confronted the now-cat warrior. “Oh, yeah! Who would you pick, huh? Yourself?”

“Why not me? You remember I was already elected class rep,” Odd gloated.

Cassidy came in between the two. “Calm down, you two. We are all in this juntos. There’s absolutely no reason to fight.”

It seemed to have worked.

“No one would know you’re our rep! You never seem to have enough time,” Sissi threw that at him.

Cassidy sighed. Odd and Sissi, if given enough time, would probably stage a full-scale war against each other. The only hope would be Sissi’s father.

Yumi came up behind Odd. “She’s right, Odd. XANA’s not going to give you the time to supervise anything.”

Sissi overheard. “It’s none of your business, Yumi. You’re a day student.”

Cassidy growled. “You leave Yumi out of this!” she defended.

“No, and stay out of this, McGuire!” Sissi yelled at her. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“If you insult one of my friends, _it does_ concern me!” Cassidy got a little angry.

“Of course, if Odd is elected, you and your little gang will take over the rec. room.”

Cassidy clenched a fist and started growling some more. A ball of fire settled in her stomach. “You’re getting on my last nerve, Sissi!”

Jim came over. “Okay, what’s going on here? Time to go to class, go on.”

“For one thing, Sissi’s getting on my last nerve,” Cassidy’s eyebrows were slanted.

“But, we’re trying to elect the rec. room monitor, Jim, and we…”

“YOU CALL ALL THIS SCREAMING AND YELLING AN ELECTION? **!** We’re going to do this demographical—” He stammered on the word, trying to say it right.

“Democratic?” Cassidy asked, calming down at last.

“WE’RE GOING TO VOTE, OKAY? **!** ” Jim yelled, scaring the psychic girl. He pointed out the candidates. “You—” He pointed to Odd. “—and you—” He pointed at Sissi. “—and you—” He pointed to Cassidy.

“WHAT? **!** ” Cassidy yelled.

“—over there,” Jim told them.

“But I didn’t want in!” she was appalled.

The three walked over behind him.

“Now, let’s see, Fiquet, le Duc, and Dunbar, over here, too,” Jim ordered.

“I absolutely want out of this election. I—I protest being in this election,” Cassidy tried to get out.

Jim turned to her. “You stay here until the election is over!”

Cassidy sighed and banged her head on the side of the cafeteria. _I do not want to be in this!_

The other three came over. “Uh…is that me?” William asked.

“COME ON! WE HAVEN’T GOT ALL DAY!” Jim yelled. “Now whoever wants to vote for Anaïs Fiquet hands up now!”

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie rushed in and found his laptop.

**-Back to the elections-**

“With two votes more than Elisabeth Delmas, the winner is Dunbar,” Jim went over the numbers.

The clone was confused. “Hm…?”

Sissi looked downright hateful of him.

He cheered. “Ha-ha, I won!” Then he was confused again. “Does anyone know what I won?”

The rest of Team Lyoko was a bit impatient. Things were a bit aggravating since the clone came on. For one thing, Cassidy had to act as if she fell in love with the clone when he was wandering the girls’ dormitory one night.

“And now, everyone, break ranks. I’ll tell the principal who won the election,” Jim walked off.

Milly walked up to the William clone. “William, how about a word for the Kadic news? Some of the  kids think that you were elected because you’re not part of a group. Do you think it was a victory for democracy.”

“Democracies? Who’s he anyway? I thought it was me who won this time,” William clone was confused.

Other students laughed.

Jeremie raced back to his friends. “Hey, what happened?” He whispered.

“A disaster!” Yumi said.

**-Math class-**

“Now then, to sum up Thales’s Theorem…” Mrs. Mayer went on and on.

Jeremie whispered to his friends, “This is a disaster. William’s copy doesn’t have the same personality as the original. He can blend in with a crowd, but alone he sticks out like a sore thumb.”

“Well, at least for now, nobody thinks what he says is stupid. They think he’s like a comedian,” Ulrich paused in his notes.

“Yeah, but they’re bound to get onto him,” Jeremie said.

Aelita and Cassidy eyed them, wanting to join in.

“After school, I better launch the recovery program for bringing back the real William.”

“I hope it works, Jeremie, because the one we have now is about as brilliant as Kiwi,” Ulrich hoped.

Odd took total offense. “Hey, my dog is very, very intelligent, so there!”

Mrs. Mayer turned to Odd. “Odd, do you want to add a corollary to Thales’s Theorem?”

“What color, ma’am? Uh no, my dog doesn’t have fleas. I mean, I don’t have a dog or fleas either!”

The bell rang and students ran out.

Yumi was waiting when Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita came from each direction. “Well, I’ll run over to the factory now, and start the recovery program, and then…”

“I’ll go with you,” Aelita put a hand on Jeremie’s shoulder.

Cassidy nodded. “I’m coming, too.”

“That way we three can all welcome William home, okay?” Aelita smiled.

Jeremie liked that plan. “Yeah, why not?”

“We’ll go to the rec. room so there’ll be three of us to stop his double from doing anything dumb,” Ulrich agreed.

**-Later on-**

William clone tried to turn the key. “Oh, no, the lock is broken.”

Jim was supervising the monitor. “You’re turning the key the wrong way, you chowder head.”

Inside the recreation room was brilliant. A foosball table was perched on the far left side of the room. On the right and inside was a small area was a ping pong table. In between was a benching area with cushioned seats and a coffee table. Several books on shelves and a mini fridge was where the students walked in.

The room impressed the students as they walked in.

“Now, I want you all to behave like adults. And don’t forget, this recreation room is under _your_ responsibility.” Jim spotted the ping pong table. “Whoa, ping pong, my favorite game!”

**-In the factory-**

As the elevator door closed, Aelita got a little enthusiastic and held Jeremie’s hands. “Jeremie, William’s coming back! I just can’t wait!”

He smiled in euphoria. “Uh, me neither.” His voice was shaky.

“And I would like to know why William k-kissed me in Sector 5,” Cassidy was a bit sheepish.

They took the elevator down to the lab.

**-Back with Jim and the ping pong table-**

“Listen, you kids. We’re going to break in this table right now,” Jim demanded. “Okay, Della Robbia, right here! Best of three sets, are you ready?”

Odd was in dread. “Oh, no! How am I going to keep an eye on William?”

“Go on, we’ll handle him,” Ulrich reassured.

Odd walked off.

Heidi Klinger came up to William. “William, could you open the fridge for me?”

The clone was confused.

Yumi cut in. “Hey, don’t waste his time.” She grabbed the keys from him. “A monitor should step back from things like that.”

“Step back? If I do, I’ll bang into the wall,” the clone said.

Yumi lost some of her patience but went to open the mini fridge.

**-In the Lab-**

Jeremie typed on the program while Aelita and Cassidy watched from either side of him.

“Are you going to use the tower of William’s clone?” Aelita asked.

“It seems to be the only way,” Cassidy nodded.

“Yeah, because the original William’s DNA is stored in that tower,” Jeremie said.

**-Back to the rec. room-**

“Ha-ha, twenty to five. Match point!” Jim sent the ball Odd’s way, but the latter missed. “Twenty-one, you lose!” He gloated.

Odd was getting tired.

“I was interstate champion when I was young. Why don’t I tell you why I was called the Killer Racket.”

“Uh, no thanks, Jim,” Odd put his paddle down and walked off. “Maybe some other time.”

He looked up, shrugging as he did so. “For once, I’d rather have talked about it.”

The William clone picked up the ping pong ball.

Jim pointed to him. “Dunbar! Don’t just stand there like a statue. Come on; it’s your turn!”

The clone was very confused but was walking up the way when Yumi grabbed his arm. “Uh, Jim, he can’t play and be monitor at the same time.”

Jim didn’t seem all that convinced.

Ulrich jumped up, pointing a finger in the air as if he wanted to do a move from Paco: the King of Disco. “I’ll play against you, Jim!”

He waved him down. “No, no! I need someone of my caliber.” He turned to the William clone. “Come on! Let’s see how you play, Dunbar.”

**-With Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie-**

Jeremie typed, and then pressed enter. “Here goes!”

**-On Lyoko’s Desert Sector-**

The tower stayed green.

**-With Jim and William’s game-**

William threw the ball up in the air and sent the ball Jim’s way a mite too hard.

The gym teacher ducked. “Dunbar, don’t you know what ping pong’s all about?”

The clone looked confusedly at him. “No.”

That concerned Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd. She looked to the two boys with a sort of groan.

Sissi was watching paid programming on TV.

Hervé and Nicholas were bored of it. “TV shopping, what a drag!” Nicholas complained.

“ _I’ve_ got the remote, so _I_ decide!” Sissi said.

“Why don’t you switch over to one of the science channels, huh, Sissi?” Hervé asked, almost as whiny as a nine year old.

Sissi sounded almost conceding. “Yeah, sure!”

“Really, do you mean that?”

“What do you think nerd?” she growled.

That was a let-down.

**-I’m more interested with what Jeremie, Cassidy, and Aelita are up to at this point than TWACS, so let’s go to there, shall we?-**

The program seemed to be going great when a red (!) showed up on the screen.

“Oh, no, there’s a bug in the program,” Jeremie said.

Cassidy was two seconds away from rubbing her forehead on the ground. “That stupid error. Yo lo odio!”

“You hate it, don’t you,” Aelita said.

“Just as much as I hate XANA.”

“I sure hope it didn’t put the tower offline,” he kept typing.

**-Back to William and Jim’s game-**

“It’s already match point, Dunbar! Try to score one point at least,” Jim said.

Suddenly the clone closed his eyes and started to shake a bit. It only lasted a few seconds, but then, when he opened his eyes. The iris and pupil grew a little. He also had a determined look on his face.

Jim sent the ball his way and he shot it right back with an air of confidence and strength of mind. It bounced back to him a little rough.

He was shocked. “That’s impossible. Beginner’s luck.”

“Killer Racket, was that it, Jim? Oh before I’m finished with you, they’re going to start calling you Clumsy Racket!” the clone backfired. “Ready?”

“Ha! Well, we’ll just see about that,” Jim gloated.

Ulrich saw that. “I’ll bet cha Einstein just tweaked the program!”

Yumi walked toward them. “Anyway we gotta come up with something and right now!”

Odd sparked an idea. “I got an idea!”

“Your serve, Dunbar.”

He walked up to the table just as William was about to serve and faked a huge sneeze.

The ball went to Jim but it never went across to the other side.

“Della Robbia, you trying to distract me or what, you little cheater!” Jim yelled.

William shooed him away with his paddle. “Hey, out of the way, loser!”

The now-cat-warrior walked back over to his buddies.

“I’ll call Jeremie!” Yumi whipped out her cell phone.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Yumi called.

“Yumi, what’s up?” Jeremie asked worriedly.

 _“What’s up with you? He’s worse than ever!”_ Yumi said.

“Let’s just say, eh-heh, that um…there’s a bug in the program,” Cassidy was a little nervous and laugh-y at the same time.

“And in the files in the tower. I don’t know which ones, and it’s impossible to deactivate—” (To which Aelita and Cassidy walked over to the elevator) “—so I can begin all over again.”

“We’ll have to deactivate the program manually. We’re going to Lyoko!” Aelita took charge.

“With William out there?” Jeremie was worried. “It’s too dangerous!”

Cassidy stiffened at the mere mention of her ex’s name.

“The super-scan doesn’t show any XANA attack. Anyway do we have a choice?” The pink-haired girl asked her knight in glasses.

“No, okay, but be careful, ladies,” Jeremie conceded.

The elevator closed as soon as the two girls were in the elevator.

**-Back at the game-**

William and Jim were going at it like lightning.

**-In the scanner room-**

Cassidy’s eyes went white. “Wait, Aelita! I—I detect that something might go wrong!”

Aelita looked back. “Why? What’s going on?”

“William might attack!” An earthquake shook the factory.

_“Cassidy, hold on, let me go down!”_

Jeremie came down the ladder.

Aelita tried to cool her down. “It might not happen, Cassidy. The program might’ve worked.”

Oftentimes, something that might not happen _did_ happen. When Jeremie fought with Cassidy about Aelita, he said that what she was seeing might not happen. It did happen.

He backslapped her across the face. “Snap out of it, please!”

Her brown eyes slammed to the forefront. The earthquake lasted two seconds more, then stopped. “What happened?”

“Another vision,” Jeremie said.

**-We interrupt the scene with another one-**

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd felt something underneath their feet. Odd, on fearful instinct, clung on to Ulrich. “What’s going on, Ulrich?”

“Either Cassidy’s having a vision, or it’s a natural earthquake.”

Just as fast as it came, it stopped.

“Cassidy had a vision.”

**-Back to the show-**

Jeremie went back up the ladder as soon as Cassidy and Aelita went into the scanner.

_“Ready, ladies? Here we go! Transfer, Aelita, Transfer, Cassidy. Scanner, Aelita, Scanner, Cassidy. Virtualization!”_

The two were sent to Lyoko’s Desert Sector.

Once there, they ran to the green tower. About halfway, Cassidy stopped to defend the position.

Aelita bumped into the tower as if it turned into a rock. “Jeremie, Cassidy, what’s going on?”

“The tower doesn’t recognize you, Aelita,” Cassidy neared her again. “This so reminds me of the time we had that staring contest in the Ice Sector.”

 _“It’s too risky, I’ve got to get you two back,”_ Jeremie said.

“No, Jeremie. Then I wouldn’t be able to get back quickly if XANA attacks. Try to debug the tower. We’ll stay here and wait.” Aelita felt around the tower.

 _“I’m not convinced, Aelita,”_ Jeremie said.

**-Back to Jeremie at the Lab-**

Jeremie typed on the debug program when he saw three red dots on the screen. “Oh, no. Aelita. Oh, I told you and Cassidy it was dangerous. You two have visitors!”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Four Tarantulas traipsed on the scene.

“Jeepers! And William is scared of arachnids!” Cassidy rolled her eyes as she and Aelita saw them.

 _“I’m programming you an OverWing!”_ Jeremie said. _“You better take shelter in another tower. Cassidy, defend the best you can.”_

“I defend Aelita every single day, Jeremie. It’s a part of my vow to her that day in Sector 5,” she nodded.

The OverWing appeared in a snap. The two girls hopped on, and started to take off.

They flew over the Tarantulas’ heads.

“Catch us if you can, ladies!” Aelita taunted.

“And don’t let the door hit you where the Megatank should’ve shot you,” Cassidy taunted as well.

The two girls shared a good laugh as they flew away.

The Tarantulas made their way to the tower.

_“Bad news, XANA’s trying to take control of the tower!”_

“We’ll handle the Tarantulas,” Aelita turned the vehicle around.

Cassidy got the first tube from her sash.

The tower was now about to go under attack.

**-Back to Jim and William’s game-**

William screamed and lost concentration on the ball. It went passed him.

“Ha-ha, it’s match point again,” Jim said. “You’re not such a big shot now, huh?”

**-Back at the lab-**

“I haven’t even got a way to transfer energy from Sector 5 to protect the tower,” Jeremie kept typing. “That’s also bugged up.”

 _“We’ll do our best, but I fear that the tower will turn red,”_ Cassidy said.

**-To Lyoko-**

The two girls made their way back to the under-siege tower.

Laser fire took hold immediately.

Aelita charged up an energy field. “Energy field!” Then she tossed it. It missed.

“It’s okay, Aelita,” Cassidy patted her shoulders.

She then fired at one of the Tarantulas. It exploded.

 _“Nice one, Cassidy,”_ Jeremie said.

**-Back to the game-**

The clone was starting to get dizzy as the ball passed him by.

“Finito! Out! Basta! Yours truly, Big Jim the Killer Racket strikes again!” Jim was pleased.

Yumi’s phone rang again. Odd was relieved. “Whew, Einstein saved us in the nick of time.”

She pressed the receive button. An envelope came to her and opened up. The card read an eye of XANA.

“Not quite. To the factory, let’s go,” Yumi said to her friends.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy dodged lasers on the OverWing.

The tower turned dark red.

**-With William clone and the rec. room-**

The clone’s eyes changed into the eye of XANA in a flash.

Just as the three Lyoko Warriors were walking out, William tackled Yumi to the ground and started to strangle her.

Other students watched in horror.

Jim took control immediately. “Dunbar, what’s the matter with you.” He went to remove him but he shoved him back into a bookshelf.

Everyone was shocked and made a mass exodus out of the room.

Yumi was still held down about strangled but tried to fight for her right to live.

Ulrich took hold of a chair and hit him in the back of the neck.

The clone crumpled to the side and to the floor.

She recovered on the ground for a few seconds when Odd came up to her to pull her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get outta here!” He said.

The three fled the room as fast as they could. The XANAfied clone recovered.

“Let’s split up, that way one or two of us will get to the factory,” Yumi said.

“Okay,” Ulrich and Odd said simultaneously.

The three took different directions. Odd took the right direction, Yumi ran straight, and Ulrich took the left direction.

Sissi grabbed Ulrich’s arm. “What’s gotten into William? Why did he turn into Dr. Shrank?”

William was walking out of the building, and then broke into a run to attack.

Ulrich looked. “I’m the one he wants. You’re okay.” He turned to run when he felt himself being pulled back.

“Ulrich, don’t leave me here. I beg you, please,” Sissi cried.

“That’s all I needed. Come on, hurry up!” he pulled her along while the clone chased after them.

**-Back at Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy dodged another few lasers from the Tarantulas on the OverWing. They had to circle around the top of the tower to attack one from behind.

“Energy Field!” Aelita called. The field hit one of the monsters dead center.

It combusted.

She did a little victory call. “Two down. How’s it going, Jeremie?”

_“The tower won’t recognize your ID, Aelita.”_

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie saw four dots on the screen. One of them was fully red.

“Aelita, Cassidy. At 300 meters south from where you are,” he worried.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

“Where?” Aelita said.

Cassidy’s virtual heart jumped. “Holy cow! It’s—that’s—”

 _“William,”_ Jeremie said.

 _Your vision is going to come true. Your vision is coming true,_ her visions said to her.

 _“Yeah, it’s him,”_ Jeremie whispered.

William was being chased by three Krabes. They were gaining ground fast.

He needed to do something fast. So he flipped onto the first Krabe and stabbed it with his zabanto. He kept running after destroying it.

“Fantastic, the program worked. I’ll go help him,” Aelita took off with Cassidy on the vehicle.

 _“No, Aelita and Cassidy wait!”_ Jeremie said. _“I—it could be a trap.”_

“But what if the program really worked? This is our only chance to bring back William,” Aelita said.

_“Well, go on then, but be careful.”_

“Okay!”

**-The Chase-**

Ulrich burst into the dorm room entrance and put a chair up against the door.

“That’ll hold him for a while,” He said as he and Sissi raced up the stairs.

The clone blasted through the door and, growling, chased after them.

**-Park entrance-**

Odd and Yumi rendezvoused to the sewer cap. She looked to him. “Did you see Ulrich?”

He put his hands on his back. “Yeah! He had the copy on his tail.”

“Let’s hurry up!”

They opened the hatch entrance and entered the sewers.

**-Back to the chase-**

Ulrich and Sissi ran to the top floor of the dorm building and to a door. “It’s shut.”

“It’s all over for us.” Sissi was about to bite a nail.

He looked back and saw an opening in the ceiling. “Maybe not!”

**-With Odd and Yumi-**

Odd and Yumi rode their skateboards to the factory, jumping the gap along the way.

**-Back to Ulrich and Sissi-**

Ulrich opened the ceiling and climbed inside. He then turned around. “Give me your hand!”

Sissi did and he pulled her up.

**-With the clone-**

The clone was still rushing after them and found the ladder.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

He ran away from the two Krabes. He kept running until a laser connected to somewhere on the shoulder/armpit area. He fell down and tried to gather his zabanto when the Krabe had him pinned.

It was about to kill him with a white laser from its underside when someone saved him. He looked up to see Aelita and Cassidy on the OverWing.

“Bull’s Eye!” Cassidy complimented.

"’Need a little help?" Aelita asked with a smile.

The two had to avoid the laser fire of the last monster.

This was his chance. He collected his weapon and cut off two of the front legs of the tall monster still standing. It crawled pathetically to him. Running up on it, he stabbed it in an eye symbol, and jumped off.

It rose up a little, but combusted anyway.

Aelita and Cassidy came back as soon as it did.

"You're back at last, that's great," she smiled.

“Oh, no,” Cassidy realized something fast.

He looked to her. "Good to see you again, **Aelita and Cassidy**!"

“That!”

William charged up a smoke.

“Oh, no! Jeremie!” Aelita cried.

It was all a ruse. A false hope to Aelita and Cassidy.

 _“Aelita! Cassidy!”_ Jeremie yelled.

Like a bullet from a gun, he shot the two off their vehicle.

**-Back to the chase-**

Ulrich and Sissi climbed a ladder to the window. Getting desperate, he pounded on the glass.

The weights on the top of the opening to the dorms, burst, and the clone of William came up.

Sissi screamed a little. Ulrich grabbed her hand. “Hurry up!”

**-To the lab-**

The elevator opened up to reveal Odd and Yumi.

“Ulrich’s not with you,” Jeremie asked.

Odd had to answer. “He’s playing the clown with the clone.”

“Rats. Hurry, guys. Get into the scanner room, now!” Jeremie ordered.

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy woke up on the OverWing. Cassidy was on the edge. They looked up to see William commandeering the vehicle.

_“Aelita, Cassidy! Get a move on! If he leads you two into the digital sea, you’ll be virtualized for good. The same as Franz Hopper, your father, Aelita!”_

“Roll off, Cassidy,” Aelita whispered to her.

She was unsure about that. “Mom and Dad taught me not to get out of a moving vehicle.”

“Well, they aren’t here!” She bumped her off the vehicle, then rolled off shortly afterward.

They bounced around on the sandy land until skidding to a stop, almost bumping into each other.

Cassidy coughed for a few seconds. “And that’s why Mom and Dad taught me not to get out of a moving vehicle.”

William looked back.

“No time,” Aelita pointed at William.

The two got to their feet as he turned around on Yumi’s vehicle.

**-Back to the chase-**

The William clone came out of the dust.

Ulrich and Sissi climbed to the top of the roof. The two looked back. “Oh, no, why me?” he almost whined.

He knew he had vertigo and being on the roof was going to agitate it.

**-In the Scanner room-**

Odd and Yumi walked into a scanner.

Jeremie silently virtualized them.

**-On Lyoko-**

Aelita and Cassidy ran for it while William still pursued. Just then a rock formation lifted and Cassidy had to duck to avoid bumping into it.

It was thrown into the OverWing and William was knocked off.

That slowed him down a hair but he Super Smoked in the ground.

They kept running until they saw an OverBoard and a driver to it. “Hop on, Princess and Cat-Girl, and be careful of the closing doors. All aboard!” Odd said.

“Alrighty!” Cassidy’s virtual heart sang with joy.

The two jumped on his vehicle.

William rematerialized from the ground and growled as he saw them get away.

“You sure are a tough customer,” he heard a voice, then turned to see Yumi, using her telekinesis on a rock that she had. She tossed it, but he was a bit quicker. He used his sword to slice it then charged at her.

He nearly smashed her when she cart-wheeled out of the way and kicked him in the back.

William dropped his zabanto and turned around.

**-Back to Ulrich and TWACS-**

“Faster, Ulrich!” Sissi tight-rope walked across the roof while Ulrich crawled.

“I can’t. I—I just can’t.” Ulrich was having his vertigo spell.

The William clone jumped on the roof and started to chase the two on top.

Sissi took off the top shingles and threw them at the clone. “Go away, you monster!”

The first shingle missed him, but the second one hit him straight on the forehead.

Ulrich looked at her. “I’ll hold him here while you escape.”

“I won’t go!” she protested and made her way to him.

The clone watched and charged.

**-Back to Yumi and William-**

Yumi threw her fan at William, but he Super Smoked under her and kicked her in the stomach. She was on the ground in a second.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie typed on the program’s files. “Identification, Aelita.” Pressing the enter key, he hoped it would work.

A red exclamation point popped up.

“Oh, no! Not again! I’m never going to get there!”

**-Back to the action on Lyoko-**

_“Aelita, you’re going to have to wait before you can enter the tower,”_ Jeremie told Aelita who rode with Cassidy and Odd to the red tower.

The Tarantulas began to strike.

“Okay. One for each of us,” she whispered to Odd.

The two girls activated their wings and flew.

“I’m going to see if I can find another monster, or if I can help Yumi in any way,” Cassidy told Aelita as she flew away.

The other girl nodded and flew with the purple-and-blonde boy.

**-Back to the chase-**

Ulrich crawled slowly to Sissi.

“Ulrich, come on!” She hastened.

The William clone was still rushing toward them.

“Too late!” Ulrich said as he looked back.

He got up. “You and me, William!” He said.

The two struggled while Sissi watched. But then William threw him to the gutter. Several shingles kicked up as he fell.

“Ulrich!” She yelled.

He caught the gutter just in time.

The clone advanced.

“Hands off, William. Don’t you touch my Ulrich,” Just as soon as she tried to defend him, she fell too. But she did kick the clone off as she almost fell off the building. Ulrich caught her.

“Sorry to say this Sissi, but you’re not as light as you say you are,” Ulrich said.

The clone landed with a growling thud. He then got up and ran back again.

**-On Lyoko-**

Yumi and William were still fighting when Cassidy flew in. “¿Necesitas ayuda, Yumi?”

The Japanese Lyoko Warrior cart-wheeled out of the way of another smash.

She then twirled and held her fan a few inches from his forehead.

Cassidy aimed her gun as she landed.

William kicked Yumi in the stomach and then Cassidy. The two slid a few yards then jumped to avoid getting hit.

The first girl threw a fan at him but he deflected.

It cut Yumi’s hand and she shook to make the virtual sparks go away.

That distraction proved costly. William took his chance and devirtualized Yumi.

**-Scanner room-**

Yumi came out of the scanner with a small headache.

**-Back to Cassidy-**

Now she was alone with William. She aimed her gun. “You’re not getting me, William, ya hear!”

Her arm shook out of conflicting fear and William could see that.

“I warn you, I don’t wanna do this, but I have ta!” She cocked and shot a shell.

He deflected the shot. **“Your unfailing fear delights XANA.”**

She tried another shot. Her thick-from-costume knees shook. “You—you won’t get me,” she stammered and gulped.

He again repelled her attack.

She fought off every urge to break down and cry to him that they used to date.

He walked over to her. She nearly froze. “Will-William. What are you—”

He stroked her face with his left hand.

Inside her head, an alarm sounded. _Abandon ship. Abandon ship. The horseman is too strong! Retreat, ThunderClan!_

 _“Cassidy, get out of there!”_ Jeremie tried to snap her from her thoughts.

The first thing she needed to do, was getting passed the mental block.

She gulped hard.

William started playing with her hair.

_“Cassidy?”_

Cassidy was getting a lot more frozen.

Then, when she least expected it, he devirtualized her in an instant.

**-In the scanner room-**

Cassidy staggered out as if she had just been kissed for the first time into Yumi.

“What happened?” Yumi asked.

“He—he—he—” She panted.

“He used flirting as a weapon…”

“Y—ye—ye—”

“…and devirtualized you when you were in frozen shock.” She hugged her friend.

**-In the lab-**

“Aelita, Odd, William’s heading straight for you!” Jeremie lost all hope. “It’s all over!”

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Odd and Aelita were trying to get rid of the Tarantulas. “Great. It was already hard enough without William,” Odd got hit by one of them then led it away. “This way, sweetie pie!”

It clunked after him into the rocks. He jumped off and landed on one. He was ready for it. Then he jumped from rock to rock. “You’re going to have to do better than that!”

The Tarantula clunked over, found him, and tried to shoot at Odd, but missed. He got away.

Odd ran behind the rocks and got close to the enemy.

He decided to use the casual approach when the Tarantula was distracted.

“Hey! I bet you can’t climb either!” Odd climbed up a rock and used the opportunity to taunt. “Don’t tell me that you’re not even going to try!”

Suddenly his OverBoard came up from behind him. He had to time this just right, so he jumped, landed on his vehicle, leaped off, launched a laser arrow at the Tarantula, and landed on his vehicle again.

He had to get back so he turned around.

**-Ulrich and Sissi’s cliff hang-**

“Ulrich, you’re going to fall if you don’t let me go. Go on!” Sissi whined.

Ulrich strained to hold on. “Don’t be silly, Sissi. We’re both going to get out of this. You’ll see.”

The William clone jumped up onto the roof.

**-At the Lab-**

“Hurry up, will ya?” Yumi hastened to Jeremie.

Cassidy was sitting in a corner, embarrassed and ashamed that she had gotten flirted with again.

Jeremie worked on the program. It showed a green plus.

“Oh, I did it!” Jeremie said in glee.

Yumi was happy too.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Aelita swooped around to avoid getting hit by lasers. “Bravo, Jeremie. One last thing to take care of and I’m in!”

She charged an energy field and landed to hit it. She succeeded and breathed a relieved sigh when William came up from behind her and hit her with a smoke.

It sent her sprawling on the sandy ground and she came to a skidding stop near the edge of the sector.

**-Back to the lab-**

Yumi, Cassidy, and Jeremie watched in direct horror.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

In a daze, Aelita came to. She looked behind her as the smoke started up in William’s hand.

Aelita was almost stuck when…

“BANZAI!” Odd yelled and rammed his OverBoard into William. Then possessed boy, board, and wildcard boy fell to the ground.

She took the chance to race to the tower.

**-Back to Ulrich and Sissi-**

Ulrich tried to hold onto the gutter.

The clone hovered over him and Sissi.

**-Lyoko-**

Odd shook off the fall then saw William. “Oh, sorry, William. I forgot to put on the brakes.”

William devirtualized Odd then saw Aelita making her way to the tower and going inside.

He growled.

Aelita made her way to the interface on the second platform.

**-With Ulrich and Sissi-**

William was about to pry Ulrich’s hand.

**-Back to the tower-**

Placing a hand on the screen, she was ready to deactivate the tower.

AELITA

It blinked three or four times. Then it said

CODE

Aelita typed the code.

LYOKO

**-Rooftop-**

The clone disappeared.

Ulrich and Sissi looked.

“Ulrich, we’re safe.”

The gutter started to bend.

“I’m not so sure about that!” Ulrich wasn’t too sure.

**-At the lab-**

Jeremie typed on the program.

**-Ulrich-**

The gutter snapped.

**-Back to the lab-**

“Return to the past, NOW!”

**-Ulrich and Sissi-**

Ulrich and Sissi fell.

**-Back to the lab-**

The white light filled in gently and covered all of earth.

**-Back to the cafeteria-**

“It seems to me, that as the principal’s daughter, I’m the most obvious choice,” Sissi said.

“That’s true. That’s a great idea,” Odd clapped for her.

“Huh?”

Ulrich stepped in. “Yeah! We need someone who is unselfish and never thinks about herself, and Sissi really fits that description.”

Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy nodded in agreement.

Sissi was confused. “What are you six up to anyway?”

“It’s unanimous then, huh?” Odd turned to the other students who were confused.

Jim came over. “Okay, what’s going on here? Time to go to class, go on.”

“We know, Jim. We just elected Sissi as monitor of the rec. room,” Ulrich defended.

Jim was confused. “You did. Well, I thought you would choose someone like…Dunbar. Yeah. Right, I can see him!”

The clone was confused. “But how could you not see me? I’m right in front of you.”

Everyone had a laugh. Odd thought his sides would burst. “That William’s such a comedian!”

“He must be the funniest kid at Kadic,” Ulrich and Cassidy agreed.

“Yeah, why?” William clone was confused.

“Forget about it. Come on, let’s go to class,” Yumi said.

As they walked off, Aelita whispered, “Well the copy’s all we got!”

“For now, anyway,” Jeremie said. “Back to Square 1. I’ll bring William back one day!”

They all went back to class.


	47. The Skidbladnir is Born!

**There's going to be a new vehicle in the Lyoko roster.**

**I don't own Code Lyoko. I only own Cassidy. This will be a halves-ys episode, half-episode, half-game.**

**-At the lab at night-**

Jeremie and Aelita were typing. Odd was playing ball with himself. Cassidy was sleeping in a corner far away from the action.

"No, William, not me!" Cassidy whimpered.

Odd stopped playing and went over to her. "Shh…He's not here. It's over," he whispered as he gently rubbed her back.

Almost like a spell, she calmed down.

He made sure she was not dreaming of the incident, and then went back to playing his game.

"Okay, the connecting blocks have all been configured. Now we have to compile the structural intermediate data." Jeremie typed on the supercomputer, and then turned to Aelita. "Did you scan the random distortion components?"

She was typing on his laptop. "It's done!"

"Okay, I'm programming the," something, "vectors to browse the dipolar coordinates."

Odd threw the ball. "Jeremie, how's the virtual submarine going? I can't wait to go on a XANA hunt."

The ball flew passed Jeremie's head. He was able to dodge. "ODD!"

He shushed him. "You don't want to wake up our sleeping beauties and our resident psychic."

Ulrich and Yumi were sleeping, but more closely to where the action was.

"The coordinates have been recognized by the supercomputer," Aelita said.

Jeremie was prideful. "That's great teamwork, huh, Aelita? I couldn't have done it without your help or Cassidy's."

She kept typing. "The programming is complete. Time to launch the construction phase, I'm ready."

"Just a few more seconds and I'll be all set, too."

Yumi woke first and turned to Ulrich. She flinched back with a slight gasp as he yawned.

"William, not the face! God forbid, not the hair!" Cassidy whimpered in her sleep.

She crawled softly to her, cradled her, and whispered calmly, "He's gone. He's not going to flirt with you. It's over. Shh…"

Cassidy calmed down again, but woke up. "I—"

Yumi put a hand up to smooth her hair. "I know. You dreamt of that day."

"I hate that dream," she got up and hugged Yumi.

"I know." She hugged back and slowly but nicely rubbed her friend's back.

"Okay, I'm ready. Now?" Jeremie asked Aelita.

"Yeah, now!" she pressed the enter key and he did, too.

A room popped up on Jeremie's screen.

**-In this new room-**

Five docking mechanisms showed up in this new room.

**-Back to the lab-**

"Hey, what's that room? It's new to me," Yumi walked up with Cassidy.

"It's new to everyone," Jeremie replied.

"Minus me because of my visions," Cassidy was shamefaced.

"Aelita just programmed it into the Core Zone. We'll use it as a kind of hangar for our sub."

Odd came in. "We've gotta christen it, give it a name."

"We don't christen it until construction is over, Odd," Cassidy yawned a bit, feeling some of the aftermath of her nightmare on her.

"Cassidy is right," Jeremie nodded. "But nothing says we can't give it a code name."

"I suggest VS, you know, for virtual sub or virtual ship," She raised her hand up.

"Nah, what about Melanie!" Odd disagreed.

"Melanie? You mean that redhead you're so mad about?" Aelita teased.

Ulrich joined her. "You have a crush on a girl that reminds you of a submarine?"

Odd frowned.

Yumi walked to the elevator. "You know, it's pretty late. Why don't we talk about it while we're walking?"

The construction was on the screen.

**-On the walk-**

"The rest of the calculations should keep working by themselves until the afternoon," Jeremie said.

"By then the atomic layers of the subatomic structure will be complete," Aelita continued.

"At four P.M. sharp, Aelita will launch phase two of the programming operation of the construction of the core. And we're going to have to be on time, because if we're not the kinetic dipolar distortion energy will enter into a dangerous and destructive chromaldynamic sinusoidal phase," Jeremie said after that.

"English, please," Cassidy rubbed her temples.

Aelita smiled. "If we're not in the factory by four…"

"Wait a second, I had a flashback months ago that had me sleeping beside Yumi, and then having Aelita said something close those words," Ulrich was getting excited.

"Yeah, so?" Odd asked.

"It totally makes sense to me now," he yelled.

Cassidy was a bit confused, but then remembered. "Oh…when we all first met and were only short by one member."

"Yeah? And who would that be?" Yumi was curious.

"You, of course. We can't have the Lyoko Warriors without you, Yumi," she smiled. "Five of us or three of us, or two of us just isn't _us_. Us is all six!"

"Right."

Aelita continued again, "If we're not in the factory by four, the core will collapse into itself, kinda like a black hole."

"Uh…are you saying that Melanie will be destroyed?" Odd was scared of that possibility.

"Yeah, it sure will," Jeremie adjusted his glasses. "And it's going to take months before we can reprogram it. Months during which XANA can continue doing his dirty work without any interference from us."

"I can not agree with you more, Jeremie," Cassidy nodded.

"Jeremie and I still have some technical stuff to work on before we go to sleep."

**-This is where the game comes in; the next morning-**

After breakfast, Cassidy spotted Mrs. Hertz. _Hm_ _…_ _I_ _wonder_ _how_ _I_ _did_ _on_ _my_ _last_ _test._

With her friends, she went up to her.

"Leave me alone!" Mrs. Hertz snapped.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Hertz," Aelita asked.

"It's you, you! I can't take it anymore. I haven't slept all week because of you students! You're in my nightmares. I'm all alone in front of you, thousands of you, right there. You're looking at me with your vicious little eyes and your pointy little teeth, like vampires." Mrs. Hertz was not having a good day.

Cassidy nodded. "I've been having nightmares too, most of it pink and purple with a yellowish white center and a bright light as if I was in a movie theater with Pink and purple walls and flooring in zero gravity."

"Hey, me too! I had a nightmare last night, as well," Odd smiled. "Kiwi had turned into a giant and he was flying around the sky dropping poisoned meatballs. And there I was, swimming around in an ocean of fish batter, but I couldn't drown…the stuff was too thick."

"Hmm! Leave me alone!" Mrs. Hertz ordered.

 _Gee,_ _and_ _I_ _couldn_ _'_ _t_ _find_ _out_ _my_ _stinking_ _test_ _grade?_ _That_ _stinks,_ Cassidy almost growled.

They left the teacher and found Tamiya. "Hey, do you know where Sissi is?"

"I think she's in the shower, Tamiya," Cassidy creased a brow. "Why? Is anything wrong?"

Milly walked up. "She's supposed to be in our interview for the day."

"A Day in the Life of Sissi Delmas," Cassidy said the headline out strongly.

"Yeah, but how'd you know…" Tamiya gasped. "Your powers…are they, are they true?"

"No, no, just paying attention after the last issue: A Day in the Life of Maetina de Coullier."

Milly and Tamiya nodded and walked off.

"You know, one of these days, Milly and Tamiya are going to find out about them," Odd told Cassidy.

"Aw, take a walk, Odd!" she whined.

Odd shrugged in a defeated gesture. "Okay."

"Della Robbia," Jim gave Odd the eye and flipped his head back.

He walked over to him. "Yes, Jim?"

"Della Robbia, how's our little secret doing?" Jim asked.

"Oh, well, no problem, Jim. All locked up, and I threw away the key." He smiled. "Nobody will hear a word about Paco: the King of Dis…"

Jim threw a hand over Odd's mouth. "Shhhhh…for God's sake, Della Robbia, not so loud! There are people around. And I don't want news spreading about my acting career."

Hervé saw Ulrich.

"Say, you haven't seen Sissi, by any chance," He asked him. "I did all her homework and have to give it to her before chemistry class."

"No idea," Ulrich smiled.

"Really? Sissi, where are you?" Hervé went off to try and find his love.

"A real slave," Ulrich whispered to Cassidy.

"A real slave _in_ _love_ , Ulrich. He's been crushing on Sissi ever since she probably moved here," Cassidy corrected. "Come on; let's head over to the factory now. Jeremie is probably waiting for us."

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd agreed.

**-At the factory-**

Jeremie was relieved, even though exhausted. "There you are! Finally!"

"Hi Jeremie," Ulrich greeted.

"I hope you have good news," Yumi said.

"It is."

"Spit it out, Einstein. What is it," Odd said.

"Our vehicle is nearly ready," Aelita replied.

Cassidy nodded, even though she looked a bit weak.

"That sporadic nightmare?" Yumi noticed her tired disheveled look.

"It jumped me last night. I swear, it's as if it's a Soc to a freaking Greaser," She growled.

Jeremie came between them. "Stay calm."

"We need to go to Sector 5 to protect VS, right?" She cooled down.

"Get to the scanner room, I'll start the procedure. All five of you are going," he smiled.

**-In Sector 5-**

William was on his way to the new North Pole of the Celestial Dome with the help of his Mantas. Soon he was in the new room. He circled around until he jumped off and landed. **"** **Attack!** **"** he ordered.

The Creepers there looked to each other and did what he said onto the new vehicle.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy were waiting.

Odd and Ulrich went into the scanners first.

" _Are you two ready? Here we go! Transfer, Ulrich, transfer, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich, scanner, Odd. Virtualization."_

Ulrich and Odd were sent to Sector 5.

Just to tease, Odd checked himself. "Two arms, two legs, one head, one tail, all present and accounted for, Einstein."

" _Go protect Melanie!"_

The two ran into the new corridor. _"_ _Keep_ _going_ _until_ _you_ _guys_ _reach_ _the_ _access_ _hall._ _Then_ _take_ _a_ _platform_ _elevator_ _to_ _the_ _hangar._ _"_

When they got there, they were completely amazed. "Wow," Odd said.

The place looked really cool. "Aelita did a fantastic job!"

" _Thanks,_ _"_ Aelita sounded from the lab.

The two ran to the edge of the platform and stopped perfectly. From above, an elevator came down to them.

Odd took a moment to marvel at the magnificent work the three did, then Ulrich said, "Here we go!"

The two walked on. As soon as they were on, the elevator shot upward and whisked the two up to the hangar.

"Jeremie, we're almost at the hangar," Ulrich told him.

" _That's great."_

The two saw the new vehicle.

"You grab William's attention, and I'll handle the Creepers," Odd told the plan.

Ulrich nodded to the plan.

The elevator squeaked and squealed.

As soon as it stopped. It was just Ulrich and William. "Yo, big shot."

William looked to him.

He hopped back twice. "Ya wanna mix it up a little?" He unsheathed two katanas.

The two went to battle, William slicing with his zabanto, and Ulrich dodging.

Odd, on the other hand, was underneath a platform, crawling underneath and onto the other side of the battle. He swung on.

The Creeper looked to him.

"Laser Arrow," Odd yelled.

He got one right on the eye symbol, then jumped back as the two Creepers started to shoot. Then he came right back.

Back with William and Ulrich's battle, the two were going at it like two mad cats on washing day.

Ulrich met an edge and had to use a beam as a balance to stem William.

He sideswiped him and tried to cut him. The armbands on the enemy helped shield the blow. The samurai boy paused a little, but that was a costly mistake. The rival kicked him in the stomach, throwing Ulrich off balance. He flipped back as William got to his feet.

" **Mantas,** **"** ordered the prisoner of XANA.

Three Mantas came into play.

Odd tried to do a number on the Creepers but back-flipped twice. On the second back-flip he saw the monsters coming in.

He recovered. "That's all we needed, XANA's air force."

" _Try_ _to_ _hold_ _them_ _off,_ _"_ Jeremie said.

The Mantas and the two Creepers started to fire upon the poor undeveloped vehicle.

Ulrich tried to duke it out with William. He kicked at him but William bent backward to dodge the blow. He then went back a few feet. Ulrich threw his katana, but William dodged and it skewered into one of the docking mechanisms.

Odd, meanwhile, had gotten rid of a Creeper, and had to swing around and round on a beam to avoid getting hit by the last Creeper.

Meanwhile the fray between Ulrich and William was still going on. As if a scorpion, the zabanto-wielding was poised to strike. But Ulrich managed to dodge and pushed him over the edge.

He flipped up and went to check it out.

Just then, William's Manta (With his owner on it) struck him in the stomach. Ulrich got up to see that he lost one of his four katanas.

"Jeremie, we need backup. We can't go it alone!" Ulrich said.

**-Back in the lab-**

"The submarine shields are getting weaker, Jeremie," Cassidy nodded. "Come on, let the girls help."

**-Back to the battle: Ulrich vs. William-**

William landed on a circular spot of blue and white and readied his zabanto.

He tried to attack, but Ulrich elbowed him in the gut and kicked him in the chest.

William showed a look of menace.

Meanwhile, Odd was still looping around on the pole he was hanging on to until he balanced on another beam and onto the platform in front of another Creeper. One shot was all it took to get rid of it.

"They're just like sitting ducks, uh…sitting Creepers that is!" Odd cracked.

A laser connected to his side, causing him to lie down a little. He looked up and flipped up when he saw one of the Mantas.

He distracted it, hung off the edge of the platform a little but flipped back up and shot at the monster.

He then looked up and shot up at another.

Meanwhile, and seeing that his other katana was still embedded in the docking mechanism's arm, Ulrich sought his chance, jumped up, grabbed his weapon, pushed off, and cut William in the shoulder.

Then William tried to slice him but he blocked with his katana, joined with another from his backpack.

"You're not going to win, William," Ulrich grunted. "You better let your master know!"

 _Epic_ _words,_ _Ulrich._ _Yo_ _no_ _sabía_ _que_ _tú_ _tenías_ _en_ _ti,_ Cassidy's words frolicked around his head.

_SHUT IT!_

William growled.

**-To the lab-**

Cassidy, Aelita, and Yumi made it to the scanner room, waiting.

" _Get_ _ready,_ _only_ _eight_ _minutes_ _to_ _go!_ _"_ Jeremie told the girls.

"Esperé esto por mucho tiempo," Cassidy was ready.

**-To Odd's battle-**

"Come on over here, sweetie. I'm going to need you," Odd beckoned as he jumped on one of the Mantas and fired on the target.

" _Ulrich,_ _Odd,_ _back-up_ _is_ _on_ _the_ _way,_ _"_ Jeremie told them.

"Great! Things were heating up around here," he said as he flew through the air.

The Manta was close. "Oh, no!"

He was hit in the chest and devirtualized.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd came out of the scanner, walked a few paces, and then sat down.

**-Back to the Lyoko battle-**

William panted.

His Manta fired and shot Ulrich's chest. He was about to land a devastating blow when a fan shot through the air and landed on him, making him drop his zabanto.

It came to Yumi.

Ulrich stood up. "It's a pleasure to see you three again, ladies!"

"It's always nice to feel needed isn't it," Yumi smiled.

"The scanners overheated a little, that's why us girls didn't make it," Cassidy nodded. "You okay, Ulrich?"

"I'm fighting your ex, what does it look like?" He scowled a little.

"Hey, you didn't go through a mission getting flirted at," Cassidy was a bit ashamed.

**-Back to the Lab-**

"It's about time. Do you realize it's only five minutes to four," Odd pointed at his watch.

"I know, Odd, I know. Only five minutes to run Melanie's core program," Jeremie kept typing like he had been doing this whole time. "But even more important, all of her protection shields are just about down to zero."

**-Back to the action-**

Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy defended against the only Manta left. Ulrich defended against William.

Ulrich slashed and slashed, but William dodged. At one point he slapped his hand and the katana landed in his grip. There was only one thing left and that was to devirtualize him. He stabbed Ulrich through the stomach.

After, William collected his zabanto and jumped on Melanie/VS's structure.

With a mighty blow, he struck the ship. It sent a shockwave down through the stem.

" _Hurry,_ _ladies,_ _the_ _sub_ _only_ _has_ _7%_ _of_ _its_ _life_ _points_ _left,_ _"_ Jeremie warned.

The laser fired, scattering the three girls. Yumi tried a fan on it, but it dodged. Then Cassidy tried a bullet, but it dodged again. Finally, Aelita tried an energy field that hit the beast dead center. "Energy Field."

"Nice one, Aelita," Cassidy complimented.

" _Yumi,_ _Cassidy,_ _Aelita,_ _the_ _sub_ _shield_ _is_ _almost_ _totally_ _gone._ _One_ _more_ _hit_ _and_ _it_ _'_ _s_ _all_ _over_ _for_ _Melanie!_ _"_ Jeremie said.

Now the Lyoko Warrior girls' attention was directed at William.

Yumi tried with her fans but he deflected them. Cassidy shot twice with her bullets, but he dodged while staying on Melanie/VS.

Then Aelita charged up a huge colossal energy field and fired. "Energy field."

It hit him and he disappeared.

Aelita panted. That one energy field exhausted her.

"Are you okay, Aelita," Cassidy and Yumi worried over their roommate and friend.

Aelita straightened up.

**-With Odd and Jeremie-**

"3:59:45, 46, 47…" Odd counted on his watch.

Jeremie pressed enter. "It's done. The programming for phase two is underway!"

**-Cassidy, Yumi, and Aelita-**

Cassidy, Yumi, and Aelita did a three-person high-five. "YEAH!"

"LO HICIMOS!" Cassidy smiled.

The vehicle re-strengthened its shield. And little mini-pods were added. Two of them looked to have doubled seating.

"Jeremie, our ship is finally completed," Aelita told him.

**-In the elevator-**

Ulrich had a headache as he came out of the elevator into the lab.

He joined Jeremie's other side.

"Wow, close call for Melanie, huh," Odd smiled as did the others.

**-Later…at the Hermitage-**

"But…Melanie's a great name. Why don't we keep it?" Odd asked.

Cassidy gave a short swift shake of her head. "Keep your ex-girlfriend names to yourself or heck; write them up in a novel somewhere."

"It's a nice name for a girl, but not a submarine," Yumi agreed with Cassidy.

"Well, for a ship that's gonna hunt down XANA on the network, we need a name that's got some punch, don't you think?" Jeremie came in. "Like…um…Nautilus for example."

"Hmm…that's pretty original!" Odd sarcastically whipped.

**-With Aelita's father's study-**

The argument was able to go through walls. _"_ _Find_ _a_ _better_ _one,_ _then,_ _"_ Jeremie spat back at Odd.

" _Aelita,_ _are_ _you_ _coming,_ _"_ Ulrich asked.

"Um, I'll be right there," Aelita said.

She swore she could hear a smack and an _"_ _Allow_ _Aelita_ _to_ _take_ _her_ _time,_ _Ulrich._ _That_ _was_ _so_ _un-cool!_ _"_

She picked out the book that she was looking for, and then went to the living room. "My father used to read me this book when I was five."

"Viking Gods and Legends," Jeremie read the title off the spine.

She opened the book to the right page and showed him the story. "Look at that! It was a mythical tall ship that could even sail on land and it always reached its destination, no matter what kind of wind was blowing."

"Does it say in there that the ship could be folded and put into a pocket?" Cassidy asked.

"Yes!" Aelita answered confidently.

"The Skidbladnir?" Jeremie questioned the title.

Odd had a hard time spitting the word out. "What?"

"I really like that name," Yumi inputted.

"Definitely better than Melanie or VS," Cassidy agreed.

Ulrich had to insert his two pennies. "Yeah, I like it, too."

"Okay, our new ship's name is Skidbladnir!" Jeremie smiled.

"Skid. What about Skid, for short?" Odd asked.

Everyone had a right to cheer. "YAY!"


	48. We Take off for that Maiden Voyage

**If everything’s okay, we can head off for that maiden voyage.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but I do own my OC.**

**-Gym class-**

“For those not familiar with the sport, rock climbing is a noble discipline, which can carry you to great heights,” Jim explained. “A good climber commands both mind and body.”

The next two or three sentences was lost on Cassidy. _Oh…kay?_

“And so, don’t forget that by challenging yourselves can you move mountains and, might I add, climb them.” He then pointed to her. “McGuire, get up there. See if you’re up to the challenge.”

The girl was shocked. _He knows I have a fear of heights and haven’t gotten over it!_

Two hands pushed her. “Go on,” Ulrich breathed. “You helped me before, now go!”

She started to sweat but regrettably walked up to the wall. She froze. In competition she was fine, but alone she was a sitting duck crossed with a groundhog that just saw its shadow.

“Come on!” Jim roared. “It can’t be that hard to climb a wall!”

She gulped, grabbing at the grips, and climbed a small ways up the wall. A vein in her neck throbbed. _You’re committing your death, moron,_ her brain scolded.

Odd knew something was up. “Ulrich, you know Cassidy hates to climb that thing. She has heights issues.”

Ulrich looked in shock. “I didn’t know that! Odd, why didn’t you or Cassidy say that to me?” He ran up underneath where Cassidy froze.

Suddenly, a force inside her head threw her off guard. It was as if someone put her in a wind tunnel without any protection. She felt her hands loosen. Her heart tried to keep up. And she fell into Ulrich’s arms.

“McGuire!” Jim yelled.

With some difficulty, Ulrich carried her to his coach. “I’m sorry, Jim. She has heights issues.”

Jim then picked… “Belpois, get up there. See if you’re up to the challenge.”

Jeremie was shocked, but did as Jim said.

“This will be the practical part of today’s lesson.”

He took a moment to look up at the wall.

“Go on,” Jim encouraged.

 _Where was that for Cassidy, huh,_ Odd thought a little growly.

Jeremie started to climb up the wall with difficulty.

“What’s the matter? Pull up with your arms and push up with your legs. Do you have chewing gum for muscles or what?” Jim taunted.

Cassidy woke. “What’s going on, guys?” she asked, confused.

Odd looked to her confused. “Did you black out or something on that wall?”

“I—I think so.” She blushed. “Is something going on?”

Ulrich put her on her feet.

Jeremie froze a little.

Aelita started to pray.

Jeremie kept going until he felt a spot with no grip. He fell off.

“Of course the only exercise you do is clicking your computer mouse and not conquer anything,” Jim taunted when he landed. “Della Robbia, show your buddy how it’s done.”

Jeremie walked off with a sad look on his face. Odd walked by, then looked back as they passed. Aelita tried to give some encouragement, but he was sulky.

Cassidy was still a bit out of it, so she was of no help.

**-Later, at the cafeteria-**

Jeremie was in a bad sulk.

Aelita and the others were swayed by this.

Their clothes changed. Yumi’s apparel was slightly lighter but still mainly black, consisting of a long-sleeved shirt with an extra large neck hole. On one corner of the shirt were three light blue stars. Her pants cut off halfway between her ankles and knees. Her shoes were pinkish reddish sneakers. She also was wearing a reddish bracelet on one wrist.

Ulrich traded in his vest and green shirt-coat with a black shirt and army jacket, his white shoes were replaced with black shoes, and his cargo pants were replaced with blue jeans. It still kept his earth tone style.

Aelita switched to a dark purple dress that came to her knees and light pink quarter-length leggings underneath. Her deep red boots donned some pink puff balls, four on each side.

Jeremie decided to change out his turtleneck with a red long-sleeve shirt, and had brown pants with light blue stripes going down the side of the legs, and dark blue shoes.

Cassidy was wearing a pink shirt with some purple bellbottom pants that she had “borrowed” from Odd (he told her, “Just keep them!”) Strangely they were just her size. (“And I’m both taller than you, Odd, and have no waist.”) She replaced her tiger-striped shoes with pink and blue ones.

Odd’s outfit consisted of a purple hooded sweatshirt with a pink shirt underneath, purple bellbottoms, and dark red-orange shoes.

“It’s no big deal, Jeremie,” Aelita said.

Cassidy was trying to figure out what the hell happened when she was on the wall with Yumi. “One minute I was on the wall, the next I woke up in your novio’s arms. I don’t know what happened.”

“Your powers have been acting weird lately,” Yumi said.

“Yeah, nowadays whenever my powers start acting the rat but don’t white out my eyes, they…I don’t know. One time I remember waking up in the hallway, but no one was around,” she shrugged. “Either it has something to do with my dream that I keep having, or my powers are weakening.”

Suddenly, she growled. “Sissi’s coming.”

As if on cue, Sissi and Hervé came up.

Sissi ditched her heart shirt, headband and pants to put on a pink-like shirt, clips, and blue pants with reddish-purple shoes.

Hervé found himself a striped Tee-Dee sweater vest.

“Well, sourpuss, having a hard time lifting your brain with those string-bean arms?”

Jeremie looked to Cassidy. “Cassidy, do you mind?”

“Don’t have one this time. Odd?” Cassidy asked.

“Aelita, I hate to talk with my mouth full. Would you mind taking over?” Odd turned to Aelita.

Aelita smiled. “Sissi, your head is so full of helium you can float to the top.”

That sent the whole table laughing.

Hervé laughed too. “Sometimes, I wonder if you don’t actually ask for it!”

“Shut up, you dork!” Sissi said, and walked off with a scoff.

“What happened with him?” Yumi asked Ulrich.

“He scaled the rock wall in gym. Cassidy did, too, but blacked out,” Ulrich informed.

She almost laughed. “Okay, enough said.”

“I don't believe it. I can't be that bad in every single sport,” Jeremie sounded down.

Aelita tried to soothe. “Of course not. Actually, no, you really are lame at anything athletic.”

Her knight in glasses glared at her a little.

“Anyway, who cares? You can’t be a champion at everything,” Aelita consoled.

Cassidy nodded in agreement.

“Come on, Einstein, stop sulking. Listen, if you want, we can try scaling the wall together,” Odd said with a mouth full of food.

Jeremie felt even more down. “Do you think I have time for that monkey business? I have too much work to do.”

Yumi nodded her agreement. “That’s for sure; you, Cassidy, and Aelita spend all of your time shut up in that computer lab. What are you three working on?”

“We’re ironing out the final kinks on the Skid,” Aelita answered, glass in hand.

“You’re still on that. I thought it was done,” Ulrich was amazed.

“Ulrich, traveling through the network isn’t exactly taking a stroll through Lyoko,” Jeremie reprimanded.

Cassidy nearly fell asleep on her hands.

“That’s it! You’re going home with me tonight!” Yumi ordered the exhausted girl.

“And plus the digital sea is a complete mystery!” Jeremie continued. “For all we know, the Skid could disintegrate during its first dive.”

Odd still had a mouthful of food. “Well, that’s reassuring.” He then noticed Jeremie didn’t touch his food. “You going to eat that?”

“Go ahead,” was the dry reply.

Cassidy had finished her lunch early.

Odd pulled the tray towards him. “Cool!”

“You know, Jeremie, we’re going to have to test it out one day if we want to take on XANA,” Yumi smiled.

Delmas was trying to talk. “I said quiet down.”

There was some elevated chatter.

“Quiet, I said!” he tried again.

“Mr. Delmas said quiet down, and that means now!” Jim ordered.

It quieted the whole room.

“Ahem, thank you, Jim,” Mr. Delmas said.

“It’s no problem, Delmas. Always glad to help,” Jim smiled on.

“Yes of course,” Delmas noted. “In case you have forgotten, let me remind you that today is FSRP Day…”

The two also donned new outfits.

Jim lost his jacket and now had a sweater with Kadic’s K on the left chest and gray sweatpants with red lines along the sides and waistband.

Mr. Delmas found himself a yellow-orange jacket that covered a greenish sweater. He also donned brown pants.

“…which stands for Fire Safety, Risk, and Prevention, so all afternoon classes have been canceled.”

 _Wait a minute. My grandfather from my mother’s side is a firefighter,_ Cassidy thought.

There was a roar of applause.

“And so as I was saying, children, your classes have been canceled, but part of this time will be devoted to a complete building evacuation exercise. This drill is designed to make absolutely certain that you are familiar with our security procedures--procedures you will need to know by heart. It goes without saying that all access to the buildings will be prohibited during the exercise. Therefore…” Mr. Delmas said.

“Yumi’s right, ya know,” Aelita said. “We better make a trial run in the Skid just to see how it works.”

Jeremie wasn’t as convinced. “Yeah but I don’t know if we’re ready yet.”

“We have to try it out before XANA gets even more powerful,” Ulrich said.

“…Thank you for your attention.”

Aelita smiled.

Cassidy looked half-exhausted, but nodded.

Jeremie saw that there was no other option. “Okay. We’ll take advantage of the safety drill to get over to the computer lab.”

“Way to go, Jeremie,” Aelita said.

“Yeah, cool,” Ulrich smiled, as did Odd.

“Listen up! This is only a trial run to check out the launch procedures,” Jeremie ordered.

“Relax, we’ll just dive, test it, and come back,” Odd smiled.

**-In the Lab a few minutes later-**

Jeremie showed a piece of paper with a diagram on it. “As we all know, Lyoko is made up of five sectors…”

“Forest, Mountain, Ice, Desert, and Sector 5,” Cassidy inputted, blinking a little.

“These sectors are actually located in the center of some sort of giant hollow sphere. Imagine an enormous virtual bubble suspended by a sort of liquid element. This liquid element is the World Information Network.”

“And the digital sea?” Yumi asked.

Cassidy cringed. Harsh memories of the day she fell and several close calls swarmed around her head.

“The digital sea is apart of the network,” Aelita smiled. “It’s a kind of overflow that is accessible through this sort of floodgate. XANA goes through this floodgate to attack us on Lyoko and the Skid will use this very same gate to get us out.”

Ulrich showed an angry determined look. “And once we’re off Lyoko, what then?”

“Well, imagine you’ll be in some kind of immense network of tunnels, but I don’t have enough data to tell you exactly what you’ll find.” Jeremie smiled. “It’ll be a surprise.”

“That’s fabulous,” Odd smiled; his roommate’s elbow rested on his shoulder. “I love surprises. Well, what are we waiting for?”

Cassidy nodded, smiling a little.

He started to walk off.

“Hang on, Odd. I haven’t even explained about configuring the parameters of the engines or the procedure of transferring virtual mass, or—or,” Jeremie panicked.

“Don’t bother,” he said confidently as he punched in the code to the elevator (7130√51). “We’ll work it out as we go along. Nothing like hands-on experience.”

The elevator opened up as the five started to walk to it.

“But—”

Aelita cut in. “Jeremie, don’t worry. I’ll be there with them.” She walked with them, waving a small good-bye.

Jeremie was worried, regardless of his sweetheart’s good-natured “don’t worry”.

The five went down to the scanner room.

 _“You there yet? I’ll start up the process,”_ Jeremie said when they were all there.

Ulrich and Odd bowed. “Ladies first,” Ulrich told them.

Cassidy staggered into her scanner.

Odd took concern for her. “Are you sure you want to go with us? There might be another time.”

She nodded. “Nightmare or no nightmare, I want to go for this one.”

The doors closed.

_“Transfer, Aelita, transfer, Yumi, transfer, Cassidy. Scanner, Aelita, scanner, Yumi, scanner, Cassidy. Virtualization.”_

The three were sent to Sector 5. Cassidy felt instantly better. “There we go. I don’t know why but I always feel better when I go to Lyoko.”

“It’s okay, Jeremie, it’s all quiet here,” Yumi assured.

_“Virtualization.”_

Odd and Ulrich dropped in.

 _“Your elevator’s waiting,”_ Jeremie said.

They went to the access hall and paused for a little bit.

Aelita took the lead, and the others followed until she came to a stop. The elevator dropped down for them and stopped. All five walked on. Cassidy couldn’t stop reverberating with excitement. _Our first Skidbladnir trip,_ her thoughts repeated.

“It’s beautiful, huh?” Yumi whispered to Ulrich.

“Fantastic,” Ulrich breathed with a smile.

“Einstein, we made it to the Skid hangar,” Odd said. “Now what do we do?”

The elevator stopped when it reached the top. The five started to run off.

_“Each of you, get on a teleport spot, one of you will have to share a double pod.”_

Cassidy raised her hand. “I’ll share with Yumi, if that’s okay with you.”

Yumi smiled. “It’s okay.”

The five were on a teleport spot.

Odd was curious. “Well, who’s driving?”

Aelita turned to him. “I am, of course.”

**-Back at the lab-**

Jeremie typed on the keys. “Are you guys ready? Energize!”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Bright, white columns flashed up from the teleport spots.

Aelita energized into the captain’s hub. She looked around while grabbing two thrusters. “Wow, it’s working, Jeremie. Everything’s in place, according to plan.”

Typing on a pad at her left, she said, “Opening interface.”

Three blue screens popped up for her. “Cockpit to NavSkids, do you copy?”

“Loud and clear, Aelita,” Yumi and Cassidy chorused.

“Loud and clear, Aelita,” Ulrich came in shortly after.

“Me, too. This is cool. It's like being in a spaceship,” Odd was very awed.

Ulrich came in with this warning, “Yeah, but be careful, Odd. This isn't Galactic Invaders.”

“Yeah, yeah. You're just jealous because I wiped out three times as many aliens as you did last night,” Odd smarted.

“Because you cheated, as usual,” Ulrich smarted back.

Cassidy and Yumi were in the middle-top NavSkid, overhearing it all. “This is definitely the reason why I don’t think they should be paired up in a double,” the former grumbled to the latter.

 _“Okay, if you guys are done blabbering, maybe we can get on with the job,”_ Jeremie warned warmly.

“Standing by, Jeremie,” Aelita said.

_“Okay, now. Get ready for lift-off. Releasing supports.”_

The support lights went off and released.

Aelita pressed a red button on her left and grasped the thruster. “We have ignition, powering vertical.”

On the outside on the wings of the Skidbladnir, four little engines went from the side to the top of a sort of C. Virtual fire shot down from both.

Inside the cockpit, Aelita took a deep breath. “For you, Daddy. Lift-off!”

The Skid shot up through the North Pole.

 _“All indicators are go; you guys are cleared for leaving Sector 5,”_ Jeremie told them.

“Roger,” Aelita said.

The Skid made a sweep around the Dome.

 _“Tunnel open in two seconds,”_ Jeremie told them.

Aelita smiled when it did and moved the left thruster to make it go to the direction. Then she moved both of them forward to go through the tunnel. Soon, they were several feet above the digital sea.

“It’s working, Jeremie, our Skid is working!” Aelita celebrated.

“Great!” Yumi cheered.

**-Back in the lab-**

_“Nice work, Einstein,”_ Odd said.

Jeremie opened his can of soda proudly.

 _“Great job, Aelita,”_ Ulrich praised.

 _“We did a wonderful job,”_ Cassidy smiled.

He took a victory sip from the can.

“Good, the test was a success. Aelita, you all set to turn it around and go back into dry dock?” Jeremie asked.

 _“What? No way,”_ Ulrich protested.

 _“Hey, Einstein, I thought that we were supposed to test this thing,”_ Odd said.

“Yeah, well, that’s what we did. We just finished a dry run,” Jeremie told them.

 _“A test of the digital sea,”_ Ulrich protested again. _“Otherwise what’s the point?”_

**-In the cockpit of the Skidbladnir-**

Aelita agreed. “They’re right, Jeremie. If we just stay up here in the sky on Lyoko, it isn’t much of a trial run. Don’t you want to see what the network looks like?”

**-Back in the lab-**

Jeremie looked at the can of soda in concern and let out a groan. “I feel like I’m going to regret this, but okay. Get ready to dive into the digital sea. Five minutes maximum!”

**-In the Skid-**

Odd let out a cheer. “Yeah!”

Cassidy came in after. “I knew we would get to look into the digital sea.”

Aelita punched in something on the mini-keyboard on her left. “Okay, then. Shields, activated. Sonar, activated. Stabilizers, online and checked out. Primary access, clear. Laser generators, online.” She grasped the left thruster again. “Cockpit to NavSkids, ready for a dive?”

Ulrich nodded. “Ready.”

“Ready,” confirmed Yumi.

“Lista, Aelita,” Cassidy smiled.

“Anytime, Princess,” Odd agreed.

**-Back in the lab-**

Jeremie gritted his teeth.

**-Back to the Skid-**

“Here we go!”

The Skid dove to the digital sea, hovered for a moment, and then went in.

**-Back in the lab-**

“Base lab to Skid. Do you read me?” Jeremie asked. When there was no answer he tried again. “Lab calling Skid. Aelita, come in, answer, please!”

He crushed his can in worry. Did he send all of his friends, one of whom a dangerous psychic, and his sweetheart, to their doom?

A few minutes later…

_“Skid to Base Lab.”_

Jeremie relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. They were alive!

 _“Jeremie, we’re in the digital sea,”_ Aelita said.

“That’s what I wanted to hear, Aelita,” Jeremie smiled. “I nearly had a heart attack waiting. But I’m okay now.”

**-With the Skid-**

The Skid went through the gate into the digital sea. It was a gorgeous bluish gray.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie pressed a key. “Holoweb system, online.”

**-Back to the Skid-**

_“Well, what does the network look like?”_ Jeremie asked.

Aelita took in the sights. “It’s—it’s beautiful! I’m sending you a visual, Jeremie.”

She typed on the mini-keyboard.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

The visual showed up. It was a brilliant blue sea with a few blue-looking hubs.

“Wow,” he whispered in amazement.

 _“Yeah, you said it, Einstein,”_ Odd agreed.

**-Back to the Skid-**

In the cockpit of the Skid, Aelita said, “Rotation,” and pulled a lever on her right.

Outside of the sub, the main body of the ship turned from vertical to horizontal.

**-Back to the lab-**

“Aelita, engage the turbo prop and auxiliary engines to break clear of Lyoko’s gravity field, okay,” Jeremie said.

**-Back to Skid-**

“Right, whatever you say. Turbo propeller, engaged.” She pressed the center button and then the three surrounding ones.

The propeller drove the Skid out of the gravity zone. And so, the exploration began.

Everyone was in awe of the beautiful cobalt sea, even Cassidy.

“So much beautiful in person,” she whispered to Yumi.

Odd was looking very amazed at all the interfaces and the beauty of it all.

**-Back to the genius at the lab-**

Jeremie set down his soda can after taking a drink from it. “Okay, that’s it, you guys. Head for home.”

Odd was first to protest. _“Aw…can’t we stay here a little longer?”_

“I said five minutes, Odd. Aelita…”

_“Roger, Jeremie. Turning around.”_

**-Back to the Skid-**

Aelita pressed the red button again and pulled a lever. “Starboard propulsion, engaged. Bearing 160.”

The sub turned around to go back to Lyoko.

**-Back to the Lab-**

Jeremie was typing on the keys when several (!)’s showed up on his screens. That spooked him. “What’s going on around here? Aelita, I don’t know why but I seem to have lost all trace of you on my radar. It could be a transmission problem. Can you check it out?” He was getting worried.

**-In the Cockpit-**

Aelita typed on the mini-keyboard and saw two red areas near the cockpit and engine. “Jeremie, the navigation system doesn’t respond. There’s a bug into it.

**-In the Lab-**

Jeremie re-crushed his can in panic. “This can’t be. Without a navigation system, you’ll never find your way back to Lyoko. You’ll be stuck, floating on the network until you use up all the Skid’s power reserves.”

 _“And then what?”_ Yumi asked.

 _“I’m fearing the worst on this one,”_ Cassidy fretted.

“Once the virtual energy is exhausted, the Skid will break up and you’ll all end up in the digital sea for good,” Jeremie started to fret.

 _“WHAT?”_ Cassidy yelled, fear rising in her voice.

He cringed. He knew that she hated the digital sea.

**-Back to the Cockpit-**

“Eternal virtualization, like my father,” Aelita whispered in a rueful voice.

 _“Well, that’s just great,”_ Ulrich sounded from his NavSkid.

In Odd’s NavSkid, Odd was a little worried. “By the way, Einstein, I hope you got a solution because I didn’t bring my bathing suit.”

“I didn’t survive all the way for this,” Cassidy muttered to herself quaking in her virtual paws.

 _“Yeah well, to get you guys out of there, I have to debug the system,”_ Jeremie told them. _“Except that there are several million codes to crack—by then you’ll all be in the drink—unless…”_

Ulrich was about to yell. “Unless what?”

_“I’ve got subprograms that just might debug and repair the system. But I’ll have to get them from my room.”_

“Why didn’t Cassidy get them this time?” Odd asked.

“Weak power,” Cassidy was ashamed and scared at the same time.

_“And so, I’ll have to leave you guys on your own for just a little moment.”_

“Oh, that’s cool Einstein,” he shook his head. “You couldn’t bring this stuff with you?”

 _“Hey, I wasn’t the one who insisted on doing this trial run, Odd! So just cool it, if you don’t mind!”_ There was a snap in Jeremie’s voice.

“If only I brought the disc, this wouldn’t be a problem,” Cassidy was shaking in the double pod.

In the cockpit, Aelita had grabbed both thrusters again. “It won’t help to get all worked up. Hurry and get your CD-ROM. We’ll wait here.”

_“Okay, I’ll be right back. Whatever you do, don’t move from there.”_

“Very funny!” Odd snapped.

“Odd, cool it,” Cassidy sighed.

A few minutes later, the structures came into Odd’s fancy. “Weird, it looks like an upside-down city.”

“If you ask me, all these buildings are the networks interconnected databases,” Aelita gave her opinion, and then had an idea. “Okay, why don’t we turn on some light?” She tapped at purplish tabs.

After the tabs were tapped, the lights kicked on, one each on the wings and one on the front.

“Better, gracias, Aelita,” Cassidy smiled.

“De nada,” she replied.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie pushed off the sewer cap, climbed out, replaced it, and started running for the school when…

“Belpois, what do you think you’re doing here? Why aren’t you with all of the other kids in the schoolyard, huh?” Jim ran up to him.

He looked behind the gym teacher then realized, “Darn it. Fire Safety Day. I forgot all about it, too, just my luck.” He saw the fire engines and the officials.

“Go on, hurry up. If the principal sees you here, he’s going to ring my bell.”

“Yeah, but, I need to get something from my room. It’ll just take a second.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. You were all warned this morning, and a warning in hand is worth two in the…bush league. Beat it,” Jim pointed.

Jeremie walked a little ways while Jim walked the other way. But Jeremie Belpois was no quitter. Once he saw him go behind the corner, he ran past the gym teacher and firemen.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I fought forest fires?” Jim asked.

**-Back to the Skid-**

The Skid went past another hub.

“Hey, do you think we’ll be able to see the light of day?” Odd asked as if it was a bright subject.

Cassidy gulped. “Odd, that kinda talk puts me over the hinge, you know!”

Aelita shook her head. “Don’t worry, Odd. Jeremie will find a way to fix it, I’m sure.”

The sea turned red.

“By the way, has anybody noticed a change in the light?” Yumi asked.

Cassidy raised her hand. “I think that means that XANA will be on the prowl.”

“Yumi is right. That’s strange,” Aelita noted.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie had gotten to the Arches when he saw Mr. Delmas walk down the way.

He hid, but nothing was too big for him.

He looked to his right. The dorms were wide open. He smiled and ran straight in, racing up the stairs, into the boys’ dorms. He saw Mr. Fumet reading.

“Another teacher standing guard? What is this, Fort Knox?” he whispered to himself. Then he hid again when the history teacher’s head turned his way, but turned back to his book. “Well, there isn’t any other way.” He peeked from behind the corner then ran across the hall.

**-Back to the Skid-**

Ulrich noticed something. “Hey, you guys see that dark thing up there?”

Up ahead, there was a dark sphere.

“Yes, I’ll shut the lights to get a better view,” Aelita tapped off the lights.

“Aelita, you think that’s Lyoko?” Yumi asked, a bit worried.

“I don’t know but whatever it is, its gravity is pulling us towards it.”

The Skid was driving toward the dark sphere.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie opened the window to the roof and climbed out. Wind kicked up his hair as he looked down and then to the side. Around the corner was the hall near to his room. “This is _not_ going to be a piece of cake,” he muttered to himself. “Okay, let’s do it!” He got on his hands and feet and climbed to the top of the roof. After he reached the top, he put a leg around the other side.

Letting out a breath, he tried to balance on the roof by standing. He flailed a little before carefully catching his balance and tightrope-walking across the edge. Keeping his toes facing away from each other, he was able to make it to the corner. When he looked down his vision shifted and blurred even with his needed glasses on.

He closed his eyes and focused on the task at hand. Jeremie went around the corner and tried to get his foot on the next top. He had to jump, so he did, and landed precisely on the top. He let out a sigh of relief and carried on with his mission. The method of keeping his toes facing away didn’t last long as he nearly fell, but he grabbed the tile just in time.

**-Back to the Skid-**

“I would like to see that paper-pusher Einstein’s face when he figures out that we didn’t need his help to come back in,” Odd sighed.

“Hey, Jeremie isn’t too bad,” Cassidy defended.

“Yeah, it’s nice to be back on Lyoko,” Ulrich agreed with him.

“But it’s not Lyoko,” Aelita looked at it.

“Huh? What?”

“Aelita tiene razón,” Cassidy nodded.

“It’s not Lyoko!” Aelita shook her head. “Hang on now!” She hit a button. “Retro-brakes!” Then she pressed a button and pulled back on the thrusters.

The Skid turned away from the Lyoko copy and drove away.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie was still hanging onto the tile, but he, kicking all the while, pulled himself up. “Who said climbing can take you to great heights,” he muttered with fear in his voice.

After hoisting himself to safety, Jeremie rested a bit. “Guess I should monkey around more often.” He sat back up and scooted along the tiles to an open window. He slid down to the window, catching himself, just in case he fell, and finally, climbed the ladder down to the attic. But there was no time to think about the fact that he was now safe. He raced to the hatch, opened it, and climbed it down to the boys’ dorm floor. He checked to see if the coast was clear then, seeing as so, ran over to his room, and retrieved the disc from his desk.

**-Back to the Skid-**

“There’s something else up ahead,” Yumi noted.

Indeed there was something up ahead. Two eel-like creatures were there.

“Hey look! It’s Ugly and Uglier,” Ulrich joked. “They look like some sort of eels.”

Odd agreed. “I never met an eel I didn’t like.”

The two eel creatures looked at the Skid.

“Head’s up, I’m breaking off,” Aelita dodged the lasers that came from the creatures’ eyes.

“I’ve seen spiked heels, but spiked eels? Never!” Odd shivered.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie raced down the stairs and outside the dorm building. A fireman spotted him. “Hey. HEY!”

“Sorry! Got my own fire to put out,” Jeremie ran off.

**-Back to the Action-**

The Skidbladnir dodged another few lasers that came from the eel creatures’ eyes.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie made it to the park and opened up the cover. He had to hurry fast.

**-Back to the Skid-**

Aelita was doing the best she could to get her friends out of there.

She took it up and dove down fast.

“Holy cow, Aelita. Be careful or you'll get us all killed. Who taught you how to pilot?” Odd was getting worried.

“You did, Odd,” Aelita reminded.

“Oh.”

“And you are also the one that taught me to use the OverBoard, Odd,” Cassidy reminded.

She spun it around to avoid the lasers which caused everyone to scream.

“Aelita, we’ll never make it against these monsters,” Yumi fretted.

“I know! We’re nearly out of energy. The Skid could disintegrate at any moment if Jeremie doesn’t get back soon,” Aelita was worried.

“I don’t want to go back into the drink, Aelita,” Cassidy shook.

**-Jeremie-**

Jeremie made it to the lab and sat back into his chair. He inserted the disc and replaced the communicator in his ear. “Okay, Aelita, I’m here in the computer lab. How are you holding up.”

 _“We’re in big trouble, Jeremie. XANA’s attacking us with some kind of fish. Some kind of moray or conger eels. Have you started up the debugging program?”_ Aelita asked.

“Yes, but you’re burning up too much power, and if this continues, you guys will be gone before the debugging is done,” Jeremie fretted. “We have to buy some time.”

_“Okay, but how?”_

“Get those congers off your tail.”

 _“Hey!”_ Cassidy sounded a small hinge offended.

“Sorry, Cassidy. And launch the NavSkids,” Jeremie ordered.

**-Back to the Skid-**

“What? We’re going to fight them one-on-one?” Odd asked.

“Does Jeremie need to program and draw you a picture?” Cassidy would’ve elbowed Odd if she was near him.

 _“Exactly, Odd. Just like in_ Galactic Invaders _!”_ Jeremie affirmed.

Odd gripped a thruster and a lever. “Okay, bring her on!”

“Are you all set? NavSkids away!” She pulled down three of four little levers.

The NavSkids released and went after the eel-creatures.

“Hey these are more maneuverable than the OverBoards. Gangway!”  Odd whooped.

The fun began.

_“Now, be very careful. If you get hit, it means you will be lost at sea.”_

Cassidy hated to hear that.

“Gotcha, Einstein,” Odd nodded. Then he targeted one of the monsters. “Fire torpedoes.”

The torpedoes almost hit their target, but the monster dodged. “Unbelievable. It’s up to you, ladies.”

“They’re tough customers,” Yumi commented.

“I told them the steak was out today,” Cassidy snickered.

“You said it,” Odd passed them.

“Yumi, Cassidy, behind you,” Ulrich warned.

The two turned the NavSkid around. Yumi targeted one of them. “Okay, come and get us!” she growled. She pressed a button on the first thruster. “NOW!”

The torpedoes hit one. “Got it!”

There left one eel creature.

“Nice one, Yumi. You get better and better.”

“Maybe, but not good enough,” Yumi smiled.

 _“Be careful. Don’t forget that the NavSkid’s autonomy is limited,”_ Jeremie warned.

“We’ll do what we can, Jeremie, but these monsters are hard to hit,” Yumi told him.

_“Well, don’t try to work any miracles.”_

“It’s miraculous that my powers didn’t devastate the school by now,” Cassidy shook her head.

_“Just keep them away from the Skid.”_

“Right,” Ulrich promised.

The eel was about to get the Skid but Ulrich distracted it. “Hey, fish freak. Looking for some more bait?”

The eel creature followed him around until…

“This time, I lost him,” Ulrich breathed a sigh of relief.

 _“The program is debugged. I’m sending your coordinates. Get out of there and fast,”_ Jeremie told them.

“NavSkids in,” Aelita told them.

Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy worked their way back and attached themselves back into the Skid.

Ulrich came back and attached himself back in, too.

Two congers came into the area.

“Maximum Propulsion,” Aelita commanded, pressing on the white buttons.

The Skid got away.

_“Trial Run’s over guys. Back to dry dock.”_

**-Later-**

“I would never have thought that the World Information Network is a real live ocean,” Jeremie turned around in his chair.

Cassidy felt better.

“Yeah, with fish and everything,” Odd smiled. “Big ones, too.”

Aelita closed her eyes. “To think my father’s on the network somewhere.”

“Something tells me he escaped but I don’t really know,” Cassidy tried to help.

“Yeah, and so is William,” Yumi mourned a little.

Cassidy cringed visibly when her ex’s name was mentioned.

“That huge sphere we saw, what was that anyway?” Ulrich asked.

“Another virtual world just like Lyoko. A replica that XANA must’ve created from the data that he stole from Aelita,” Jeremie assumed. “I really wonder what he’s thinking of doing with it.”

“We’ll go and explore it,” Ulrich vowed.

Odd and the others smiled.

“Yeah!”

“Right, but not tonight. The only thing I feel like exploring is my bed. I’m wiped out,” Jeremie stretched as he got out of his chair.

“You’re wiped out from sitting on your cushy chair? How’d you think we should feel then?” Odd smiled.

Jeremie smiled. “Odd, if I told you what I was doing while you were on the network, you’d never believe me.”

Odd looked to Cassidy. “Should I guess or should you?”

She smiled. “It’s your call, Odd. Not mine.”

“Let me take a wild guess, okay? You did a little rock climbing on the dormitory roof,” Odd smiled.

Cassidy started chuckling.

“Huh? But how’d ya know that?” Jeremie asked.

That shocked the whole room besides Cassidy. But then everyone started laughing.

“You know Einstein. You’re really hilarious when you want to be, even when you don’t want to be!” Odd cackled.


	49. Lyoko Meets a Crash Course

**This is turning into a fine training session.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy.**

**-Underneath the Arches-**

It was a fine day at Kadic. Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy assumed their positions underneath the arches.  Aelita leaned against a post, Cassidy sat down, Ulrich leaned back against the wall, and Yumi stood by him.

“Hey, Odd oughtta be here already. We were supposed to play foosball,” Ulrich checked his watch.

“You know Odd, something probably came up at the last second,” Yumi crossed her arms across her chest.

He smiled slyly. “I’ll bet he’s afraid to show up. If I know Odd, he’s hiding somewhere because he knows I’ll beat him.”

Cassidy laughed. “I think you should listen to Aelita, Ulrich.”

Aelita looked and scoffed with a light laugh. “If you ask me, it might just be that redhead with braids.”

Far off, the four could see that Odd was talking to a red-haired girl with braids in her hair.

“Poor Odd,” Cassidy sighed, pitying her used-to-be boyfriend. “He’s been hit by too many of Eros’s foil love arrows. Somehow I fear that he’ll be hit by a few more of those.”

“Well, what do you know? Our ladies’ man is at it again,” Ulrich smiled.

**-Later in the rec. room-**

Sissi was on the computer for some weird reason. Christophe and Mathias played ping-pong.

Meanwhile, Ulrich took a sip of his soda, Cassidy sat next to Aelita, and Yumi sat on the couch. The third latter took a sip after the former.

Then Odd came in the room, happy as a clam, walked to his buddies and sat on the couch. “Ah…ya know, life isn’t bad at all.” He leaned back and put his hands behind his spiky head, putting his feet up in the process.

“You say that as if you just contemplated suicide,” Cassidy frowned suddenly.

“What is it?” Aelita asked.

She looked to her roommate. “It’s—nothing, just had a bad vibe, that’s all.”

Aelita nodded. If Cassidy had a bad vibe, it was best to leave her alone. Then she turned to Odd. “I didn’t know that you split up with Melanie, Odd.”

“Who’s she? Oh, yeah Melanie, right. Well—uh…she wasn’t very…uh…she was just a little too—uh—well, actually a lot more—well, ya see what I mean?” Odd asked.

Cassidy was lost in the crazy sentence her friend came up with. “Um…no?”

“No,” Aelita was lost too.

“What I see, Odd, is that you collect girlfriends the way other people collect stamps,” Ulrich pointed to him around his soda can.

“Hey, I tell you it’s for real, this time.” Odd put his hand up.

“Eros probably tricked you, Odd,” Cassidy winked. “His arrows are flimsy and foil.”

“Believe me, Camille, she’s it, she’s the One. She’s so funny, sensitive, and really cool, too.”

“Yeah, just like all the girls you fall for,” Ulrich quirked.

“Hey!” Cassidy took total offense to that one. “Ulrich, I was once his girl!”

Ulrich nearly choked on his soda but swallowed at the last moment.

“Yeah maybe, but Camille has something special the others don’t. Well, she’s crazy about dogs,” Odd dropped the bombshell.

Ulrich choked for real this time.

Then some laughter arose.

Cassidy stood up. “Hey! I happen to like dogs, too, and I dated Odd, too!”

That stopped them.

“Come on, Cassidy, what’s gotten you all riled up,” Yumi asked, concerned. When Cassidy was this sensitive, something was up.

Cassidy sat down. She knew when she was caught. “It’s my nightmares. I keep having them and they’re all the same. And Ulrich’s making me enojada with his quirks. I mean, I was once Odd’s girl—”

“I’m right here, ya know,” Odd was a little sensitive.

“—I was once your girl, Odd. And I like dogs. No one made fun of Odd and me once because of those two things, Yumi. Not Aelita, not even Ulrich or Jeremie, and not you. So why make fun of Odd and Camille—of which I’m happy for, Odd—and not make fun of Odd and me when we were dating?”

Ulrich thought on it. “You got a point there.”

“We’re very sorry, Cassidy,” Yumi sympathized.

“Just think of this when Odd goes out with another girl that likes dogs like me or Camille.”

Odd blushed. “What’s so funny anyway?”

“That makes all the difference in the world?” Yumi asked Odd.

“Yeah, and this afternoon, we’re going to the movies together,” he defended his honor brilliantly.

“To see what? _Wheelchair Zombie 4_ or _Snorkel Combat 2_?” Ulrich asked.

“No way, those days are over. We’re going to see something real romantic and intellectual. The picture’s called Petals of Desire,” He nodded.

More laughter arose.

 _Can I ever win?_ Cassidy thought shaking her head.

“The problem with you guys besides Cassidy is that you have no sense of romance and no intellect,” Odd defended.

“Speaking of intellect, has anyone seen Jeremie?” Ulrich asked.

Aelita answered. “Oh, he went back to his room. I think he’s still got a few big problems.”

**-Later on-**

“The only problem I have is our friend XANA. Do you remember the last few times he attacked?” Jeremie asked.

Cassidy shuddered. “I will never forget the tire attack. Too much rubber.”

“What happened with the tires?” Aelita asked.

She blushed. “N-nothing. Nothing at all!”

“Which one? The one with the trees or at the swimming pool?” Odd asked.

“Odd, we agreed not to bring up that day at the pool, right?” Ulrich looked to his roommate sternly.

Aelita was curious. “Why? What happened at the swimming pool, huh?”

Ulrich and Yumi blushed. “Uh, nothing.” He tried to keep from doing so.

“Nothing at all!” she whispered a little.

“Whatever, I meant _all_ the attacks that XANA has launched recently, okay? Haven’t you noticed what the target has been,” Jeremie asked.

“Well, yeah. Us!” Odd raised his hands up.

“But the target has recently changed to Aelita, Jeremie, and me—Jeremie and Aelita, I kinda understand, but _me?_ It’s a mystery made in XANA,” Cassidy shook her head.

“And Aelita and I are the only ones who can use the supercomputer, and Cassidy can use it some but has no knowledge of it,” Jeremie kept everybody focused.

“That’s because the technical stuff gives me a Megatank-sized headache,” she rubbed her forehead.

“Come on, we’ve all done it!” Ulrich protested a little.

“Following our instructions on the phone. What would happen if Aelita, Cassidy, and I weren’t around to give you guys any help? XANA wins hands down! Which is why I’m giving you a crash course on using the supercomputer this afternoon,” Jeremie walked down to his door.

“What? No way! Count me out. I’m going to the movies!” Odd led the protest charge.

“And I’ve got a test to study for,” Yumi crossed her arms across her chest.

Ulrich came in. “And I’ve got Pencak Silat practice.”

Those protests almost angered Jeremie a little. “If you guys think you have got better things to do, I can’t force you to come. But then don’t expect us to gain ground on XANA.”

Yumi grumbled a little. Jeremie was right, as usual, but she had homework. “You’re right, but some days it’s not easy being heroes.”

“And there have been times where I want to stop fighting XANA, but I have to keep myself going,” Cassidy shook her head. “I made a vow. And I have to live up to that.”

“Now listen, we’ll meet up at the computer lab after lunch and if you pick it up quickly, it’ll be over in a couple of hours, okay,” Jeremie walked back to his computer.

“Yeah, okay,” Odd said as he, Yumi, and Ulrich stood up and left the room.

Cassidy and Aelita stayed behind.

Jeremie sat down and got to work on his computer.

“Uh…Jeremie, we—we can’t make it this afternoon,” Aelita said on behalf of both of the girls.

Cassidy showed a sheepish smile.

“Huh?” He stopped in his work and turned to the two. “Why not?”

The psychic girl took in a deep breath and said, “Remember when Chris came to Kadic and held that DJ contest. Well uh, to-today’s the final round of tryouts. Aelita and I, we’re like the third and fourth contestants of the Triwizard Tournament.”

“That’s impossible,” Jeremie protested.

“I hate to be that bearer of bad news, but it’s possible,” she was nervous.

“What if something happens to me while you two are gone?” He was worried.

Aelita had to calm him down. “That’s no problem. While you’re teaching them how to run the supercomputer we’ll keep our phones on. If XANA attacks, we’ll be back in no time.” She smiled that special, little smile that made his heart melt every time.

He relaxed a little. “Okay, you’re right. I worry too much…”

“You aren’t alone, Jeremie,” Cassidy reassured.

“…go on. I can manage without you two.”

“Thanks, Jeremie,” Aelita said, and gave her knight in glasses a kiss on the cheek.

He blushed in pride.

Then Cassidy gave him a friendly hug.

**-Under the Arches-**

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd walked, disappointed in the ruination of their plans. “So much for my training session. Great!” Ulrich grumbled.

“What about me? I’m going to flunk another exam for sure,” she feared.

Odd came in. “That’s nothing. If you think you’ve got it bad, huh, how am I going to tell Camille that _Petals of Desire_ is out for today?”

The samurai warrior smiled. “Think about it, Odd. You’re better off. You don’t have to pay all that money just to sleep through two hours of a film.”

“It’s better than sleeping through a class given by our own friend Einstein.”

**-Lab-**

“Okay, to start off, we’re going to go through a little bit of theory,” Jeremie pulled out leaflets of notes and handed them off to Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi. “I printed you guys out a small list of basic functions, to prepare you for—”

“Hey, wait a minute, Einstein,” Odd interrupted, taking his list. “Wouldn’t it be easier if we just skip ahead to the practical side? You tell us which button to push and presto.”

“Odd, working the supercomputer isn’t like fooling around on a game console. Before I can trust you with the controls, I want to be sure you know this thing inside out.”

The three showed looks of confusion and surprise.

“Will you all relax? You see, guys, the theoretical stuff is actually a lot of fun,” Jeremie sat down in his cushy chair.

Ulrich leaned back against a wall. “Right, it’s going to be a million laughs.”

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy made it to the Subdigitals studio. The two were a bit nervous.

“Eyes on the prize, Aelita,” Aelita told herself.

“It kinda does feel like one of us—I don’t know whom—is the fourth Triwizard Tournament winner here. Two from Kadic, one each from Lincoln Junior High and Lionel Junior High. This time it’s three ladies, and one lad.”

They walked up to the door. Aelita opened it to reveal Chris.

“Aelita, Cassidy, hello. I’m glad that you two could make it,” Chris greeted, and then led the girls inside. “Let me introduce you to everyone. You two already know Nick and Benoit, my partners.” He gestured to two men. The first, Ben, was black haired, had a black shirt, blue jean pants, brown, and had a beard/mustache combination. He was setting up an amplifier. Nick was thinner than Ben, but had golden brown hair, a red shirt covered by green vest-coat, blue pants and black and yellow shoes.

They nodded their greetings to the two girls.

Chris turned their attention to… “Sophie, who holds the purse strings.”

A strawberry blond woman with purple square-rimmed glasses, a purple and pink shirt under a burgundy red button overcoat, and blue pants that had to be held up by a belt, greeted the two. “Hello, Aelita and Cassidy.”

Then the attention turned to… “And that big bear in his cage is Simon, our sound engineer.”

Inside the sound effects room, a bulky man with dark brown hair, a brown shirt under a blue jeans jacket, and a beard, waved at the two.

Then Chris introduced the contestants to Aelita and Cassidy. “And this is Mattie—” pronounced mate-E—“And Elise, who are the other contestants for this final audition.”

A teenage boy with short, dark blue hair and periwinkle framed glasses, a white-collared shirt and a blue tie, a purple bracelet on his left wrist, a dark grey pair of pants, and blue tennis shoes was sitting on the couch. A girl with teal hair in pigtails, a black leather jacket over indigo T-shirt, red pants with a pink belt, and black shoes was the first to greet the two girls.

“Hi,” Aelita smiled.

  **-With Jeremie’s class in session-**

“And so if we export the virtual memory in the B-block inertial matrix we can reconfigure the transfer files. This will delay the alignment of the quantum two-bits,” Jeremie lectured. “I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. Any questions?”

Odd was sleeping, and Ulrich and Yumi were very much confused.

“Yeah, I got one. How do you expect for us to remember all this blah, blah junk?”

“If you guys were a little more attentive, you would’ve been able to understand it.”

“Ulrich’s right, Jeremie. Stop trying to teach us everything you know. Just show us how to do some practical stuff like materializing us on Lyoko or programming up the vehicles,” Yumi was spot on.

Jeremie saw that there was no other option. “Okay, fine. We may as well get to the practical end.”

Odd woke up. “Are we there yet?”

**-Back to Aelita, Cassidy, Mattie, and Elise-**

Mattie was working his magic on the board. The music had a very driving beat.

Aelita and Cassidy were very nervous and looked over inside the sound effects room, where the band was listening to the music.

“Aelita whatever happens, we must promise to still be friends,” Cassidy breathed into her ear.

“Promise.”

Then Mattie turned the music off and took off the headset.

“Okay, Mattie, nice one.”

He placed the phones on the turntable.

 _That was a very good beat,_ Cassidy thought. _Aelita has a good chance—oh what am I saying? Aelita will win and I know it. But there’s no use in throwing in the towel._

**-In the Scanner Room-**

The elevator opened and Odd walked into a scanner. “And make sure you hit the right button. I’m ready Ulrich. But I don’t want to end up there with four arms and three legs.

**­-In the Lab-**

“Uh, okay. Um…T-Tran-transfer, Odd,” Ulrich was unsure. “Is that it?” He turned to Jeremie who gave him a nod. He typed on the keys. “Transfer, Odd!” He pressed the enter key.

**-Scanner Room-**

The doors closed on Odd.

**-In the Lab-**

“Scanner, Odd.” The image on the computer screen filled in full. “And…uh, virtualization.”

After…Odd’s virtual card jumped up onscreen.

 _“Ahh! You turned me into a garden gnome!”_ Odd yelled.

There was a stir of panic.

Ulrich was filled with regret. “Oh, no!”

**-In the Ice Sector-**

“Relax, just kidding,” Odd almost cackled. “Everything’s cool here.”

**-Back at the Lab-**

Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie relaxed.

“Not so bad for a beginner, huh?” Ulrich asked.

“Yeah, not bad. You were confused for a second, and almost hit the wrong button, Mr. I Don’t Need Any Theory!”

He got annoyed. “Ah, you’re never satisfied; did I get him to Lyoko, yes or no?”

“Yes, because I was here with you! And you weren’t even under the stress of a XANA attack.”

The super-scan picked up an **activated tower.**

Jeremie instantly panicked. “Give me my seat back!”

Ulrich did so and his friend typed on the keys. “Activated tower in the Mountain Sector. Head for the scanners. Hurry up.”

Before either Ulrich or Yumi could move, a black smoke slithered down from the pipes of the ceiling to the ground, taking on the form of a man with brown hair, sunglasses, and a black suit.

**-We interrupt this scene with Cassidy and Aelita’s contest-**

It was still the first round of tryouts. Aelita was mixing the music so well.

A deadly shiver took hold of Cassidy. “No,” she whispered so quietly no one could hear it.

Elise looked to her competitor in concern. “Are you okay, Cassidy, was it?”

“Jeremie,” Cassidy whispered, and this time she heard it.

“Are you alright?”

She snapped out of it. “What?” Then she realized who she was talking to. “Oh, I sometimes have a bad vibe about something that may not happen.” It was a total lie, but it was enough. Inside, Cassidy thought, _I sometimes have a bad vibe about something that does happen._ “Nothing too serious to get all worked up about, right?”

Elise nodded with a smile, and then went on to listen to Aelita’s music.

 _That was close,_ Cassidy was relieved. _One small slip and you would’ve disqualified Aelita and yourself out of this contest. Way to keep the rhino in the bag._

**-Back to the show-**

The man stood up in his brown shoes. At first, the clone seemed nothing of note, albeit a tower was activated.

Ulrich ran up to him. “Leave him to me!” He jumped, and with a martial arts cry, kicked at him.

The clone caught the kick and threw him down to the floor. Then, seeing his work was done, he walked over to the wires, picked one up, and pulled it apart.

Jeremie got out of his seat. “Hey!”

Before the genius had time to react, the clone sprang on him and forced him to the Holomap bowl.

Yumi was frightened by this. “Jeremie!”

The clone positioned the open sparking end of the wire.

Yumi watched in horror as the deed was done. “Jeremie!”

Jeremie slowly and unconsciously fell to the ground.

She tried a valiant stance, but then the clone went up to the arm keeping the supercomputer above ground, and vanished.

“He disappeared,” Yumi looked around.

Ulrich stood up and scratched the back of his head.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

“Well, take our breath away, Cassidy. It’s all yours,” Chris smiled at the contestants.

A shiver of nervousness went down her spine, but managed to wane just in time. Cassidy went up to the mixing board. _Alright, here we go._

She put her disk on the turntable. _I’m ready. There’s no one here besides the Subdigitals, Aelita, and me. I can do this._

The music started. She mixed the way she felt. It was excellently done. When she finished she went back to the couch.

“Now it’s your turn again, Aelita. Wow us out,” Chris said.

Aelita nodded and went up to the mixing board. After placing her disc on the platter, she put on the headphones.

The toning arm automatically went on to the record.

She adjusted the pitch controls. The music was awesome.

Mattie and Elise were amazed.

Cassidy smiled. _That’s my roommate and friend._

Everyone in the sound studio loved it.

**-Back over to Yumi and Ulrich-**

Yumi listened to Jeremie’s chest for a few seconds. Then she lifted her head. “He’s still breathing, but he took a lot of volts.”

Ulrich looked to his friend. _This should not be happening,_ he thought.

 _“Hey, uh, guys?”_ A familiar voice echoed around the room. _“Remember me?”_

Ulrich walked over to the computer and put on the headpiece. “Odd, I think we’re in a big jam. XANA’s sicced a polymorphing specter on us and Einstein’s out cold.”

Odd’s voice was optimistic as usual. _“Oh, well it’s a good thing he showed us how to work the supercomputer.”_

Ulrich sat in the chair. “Oh, yeah, it’s up to us. Anyone have a good idea what to do now?”

This time Cassidy’s words stayed silent.

_Darn you, just when I need you._

Yumi whipped out her cell phone. “Yes, call Aelita or Cassidy, whoever’s available.”

**-Back at the contest-**

Aelita was still in the contest when her phone rang. Cassidy went up and found a text message.

_C and A,_

_XANA’s attacking. Please come quick._

_Yumi_

Cassidy knew her shiver was right. She texted back:

_Okay, but wait until Aelita gets done. She’s nearly done._

_Cassidy_

She sent it, and then got an alert.

_Okay, but hurry!_

Cassidy replaced the phone and sat down on the couch.

**-Back in the lab-**

“Cassidy answered Aelita’s cell phone. She said that they’ll be there when Aelita gets done,” Yumi told Ulrich.

 _“Okay, we’ll just have to improvise. What do we do?”_ Odd asked.

Yumi wasn’t sure. “Uh…for openers, Odd. Try to get to the Mountain Sector.”

“Yumi shouldn’t we get Odd back to earth while we try to wake up Jeremie,” Ulrich asked.

“Okay, you know how to materialize him?” She asked.

“Uh, no, do you?” He hesitated.

**-On Lyoko’s Ice Sector-**

“No sense arguing, guys. I’d rather stay here and fight,” Odd said. “Just tell me where I might find a way tower.”

**­-Back to the lab-**

“Let see, um, a way tower. Oh, I know. To find a way tower, you have to open a radar window with these two keys,” Yumi tapped on two separate keys.

A window popped up and Odd’s head and body were separated. Odd panicked. _“Hey, what are you doing? Get it right!”_

“Stop it! Hurry up!” Ulrich panicked too.

Yumi pressed on the same two keys again. Odd’s head aligned with the body and the window vanished.

 _“Thanks. Well then, Plan B,”_ Odd said. _“Try to bring up my OverBoard. Maybe I can find that stupid way tower on my own from the air.”_

Ulrich flipped through the notes. “Okay, um, OverBoard, OverBoard. Darn it! Einstein’s notes are all over the place.”

“I think it’s this one here.” Yumi pointed on a place.

**-Back to Odd-**

“Well, then take your time, okay, ’cuz I got nothing better to do,” Odd smiled.

**-Back to Ulrich and Yumi-**

_“Speaking of which, has anyone seen Specter Gadget?”_

Yumi had a spark of curiosity. “Yeah, how come he disappeared like that?”

“Guess he had another date,” Ulrich looked at the notes.

She remembered. “Aelita and Cassidy! The specter must’ve gone after them! We’ve got to get them to safety right away!” She ran over to the elevator. “See ya later!”

“Hold on! You’re not going to leave me alone like this?” Ulrich protested.

She pushed the up button. “You’re doing great, Ulrich. Just keep it up.”

The elevator closed.

He groaned.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd raced around trying to find the way tower. He met an edge. “I don’t believe this. Where is this way tower?”

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“I don’t know. But uh…Odd…”

**-Back to Odd-**

_“…you have some thingamajigs heading your way.”_

Odd turned around and found…

“Huh? You’re making progress but those thingamajigs are Bloks and they don’t look too friendly!” He raced into the battle zone.

The three Bloks charged up their lasers and fired. Odd dropped to his hands and jumped. “LASER ARROW!” he cried as he fired three laser arrows at them.

They missed.

Odd landed on his own two feet and slid. “I don’t believe it! I missed them all!” He got near to the leader and ran away from the three. “Okay, you monsters, COOL IT!”

One of the lasers hit Odd’s tail, to which he cried out. He now knew how Cassidy felt like when she took a tail shot. He then jumped.

**-With the specter-**

The specter, in ghost form, slithered between the legs of passersby like a serpent. It was out with a vengeance.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita took off the headphones. “Well, I guess that’s it then.”

“Okay, thanks to all three of you for that great stuff. Just give us a few minutes to talk it over and we’ll let you know of our decision,” Chris said.

As Aelita went over to put her mix CD back, Cassidy went with her. “Aelita, there’s an ojo in the Montañas Rocosas cheddar.”

The girl looked to the other one confused. “What?”

“There’s an eye in the Rocky Mountain cheddar.”

“I don’t understand.”

Cassidy breathed in Aelita’s ear. “There’s an activated tower in the Mountain Sector of Lyoko.”

“Who texted?”

“Yumi!”

Aelita understood.

**-In the Sound studio-**

“Aelita and Cassidy are in a dead heat tie. They’ve got to be our choice,” Chris was adamant.

“Oh yeah, no doubt about that,” Simon agreed.

Sophie, Nick, and Benoit nodded in agreement.

**­-Back to Lyoko-**

The monsters charged their lasers.

“Hey where’s my ride. Are you sending it over or not?” Odd asked in a protest.

**-Back to the Lab-**

“D’uh, I’m working on it. Let’s see, I—um—oh! There it is, I got it!”

**-Back to Odd-**

“Well, try to work faster!” Odd climbed up an ice floe and got to the top. Then he jumped off and launched a couple more arrows. He got the leader right in the eye, then landed and ran.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Materialization…”

**-Back to Odd-**

_“…OverBoard!”_

A vehicle came online.

“Ulrich! You just sent me the OverBike!” Odd protested again.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Uh…sorry Odd, I can’t send you anything else,” Ulrich apologized.

**-Back to Odd-**

“Well, it's better than nothing. But there's another problem. You were supposed to send it to _me_ , not to _them_ — _dummy_! Well, I guess it's up to me to _unblock_ the situation,” Odd said looking at the Bloks.

He ran and got rid of one, jumped on the last Blok, and raced over to his friend’s vehicle. “Time to saddle up!”

He revved off and jumped over the last Blok. “YEHAW!” Now he was on his way to finding a passage tower.

**-Back to the contest-**

Chris pressed a button. “Well, Mattie, Elise, I’m really sorry, guys, but…”

He noticed two people were missing.

“But where are Aelita and Cassidy?”

**-With Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy were racing to the factory when they spotted the clone.

Dangerous memories flashed before Aelita’s eyes.

Cassidy caught spark of this.

“About face and fast!”

Aelita nodded and the two ran the opposite direction.

The clone kept running after them.

The two ran across a street.

The clone only made it to a corner when…

“HI-YAH!” Yumi forced him into the street in the way of a moving car. He ghosted through the hit.

Cassidy was both relieved and excited as she helped Yumi to her feet.

“Hurry, move it!” Yumi ordered.

The driver got out of the car. “Hey, are you okay? Nothing broken? Everything cool?”  
The clone grabbed him when he got too close and threw him a few feet away.

He took the car and drove off.

**-Back with Odd-**

Odd was trying to find a way tower. “Hey Ulrich, where is this way tower?”

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Sorry Odd, I’m afraid to push any of these buttons.”

_“Well, ya better. I’m starting to rust over here!”_

Ulrich put his notes on his lap, and tapped on a few keys. A pop-up window came up with a countdown.

“What’s that number doing here?” Ulrich was majorly confused. Yumi called him. “Great, Yumi. Just in time.”

**-­Back to the three girls-**

_“I’ve got some sort of countdown window up here.”_

“Hang on; I’ve got the expert with me!” Yumi threw her phone to Aelita. “Here!”

Aelita caught it and put it up to her ear. “Ulrich, it’s Aelita. Is there anything written above the window?”

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Uh, yeah, it says ‘Big Fat Cheese Head’! What does that mean?”

**-Back to the girls-**

“I—it’s a code. You’ve started a delayed virtualization directly into the Mountain Sector.”

Aelita handed Yumi her phone back.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“Ulrich, has Odd found the way tower?” Yumi asked.

Ulrich was at the elevator. “No, but I just got a mega-idea!”

The elevator closed.

**-Back to Yumi-**

“Ulrich? Ulrich? **!** ” She hung up when she didn’t get a response. She stopped and turned to Aelita. “‘Big Fat Cheese Head’?”

Aelita blushed. “It's a private joke between Jeremie and me.”

“We better run!” Cassidy kept running.

They heard the sound of a car coming straight at them.

“Yumi!” Aelita worried.

“This way!” They took the stairs.

The car stopped.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

Ulrich stepped into a scanner as the count down reached zero.

Soon he was on Lyoko’s Mountain Sector. He was off to go to the vicinity of the activated tower.

**-Back to the three girls-**

Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy made it to the factory with the car not too far behind them.

Cassidy raced for the ramp as fast as she could.

Aelita and Yumi jumped and grabbed the ropes.

The car stopped.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd kept driving around the Ice Sector. “This ice floe sure looks deserted.” He kept looking around. Then he spotted a tower. “Well, nothing to lose. Let’s try that tower.” He went in and tried to switch sectors, but ended up back where he started.

He put on the brakes. “I can’t believe it; I’m still stuck in the Ice Sector.”

**-To the Girls in the Lab-**

 Cassidy, Aelita, and Yumi made it to the lab. “The clone’s going to close in fast,” Cassidy spark-flashed a vision.

“Ulrich just virtualized himself into the Mountain Sector,” Aelita told Yumi and Cassidy. “Oh, Odd, that way tower’s a little further, bearing northwest of your position. We’ll meet you in the Mountain Sector. Move it!”

**-Back to Odd-**

“Well better late than never.” He smiled a little, and then headed northwest.

**-Back to Yumi, Cassidy, and Aelita-**

“Your turn, Yumi. Virtualize me,” Aelita said.

Cassidy and Yumi were checking Jeremie’s vitals.

Yumi went up to the supercomputer as Aelita went down the ladder.

The geisha warrior started typing on the program.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

Ulrich super-sprinted to find the tower guarded by three Krabes and William.

William did not see the enemy yet, which was Ulrich’s intention.

“Uh-oh, bingo,” Ulrich said.

**-Back to Yumi and Cassidy-**

“Transfer, Aelita,” Yumi said.

The clone was above them. Cassidy looked up from looking at Jeremie and gulped down a shriek. _If I shriek, Yumi’s going to screw up. I got to be strong._

“Scanner, Aelita.” Yumi looked calmly at the screen. “Virtualization.”

**-On Lyoko-**

Aelita virtualized and landed behind Ulrich.

**-Back to Yumi-**

“I DID IT!” Yumi yelled excitedly.

“Good job, Yumi!” Cassidy smiled.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

 It was time to give the proper welcome.

She came up behind him. “You-who, guess who.”

That startled him into unsheathing two of his four katanas. He was about to cut when he realized it was Aelita.

“What’s on the menu?” Aelita asked.

“The usual stuff. A whole seafood platter over there, and William's the lemon,” Ulrich pointed his katana at the opposition.

**-Back to Yumi and Cassidy-**

“YEAH!” Yumi smiled.

The clone dropped down.

 _“You may panic now!”_ A weird voice echoed in Cassidy’s brain.

Cassidy shrieked.

Yumi turned around with a gasp.

A big hand started to grab for them.

“NO!” Cassidy yelled long and hard.

**-Back to Aelita and Ulrich-**

All of a sudden, Aelita and Ulrich heard a noise. They turned to the source. “YAHOO!” Odd came in.

Aelita put her hands on her hips.

“You sure took your time,” Ulrich cut in.

Odd got off the OverBike. “Yeah, but at least I got here, and no thanks to you, if you knew how many towers I went through before I got to the right one.”

“We’re going to need more vehicles, Yumi,” Aelita looked to the sky. “Do you read me, Yumi?”

**-Back to Yumi and Cassidy-**

The clone threw Yumi and Cassidy to the wall as if they were sacks of flour. _“Yumi, Cassidy? Answer us!”_ Aelita was getting worried.

Yumi stood up, Cassidy slowly following. They were bruised and battered.

**-Back to Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita-**

“Transmission problems?” Odd asked.

“No, I think it’s worse. But I’m pretty sure that the specter’s in the computer lab,” Aelita answered.

Ulrich saw no other option. “Okay, I’ll go. Shoot me, Odd!”

Odd had a different plan. “No, I should be the one. I’ve already lost lots of life points. And you still got all yours!”

Ulrich saw what Odd was getting at, a little.

“You’d be more useful here. And what’s more, that’s exactly what we did during the swimming pool attack!” Odd scratched his chin.

That angered the samurai warrior. “I don’t ever want to hear about the swimming pool again!” He unsheathed his katanas and sliced the now-Cat-warrior. “That’ll teach ya, huh?” Ulrich turned to Aelita. “Saddle up, Princess.”

“Okay,” Aelita smiled.

**­-Scanner room-**

Odd came out of the scanners.

**-Later on, on Lyoko-**

Ulrich and Aelita were charging in on the OverBike. “This is going to be a close one!”

William unsheathed his sword, having seen the opposition.

**-Back to Yumi and Cassidy-**

Cassidy and Yumi were trying to hold on. Cassidy had more bruises than Yumi did. The looks in their eyes were desperate.

They were reaching out, trying to defend themselves, when, the clone disappeared.

Odd was holding the sparking ends of the wires.

Cassidy had to gulp a massive amount of air to keep from passing out at that moment. “Thank God you’re here, Odd.”

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Ulrich and Aelita dodged another few lasers. Then he turned to her. “Right now!”

She activated her wings and gained altitude, avoiding Krabes in the process.

Ulrich got on top of his OverBike, got out two of his four katanas, leaned to his left, turning his vehicle over, got under and through a Krabe, flipped onto it, and stabbed it in the eye. “IMPACT!”

He jumped off in front of the two Krabes and William.

**-Back to Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

Odd went over to the two girls. “Yumi, Cassidy, are you two okay?”

Cassidy panted. “’Feels like I—” she took in a sharp, ragged, shuddering breath—“like I was forced into a blender set on—chop and scar.”

“I—I didn’t realize you were back,” Yumi looked up at Odd.

Odd put Yumi’s and Cassidy’s arms around his neck and started to walk them to the elevator. “Neither did he, but he sure knows now.”

“Odd,” Cassidy winced at the touch. “I won’t make it to Lyoko. Set me next to Jeremie.”

Odd was flabbergasted. “But you like going on Lyoko.”

“I—I know, but in the shape I’m in, it’d be—bad.”

He closed his eyes and set her down gently next to Jeremie.

“Don’t let the salamanders sing to you. They sing like a thousand helium-drunk Sissi clones.” Then Cassidy went unconscious.

Odd fought the urge to laugh as he walked Yumi to the elevator. “We’ve got no time to lose. He could reform at any second.” He placed her on the wall of the elevator. “Okay, don’t move.”

“You think you can virtualize me, Odd?” Yumi whispered.

Odd went on the computer, put on the communicator and started typing. “Relax. I'm a computer wiz. You know that.”

The elevator closed.

“Um…not!”

**-Back to the battle on Lyoko-**

William was growing tired of this when he saw Aelita almost to the tower.

 **“Super Smoke!”** He ghosted until he was in between Aelita and the tower. Then he rematerialized.

That stopped her for sure.

In William’s XANAfied mind, he thought, _there’s no way she will deactivate this tower._

Aelita activated an energy field in her hand and launched it. William blocked it with his zabanto. He began to advance on her.

Meanwhile, Ulrich used his Super Sprint ability to get rid of another Krabe. Two gone, one to go. He ran over to the third Krabe.

William threw his big sword at Aelita, who used her energy field shield to block, but the force of the impact/deflection shoved her on her stomach.

Ulrich noticed this fast. “Aelita!”

William started to laugh tauntingly in front of her.

When she was back on her feet, the minion started to advance. Aelita backed away fearfully.

Ulrich had two decisions: one, he could face the Krabe, but then it could be too late. And two, he could keep William away from Aelita so she could get to the tower, but then there would be the Krabe.

He decided on the latter decision. “Super Sprint!” He tried to get nearer to Aelita so he could defend her, but then it hit him in the side.

He was nearly impaled but he rolled away from the pincer-like leg.

Ulrich let out a sigh of relief.

The possessed minion was about to smoke her when a fan wizzed and hit his wrist.

“What’s this, William—another girl catch your eye?” The fan returned to Yumi.

William growled at her.

Aelita was relieved. “Nice one, Odd. Just in time.”

_“Thank you, thank you.”_

**-Back to Odd-**

The clone landed beside Odd. “This is just a taste of my talent. Einstein will be so—” He saw him. “That’s funny. I’d have sworn you were taller!”

**-Back to Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita-**

The Krabe was losing balance on the edge, and Ulrich saw this as a sign to cut off one of its legs. After he did that, the monster fell into the digital sea.

Ulrich saluted. “’Later, gator!”

Meanwhile Yumi was doing her best guarding Aelita. William kept cutting her attacks.

Yumi re-caught her fan and backed away with Aelita.

**-Back to Odd-**

Odd backed into a wall. He gritted his teeth, and then thought of something. “Hey, look up there!” He pointed upward. He evasively tried to run away. It didn’t work. “It works most of the time.”

**-Back to Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich-**

William started to charge at Yumi and Aelita. Yumi threw her fan at him again.

He blocked again. **“You’re finished, Yumi!”** He jumped.

She ran up and jumped. “We’ll see about that!”

He got rid of her in one swipe.

Now it was just him and Aelita now.

Deciding to take the risk, she activated her wings and flew up into the sky.

William needed her to come down, so he threw his zabanto at her, to which Ulrich blocked and threw his two katanas at him.

He yelled, **“NO!”** but it was too late. The two swords cut into his stomach and he disappeared.

Aelita touched back down and went into the tower.

She went to the center and rose up to the second platform.

**-Back to Odd-**

The clone positioned the sparking end of the wire very closely to Odd.

He shrieked.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita made it to the second platform.

Placing a hand on the screen, she was ready to deactivate the tower.

AELITA

It blinked three or four times. Then it said

CODE

Aelita typed the code.

LYOKO

**-Odd-**

The wire was closer.

**-Aelita-**

“Tower Deactivated.”

**-Odd-**

The clone fizzed and dropped Odd and the wire as it disappeared.

Odd gritted his teeth, but realized he was safe.

**-Later-**

Jeremie’s vision slowly came to normal and his heart beat regulated as he woke up. “What happened?”

He slowly sat up as he said, “Aelita…the specter…the tower…did you…did you do it?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything,” Aelita said.

Then Cassidy came to. “Ugh…”

Odd flew to her side. “Easy, Cat-Girl. The clone totally tossed you a number.”

She gritted her teeth. “No more beatings!”

Odd carefully cradled her in his arms. “Sh…he’s gone.”

Whimpering, tears coming to her eyes, she tried to hug him. It was much easier said than done.

Odd wrapped her in a hug.

**-The next day, in the rec. room-**

“I have to say, you guys held your own in the end,” Jeremie said.

Cassidy was a little shamefaced. “I almost didn’t.”

“It’s okay, Cassidy,” Aelita consoled.

“But you have to admit I was right. If XANA attacks Aelita or me now, I know you’ll be able to take over.”

Yumi smiled. “So that means you trust us, huh?”

“Yeah, uh, a bit,” Jeremie crossed his arms across his chest.

“That’s good news, ‘cuz the day after tomorrow, Cassidy and I’ll be gone all day,” Aelita announced. “We have our dress rehearsal. The Subdigitals chose us to be the opening acts for their concert, even though we walked out on them.”

“We even tried to do one sudden death match, but we ended up tying again,” Cassidy put the ice bag that she had on her stomach.

“That’s fabulous, you two, well done,” Jeremie congratulated with a smile.

“Hey, that’s great,” Ulrich said, and then spotted Odd. “By the way, Odd, how was _Petals of Desire?_ ”

“Oh it was lame. What’s more, I broke up with Camille. I’m over all that romantic stuff. Ya know, I’m more into action, like the day the swimming pool attack, for instance.”

Yumi groaned. “Odd, don’t talk about the swimming pool, okay?”

Aelita was even more curious. “Hey don’t tell us you’re never going to tell us what happened at the pool, huh?”

Ulrich was adamant. “No.”

“Well, it’s simple really. Uh…let’s see now. Remember the attack in the gymnasium?” Odd asked.

“Odd, we told you not to bring up the attack at the gym, right?” Jeremie was getting embarrassed.

“Why, what happened at the gym?” Ulrich asked.

Jeremie and Aelita blushed.

“Oh, nothing, really” Jeremie tried for cover.

“Nothing at all,” Aelita did too as she looked to her knight in glasses and he looked at her back.


	50. We're Replikated? Wow...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was done with the collaborative efforts of another author.

**Well this feels duplicated.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy. Let’s go!**

**Also part of this was finished by LyokoWarrior1994**

**-In Odd and Ulrich’s dorm room at night-**

Odd was playing a video game, making as much noise as a helicopter. He was confident to win. “Ha-ha, take that, fireball. Come here you slimy vortex. You’ll see! You think you’re so smart? Wait until I discombobulate you into the black hole!”

A brunette head uncovered itself from the bed opposite him and groaned. “Odd, you mind cooling it down a little?”

He let out a scream and looked at the display. “Great, thanks a lot! You made me miss the bonus ball. I’m dying of sleep deprivation and now you’re making me start all over again.”

“At four A.M.?” Ulrich asked.

Odd let out the affirmative.

The boy beside him groaned and threw his pillow over his head. This would be a long night.

**-The next morning, still in Ulrich and Odd’s room-**

Odd was sleeping with his Game Boy in his hand.

A hand shook his shoulder. “Odd, wake up. Time to rise and shine!” Ulrich sang-song.

Odd opened an eye and blinked. “What are you guys dressed like that for?”

Jeremie, dressed in his gym attire, said, “It’ll come to you. Think it over, Odd.”

He took a moment, and then jumped up. “Oh, no, Phys Ed.”

“And the ganador is Odd Della Robbia!” Cassidy cheered.

Odd went back to lying on his stomach. “Forget about it, guys. I don’t think I can go. Galactic Battle totally wiped me out.”

“I don’t think an excuse like that is going to sit you well with Jim,” Ulrich cracked.

He looked to Aelita. “Aelita, do me a big favor. Think of a nice, legitimate excuse so I could stay here and sleep.”

Aelita was confused. “Me? What am I supposed to tell him?”

Cassidy smiled and whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry, Aelita. I’ll say an excuse for him and for you.”

Odd was already asleep.

“Thanks a lot!” Aelita played along.

**-At Jim’s class-**

“Della Robbia. Della Robbia, I don’t want to have to repeat that. DELLA ROBBIA!” Jim called.

“Odd was feeling down after a rough break-up with a pretty girl so he went to the forest to sulk. He wishes to be alone, sir,” Cassidy said.

“Absent then; sometimes the best way to cope is to be alone. Results may vary of course, but still,” Jim stopped himself and then continued on. “Delmas!”

Sissi pointed her thumb to herself. “Present.”

“De Vasseur.”

“Present.”

“Ducrocq.”

“Yeah,” Mathieu said.

“You say ‘present’ or ‘here’. None of this ‘yeah’ stuff, okay?” Jim said.

“Yeah, okay.”

Nicholas drew back into the crowd and snuck over to Naomi. “Uh…hey, Naomi, how about having a fantastic and breath-taking experience together with me in the moonlight tonight.”

“You gotta be kidding, you dork!” Naomi chastised.

After the role was taken, Jim turned over to the lesson. “Right. Today we’re going to work the high-jump. For once I won’t tell you that this sport will take you to great heights.”

Cassidy felt a little dizzy. Aelita looked back and saw her roommate. “Are you okay, Cassidy?”

“Dizzy.” To try to alleviate the vertigo, Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut.

“Just try to hold on,” she whispered.

Ulrich looked at the two of them. “Is she okay?”

“She says she’s dizzy. I don’t think Jim would like it if Cassidy keeps getting imbalanced like this,” Aelita explained.

“So just watch! DEMONSTRATION!” Jim ran and with a cry of jubilation, tried his luck at the high-jump.

There was a lot of laughter as Jim landed forcefully on the mat and then on the ground.

**-On the way to the infirmary-**

“I’ve told you over and over again, if you insist on doing this sort of thing, this is where you’ll end up,” Yolanda told him.

“Yeah it's an occupational hazard.” Jim said. Yolanda had opened the door.

“I see you've already set Della Robbia home.” Jim said.

Yolanda sounded confused. “Odd, but he hasn't been here at all.”

Jim looked to Yolanda

“Oh...” his suspicions were rather high now.

**-In the Forest-**

Cassidy was listening to one of her favorite songs she had on her phone. She sat down by a tree, and Jim could be seen looking for someone.

“Della Robbia, where are you?” he exclaimed. With no response he then noticed Cassidy lying by the tree.

“McGuire!” Jim exclaimed. Cassidy didn't hear Jim due to having her ear buds in.

“McGuire!” Jim exclaimed once again his arms crossed one another.

“MCGUIRE!” Jim yelled. Cassidy, jumped and looked up, seeing Jim right next to her. She took off her ear buds.

“Yes Jim?” she asked.

“Where's Della Robbia?” Jim was firm.

Cassidy gulped. “Uh...”

“Just what I thought, come with me young lady. To the principal's office.” Jim said. Jim walked with Cassidy, taking her to the principal's office. Next was Odd himself.

**-In Odd's room-**

Mr. Delmas opened the door, Jim along with him.

“Well what kind of lame-o speech did GI Jim bore you with today? That's about the only part I'm sorry I missed, but every other time he opens his mouth he cracks me up,” Odd grumbled. Mr. Delmas bent down. “Well why don't we show a little laughter in my office now?”

“Uh oh.” Odd looked up at Jim and Mr. Delmas, his vision hazy and eyes baggy. He rubbed them.

“Oh no, please tell me I am still sleeping and this is a nightmare.” Odd begged.

Jim put his finger up and moved it to the left, then to the right and said, “Uh-uh. You're wide awake Della Robbia, but you're right about one thing this is your nightmare.”

**-In the Principal's Office-**

“Disappointed, disappointed that's the only word for it. Cassidy, Odd I am deeply disappointed in both of you.” Mr. Delmas said.

 

“I agree with that sir. These two took me for some sort of idiots.” Jim said.

“Wait a minute, sir,” Cassidy pointed a finger in the air.

Delmas looked crossly at her. “Yes, Ms. McGuire, we’re waiting.”

“Did Jim think Odd was in the infirmary?”

He looked to the gym teacher, who said, “I might’ve had my head scrambled.”

“I only said that Odd was _sulking_ , not _in the infirmary_ ,” she corrected.

Delmas looked puzzled. “Do you have any proof, McGuire?”

“Yes I do! I just so happened to carry my iPod with me.” She yanked out her iPod and her pink and purple headphones. “It comes with a microphone.”

Delmas listened to the evidence. As soon as he was done, he said, “Well, since you didn’t lie, I’ll give you two ten minutes of detention.”

That surprised her. “But why?”

“I don’t want your friends to think that you got off the hook too easily,” he winked with a Dumbledore-like smile.

As soon as Odd and Cassidy left the room, Jim counted his fingers. “Only ten minutes sir?”

“Yes. That's because I consider myself to be too-”

He was cut off as Jim said, “Too weak?”

Mr. Delmas looked straight at Jim and said, “Magnanimous.”

**-Outside the office-**

Odd and Cassidy walked out of the administrative building, Odd looked over to her. “I can’t believe you, Cassidy. You know I asked Aelita.”

“Hey, my golden excuse worked before. And I just wanted some peace and quiet, so I decided on going to the woods. So should I have known that Jim would find me there?”

“If you would have taken the time, to think of a better place then the woods to get some peace and quite, then I wouldn't have ten minutes of detention.” Odd said.

Cassidy got a little angered at Odd. “And if you were just a bit less selfish you would realize that I got stuck with ten minutes of detention too and for what? Because you need your sleep you lazy loser!”

Just then Nicholas had passed by the two.

“Uh hi there Cassidy, um how would you feel about having a fantastic breath-taking experience together in the moonlight tonight?”

Odd was about to say something, but he noticed that her eyes were closed.

 _She’s about to have another vision_ , he thought.

“She's rather busy Nicholas, studying. But look if I were you why don’t you try asking someone else okay?” Odd asked.

“I’d love to,” Cassidy groaned, trying with everything to say it with feeling.

“Yeah okay.” Nicholas said as he walked away.

After Nicholas was gone, Odd let out a sigh of relief. “Whew. That got rid of him. Right, Cassidy?” There was no response.

“Cassidy?” He looked down to see Cassidy on the ground.

“I can’t believe it!” He grumbled as he dragged her to the infirmary. “We’re stuck with her…We shouldn’t _have_ this problem…She’s a dangerous psychic!”

Before he got one foot in the door…

“Odd?”

He looked down at her.

“What’s going on?” Cassidy asked.

“You should know!” Odd yelled. “You nearly had a vision.”

A confused look crossed her features. “I—I don’t remember. Odd, I don’t remember.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “Why are you yelling at me?”

Concern now swept Odd’s plate. “You mean, you don’t know why I’m yelling?”

“No, I don’t!” She shook her head tears staining her pink shirt.

“Come on, Cat Girl, let’s go to Jeremie.”

**-In the Cafeteria-**

Ulrich ate the fries. “Yum, these fries are tasty.”

Odd sat down, a bit mad still.

“Did I say something wrong?” Ulrich asked.

Odd looked over to Cassidy, and Odd grabbed some fries and threw them in his mouth.

“Well it looks as if we got a bit of a cold war on our hands.” Yumi said. “Listen you two. Why don't you kiss and make up? We got more important things to worry about.”  

Aelita leaned and whispered, “Like exploring the network with the Skid some more?”

“That's right and especially to check out that sphere you came across on your first trip.” Jeremie whispered.

Yumi leaned in on the whispering too, “Great! When do we go?”

“The longer we wait the stronger XANA gets so I say we try tonight. That is if our two friends are ready to bury the hatchet,” Jeremie asked.

“As long as I don't have to talk to that dummy.” Odd said.

“Odd, please don’t yell at me,” Cassidy made sad eyes, “when I have no clue what your yelling at me for.”

Jeremie and the others looked at the psychic as if she would say “April Fools” and move on with a laugh.

“That's progress, I guess.” Aelita said.

Nicholas came up to their table. “Hey, Cassidy, I was just making sure our plans are there.”

“I’m so sorry, Nicholas, I don’t remember making plans with you,” Cassidy was guilty.

“Aw I knew it was too true to be good—I mean, you know.” Nicholas walked over to his table and Hervé was reading a book and had his lunch around it.

“Uh listen, Hervé how would you feel about having a fantastic and breath-taking experience in the moonlight tonight?”

Hervé looked at his friend. “Huh?”

Back at with the group, Jeremie suddenly had an idea.

**-That Night-**

Nicholas was fishing and Hervé was watching.

“This is your fantastic and breath-taking experience?” Hervé asked.

They were by the bridge of the factory.

“A dumb fishing trip?” was the next question he had asked.

“Yeah you wouldn't believe how fantastic and breath-taking it can be to catch a big fat pike.” Nicholas said using his fishing rod.

“And you're a clown fish you know that Nicholas?” Hervé asked.

Nicholas had put his finger on his mouth “Shush.” he then put it down. “You'll scare the fish away if you talk too loud.”

Hervé had decided on sitting down and Nicholas had looked up and saw Cassidy along with Odd running to the factory.

“Are you okay, Odd?” Cassidy asked looking back at Odd who was walking.

“Give it a rest huh?” Odd asked.

“What's Odd doing out at this hour?” Hervé asked.

“Cassidy said she didn’t remember the plans with me.” Nicholas said as he got up and put his fishing pole on the ground. “Hmm let's go.”

**-In the Scanner room-**

The elevator's doors opened and Cassidy walked out of it.

Everyone looked up to the ceiling. “So, what’s your plan, Jeremie?”

_“It’s quite simple. Everyone besides Cassidy, enter into a scanner.”_

Odd ran to the middle scanner and took it.

Yumi and Aelita each took the left and right scanners.

Ulrich decided to wait. “Tell me what you’re going to do, Jeremie.”

 _“I’m going to copy each of the memories from today,”_ Jeremie announced.

“What?” Yumi exclaimed, about to jump out of the scanner.

_“Don’t panic. Just go with it. This should help Cassidy.”_

The aforementioned girl had a tired look in her eyes.

“What do you call this motion?” Odd asked.

_“I call it the Reverse Schyphozoa.”_

“Who should do you, Jeremie?” Aelita asked.

_“Well, I was thinking that you could do it, Aelita.”_

The three that took the scanners were scanned but not virtualized.

_“Okay, Ulrich, you’re up!”_

“Are there any side-effects, Einstein?” Ulrich took the scanner that Odd occupied not too long ago.

_“No, I made some checks on the program. There are no side-effects whatsoever.”_

Soon Ulrich’s memory was copied.

Cassidy slumped against the wall. Yumi shook her awake. “We’re nearly there, Cassidy.”

The psychic nodded.

After Jeremie’s memory was copied, Cassidy staggered into a scanner.

 _“Okay, soon you’ll see everything from our perspective,”_ Jeremie informed.

After the doors closed, the memories surrounded her and entered her ears. The block on her own memory dissolved.

When they opened, Cassidy walked out.

“Well, how do you feel?” Yumi asked.

“Better and, Odd…”

Odd looked to her in disdain. “Yes?”

“The excuse helped Jeremie when he was in Limbo!”

He growled and took the scanner she was in.

“Odd aren't you over doing it a little?” Yumi asked.

“Thanks, Yumi, it's obvious whose side you are on.” Odd said.

Yumi cocked a brow, and it seemed Aelita was first transferred to sector 5.

“Incredible you think they were back in kindergarten.” Ulrich said as Yumi and his scanner started to close on them. Cassidy had her arms crossed and Odd's soon closed, too.

“ _Alright now cool it guys lets concentrate on our mission.”_ Jeremie said as he was beginning the transfer.

“ _Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Yumi, Transfer Odd.”_ Jeremie said entering the appropriate buttons.

**-In Sector 5-**

“ _Virtualization.”_ Jeremie said. It can be shown that Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich were transferred and they landed. Soon Cassidy had landed as well next to Odd, he looked at her but then she turned her back on him crossing her arms. Odd sighed.

The 5 warriors went to the door and it opened. They had started to run throughout the hall and they soon made it to the elevator. The elevator had come down, and they had walked to it. They were being brought up by the elevator, and they were going to their positions.

“ _Hurry over to your transporter spots.”_ Jeremie said.

The 5 warriors had gone on their rightful positions.

“Doesn't it freak you out to have a real loser at one of the NavSkids?” Odd asked.

Cassidy growled, and turned away from Odd.

“ _Okay energize._ ” Jeremie said pressing a button.

5 beams of lights had come up from the transporter spots and they were put into their positions. Aelita had taken the controls, and the others had taken a NavSkid.

“Ulrich, do you mind asking that dorky friend of yours if he still remembers how to use the Skid?” Cassidy asked.

“Cut it out, Cassidy, just ask him yourself,” Ulrich sighed.

“Good answer, Ulrich,” Odd said.

“Hey, you're starting to get on my nerves, both of you.” Ulrich said.

“Same here you two.” Aelita said.

“Yeah, we had enough.” Yumi said.

“ _When you guys are all finished what do you say we take off? Supports away.”_ Jeremie said. Soon the supports from which had lifted off. Aelita had pressed some buttons.

“Vertical propulsion operational.”

The Skid's engines had started and they had started to fly out of the dome. Soon, they were at the unfinished desert sector.

“Ready to dive.” Aelita said. They had dived toward the digital sea, they waited a little, and then the Skid went in. They had entered the digital sea.

“We're in the network Jeremie.” Aelita informed her knight in glasses.

“ _Holoweb system connected. Aelita set a course for 170 and look out for a hub.”_ Jeremie said.

“Gotcha.” Aelita said increasing the speed of the Skid.

“ _I'll enter the coordinates of the sphere that you guys saw during your last mission._ ”

“Hub in sight.” Aelita said. The group came to the hub.

“ _Are you ready?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Roger. Hyper fluid aspiration in 3 seconds.” Aelita said. In no time at all they had dived down the hub.

**-With Nicholas and Hervé-**

Nicholas and Hervé had walked to the factory and they had spotted the ropes.

“This place is weird.” Hervé said then he shivered. “Let's get out of here it gives me the creeps.”

“Don't worry, I'm here.” Nicholas said grabbing onto the rope then sliding down.

“Great glad to hear it.” Hervé said as he reached for the rope, but was having trouble getting down. Nicholas had already gotten down.

“What are you doing up there? Come down.” Nicholas said.

“I'm scared of heights.” Hervé said while his eyes were shut. “I really get dizzy when I am high up.”

“Don't worry you're only a few meters above the ground.” Nicholas said.

“Nicholas would you shut up!” exclaimed Hervé.

“Stay where you are, I will come up and get you.” Nicholas sighed in annoyance as he started to climb his way up.

“Oh no this isn't horrible. I don't want to die now I haven't got to tell Sissi that I am crazy about her.”

**-Back in the others-**

The Skid was going through a red-like tunnel as and they had soon came out of the hub.

“Retro-brake.” Aelita said pushing a button. The Skid had stopped, and she had turned on its lights.

“Lights operational.” she said as she then continued on driving the Skid.

“Okay Jeremie we're coming to the sphere now.” Aelita said.

“ _Okay Aelita.”_ Jeremie said.

“ _Check the south pole for an entrance portal like on Lyoko._ ” Jeremie said.

“I've got a visual on it.” Aelita said.

They headed toward the entrance, but saw it was shut.

“It's shut, what do I do now?” Aelita asked, thinking of something and placed her hand on a hand scanner and said.

“Key activated.” a blue beam of light was connected to the entrance.

“ _There's an access code to crack. It's gonna take some a couple minutes.”_ Jeremie said as he starting getting on the codes.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

“You can let go now.” Nicholas said.

Nicholas had started walking, and Hervé had let go of the rope.

“Remember what I said a minute ago about Sissi? Well I didn't really say it.” Hervé said.

“Okay, I will tell Sissi that you said you really didn't love her.”

“You know what I mean, I mean don't tell Sissi what I didn't say.” Hervé said as he was walking to Nicholas who was about to press the button on the elevator. Hervé got in front of him though.

“Hold on, this looks really ancient. Think about it what if the cable snaps or the floor boards went under our feet?” Hervé asked as he begun on saying even more possibilities.

“Okay, okay I get the idea. We'll take the stair case.” Nicholas said.

“You go look over there.” Nicholas said. Hervé had sighed a breath of relief.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Okay I cracked the code.” Jeremie said pressing a button.

**-Back with the others-**

“Way to go Jeremie.” Aelita said congratulating her knight in glasses.

The entrance portal had opened, and the Skid went inside. The Skid then came out of the digital sea, and it was a Replika of the forest sector. They flew high to see the ground, everyone was amazed.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Unbelievable, you guys are on an exact copy of Lyoko except there's only one sector. The forest,” Jeremie informed his friends.

**-Back with the others-**

“XANA created another Lyoko on the network? But why?” Aelita asked while looking around.

“Something tells me that it is something horrible,” Cassidy inputted.

“Well, something tell your evil powers to take a break,” Odd shouted.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“I have no idea, but you can bet it's not to save humanity and knowing our friend XANA, I'm sure he's making lots of other copies exactly like this one.” Jeremie said sounding confident.

“ _So what do we do check it out?”_ Aelita asked.

“You bet, I want as much data as possible on this new virtual world.” Jeremie said.

**-Back with the others-**

“Right, energize.” Aelita said pressing some buttons. Aelita, then the others were soon on this new sector.

“Oh that's another forest territory. Well, I guess I am not out of the woods yet.” Odd said.

“If we don't want him freaking out or crying, I guess someone should laugh at his jokes.” Cassidy said.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

“I wonder what Cassidy and Odd were doing here.” Nicholas said. The two were close to the lab now.

“Well they're not here now so let's go.” Hervé said as he started to walk back, but Nicholas put his hand up.

“Hold on, check out that light.” he said spotting the light from the lab.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Okay, what you're going to do now is work a group of two, and one with three. One goes exploring and the other watches the Skid.” Jeremie said.

**-Back on the Replika-**

“Right forward I'll go with Ulrich, Yumi, or Aelita.” Odd said.

“For once you got a good idea.” Cassidy said.

“We’ve had it with you two. Ulrich and I are out of here, right now. We can use a vacation.” Yumi said.

“Yeah, and you two can fight all you want too. As long as we're not around to hear it.” Ulrich said.

“ _Here come your vehicles.”_ Jeremie said as their vehicles were brought up. The OverWing and the OverBike were shown.

“Thanks, Jeremie.” Yumi was appreciative.

“See ya, have fun you two.” Ulrich said as he drove off with his OverBike. Yumi hopped on the OverWing, and they drove off.

“Aelita, watch them closely to make sure they don’t commit virtual homicide/suicide,” Yumi told Aelita.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

The two friends had starting walking to the light, but Hervé hit his foot on something.

“Ouch!” he exclaimed

“Shush.” Nicholas said.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Huh?” Jeremie had heard this.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

“Sorry.” Hervé said as he started to continue on walking. Nicholas looked at him.

- **Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie went to the ladder, and checked what was going on.

“False alarm I guess.” he said. There was beeping on the computer.

**-Back on the Replika-**

Cassidy and Odd were both sitting on the ground, both looking away at one another. Cassidy had looked at Odd then turned away, Odd had done the same. Aelita was monitoring the two.

“Well anyway you could have thought of another place for some peace and quite, you know.” Odd said. “And allowed Aelita to use her excuse.”

Aelita turned back at the mention.

“And you can stop thinking about yourself for once.” Cassidy sighed resignedly. “My excuse saved Jeremie and that’s that, as well.”

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie went back to his control chair.

**-Back on the Replika-**

“ _Odd, Megatank at three o’clock.”_ Jeremie informed him. Odd had gotten up as the Megatank had hit the Skid.

“ _Oh no.”_ Jeremie said.

Odd looked around and saw another Megatank.

“Cassidy watch out.” he said as Cassidy moved out of the way at the incoming attack, which just like the first damaged the Skid.

“Thanks Ninja-Cat-Boy!” Cassidy gave a sigh of relief.

**-With Ulrich and Yumi-**

They were still driving but then Jeremie said, “ _Ulrich, Yumi, XANA's attacking the Skid. We need you back here now.” Jeremie said._

“Got it Jeremie, we're on our way.” Yumi said.

They had changed the direction they were going in.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Odd, Cassidy, listen. The Skid's shield can't hold out for much longer.” Jeremie said.

**-Back on the Replika-**

“ _And without the Skid, I can't guarantee you a return ticket to the scanner.”_ Jeremie said. Odd was using his laser arrows on one of the Megatanks which opened up for another attack.

 _Turn into a bow, and some arrows_ thought Cassidy.

Her tube turned into a white bow, and pink arrows. She started firing at the second Megatank, but it was no use. The Skid was still getting damaged.

Aelita tried an energy field.

“Jeremie can you generate more power to the shields, por favor?” Cassidy asked.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie had reached for the keys on the keyboard.

“I think so, but I need time. To renforce the Skid I'll need to reroute a chunk of energy from the supercomputer itself.” Jeremie said.

**-Back on the Replika-**

“But isn't taking energy from the supercomputer kind of risky?” Cassidy asked as she changed her weapon into bazooka. She had fired it at the Megatank, which had exploded.

“ _We have no choice, it's the only solution I can think of right now.”_ Jeremie said.

Aelita generated a hive-like shield for the Skid.

“Say when you put your mind to it, you can come up with good ideas. Nice on Cassidy.” Odd said giving her the thumbs up as he went to her. Cassidy smiled, but the two had looked over to the other Megatank. It used its attack on them, but deflected.

**-Back In the Lab-**

A blue bar was being shown.

“We won't have enough power to launch a return to the past. But because XANA hasn't attack anything in the real world, it shouldn't be necessary.” Jeremie said.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

“What if it's not their voices we are hearing?” Hervé asked.

“Who's voices do you think they are then? Ghost, werewolves, blood thirsty Draculas?” Nicholas asked.

“I wouldn't laugh at things like that especially at night time.” Hervé said.

“It's ridiculous, then let's climb. If it's Odd and Cassidy, and I want to catch them red handed.” Nicholas said determined.

The two had started to climb, and Hervé stomped on Nicholas's hand by accident.

“Ow! What's wrong with you?” Nicholas asked Hervé.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie had noticed this and popped up one of the video cameras, it was shown Nicholas and Hervé climbing the ladder.

“Uh oh.” he zoomed onto them.

“ _I bet they came here to do some industrial espionage.”_ Nicholas said.

“ _Odd and Cassidy? Industrial spies? In an abandoned factory? What's wrong with you?”_ questioned Hervé.

“ _Well then maybe they are into witchcraft.”_ Nicholas said.

Jeremie had cocked a brow.

“I got a huge problem, at the factory. Hervé and Nicholas are on the verge of discovering the supercomputer and it's impossible too launch an return to the past.” Jeremie informed.

**-Back on the Replika-**

“Huh? You can't let those nerds get near the supercomputer.” Odd said as he dodged another laser by the Megatank.

“Take care of them Jeremie, we'll manage without you.” Cassidy said.

Aelita agreed.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie had used the elevator to get back up to the entrance of the factory, and ran over to the stair case. He had walked his way down, and made his way to the boiler room and he had seen, Hervé along with Nicholas.

Hervé began on climbing a ladder

“I'm not going any further, I'm stopping.” he said.

“You're stopping half way up?” Nicholas asked.

Hervé's hands started to shake

“You better believe it.”

Jeremie had dropped a pipe.

“Did you hear that? They're behind us now.” Hervé said.

“Just head back down.” Nicholas said. The two had starting climbing down the ladder, and Jeremie made sure that he should get out of there. As were down Nicholas only saw Jeremie's hair.

“Odd I saw you.” he said. Nicholas had ran after Jeremie, while Hervé walked but had his suspicions.

**-Back on the Replika-**

The Megatank was somehow attacking fast. But soon, black smoke appeared from within the ground and it was revealed to be William.

“Uh oh, the Skid's done for if Handsome gets his hands on it.” Odd said.

“I hope Jeremie had time to reinforce it.” Cassidy said as she turned her tube into an invisibility cloak and disappeared.

“ **Where, oh where did you go Cassidy?”** William asked.

Cassidy’s virtual heart clenched.

**-Back in the Lab-**

The blue bar was almost fully loaded.

**-Back on the Replika-**

The Megatank had hit the Skid with it's blast.

“Sorry pal, but you're a little to late to wreck everything.” Odd said. Cassidy was right behind William, and she kicked him to the ground. He fell down with an oof. Soon the Megatank that had been attacking exploded, from an attack by Cassidy.

William looked around for her, but decided onto head toward the Skid. Odd had shot William in the shoulder, with a laser arrow.

“Jeremie, reload me okay? Oh bummer I forgot he's not there.” Odd remembered.

Odd jumped out of the way from William's next move, and soon William was kicked again by Cassidy.

Aelita chuckled.

“ **Show yourself girl!”** William exclaimed.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was hiding somewhere in the sewers.

“You go that way, and I'll go this way.” Nicholas said.

Nicholas and Hervé had started to walk both of the directions from across one of another. Jeremie went to hide somewhere else, and Nicholas heard a splash in the water. Nicholas jumped to the other side.

“Ah, ha! I got you!” Nicholas exclaimed.

“Help me will you, you idiot.” Hervé surfaced.

Jeremie started to run another way, and Nicholas saw this but had let go of Hervé who fell back in the water.

**-Back on the Replika-**

Odd was dodging the attacks given by William, then a giant slash of energy from his sword sent him to the edge. He was hanging on, and William's sword disappeared into black smoke. Odd was hanging on the cliff side, but William stepped on him which made him fall.

Cassidy had revealed herself, and she turned her tube into two fans like Yumi.

“Odd.” she said. She than threw the fans at him, and he had devirtualized.

**-In the scanner room-**

Odd sighed a breath of relief, while his scanner was opening. “Thanks, Cassidy.”

**-Back on the Replika-**

Cassidy was now alone facing her ex, and a new Megatank, she remained strong. She had her tube turned into a bazooka again, but she missed her aim.

Aelita decided to give a visual.

William advanced. Cassidy turned to him. “I warn you, I’m loaded!” she growled.

But William didn’t care. He ripped the weapons out of her hands and threw them off to the side.

Now she was weaponless.

 **“A girl like you shouldn’t be playing with weapons,”** he smiled in a way that made her virtual insides crawl.

Cassidy squeaked.

He stroked her face with his left hand.

Cassidy nearly surrendered when her heart pulled her out. “N-No!” She stuttered.

Then he started playing with her hair. That froze her solid.

Suddenly, Yumi’s fan hit William’s wrist.

Ulrich had gotten off his OverBike and this crashed with the Megatank sending them both to the digital sea. Ulrich used his super speed to get to Cassidy, carried her over to Aelita’s side, then said, “Everyone knows that speeding is dangerous,” taking out his katanas.

**-Back with Jeremie-**

Jeremie had gotten back to the elevator

“Come on move it,” he commanded under his breath. The elevator had come up, and he went in pressing the button to go down.

Nicholas and Hervé had arrived a little late.

“Looks as if the elevator looks just fine.” Nicholas was so proud of himself.

**-Back with Jeremie again-**

The elevator opened, and Odd was sitting on the floor.

“Jeremie, you're back I—” he was cut off by Jeremie.

“Hold on, I got to shut off the elevator down.” Jeremie said running to the computer, and the screen showed that he had indeed shut it down.

**-With Nicholas and Hervé-**

Nicholas had pressed the button a couple of times, but it was no use.

“Well no big deal, we'll just wait them out. They'll have to come back this way.” Nicholas said.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“Hervé and Nicholas must have seen you coming to the factory with Cassidy and now they're looking for you.” Jeremie said.

“If it is Cassidy and I they are after, I got an idea that should get rid of them. But I will need for Cassidy to get back here ASAP.” Odd said.

“Okay, I will let her know.” Jeremie said.

**-Back on the Replika-**

William starting walking backward.

“Better face facts William. You're not going to win this time.” Ulrich said.

“Yeah William, you're out numbered.” Aelita said.

“So outnumbered,” Cassidy stuttered.

“Yeah!” William exclaimed as he disappeared into black smoke, and went into the digital sea.

“ _Ulrich, we got an emergency here. You'll have to devirtualize Cassidy.”_ Jeremie informed.

“Let me guess Odd's plan?” Cassidy asked.

“ _Let me guess, another vision?”_ Jeremie teased a little.

“Yes.” Cassidy said.

“No sweat I'll devirtualize you on 3.” Ulrich said aiming his sword.

Cassidy prepared herself.

“One, two,” he devirtualized her on two.

**-In the scanner room-**

The scanner had opened, and Odd was waiting.

“Hello.” Odd smiled, as Cassidy did too.

**-Back with Nicholas and Hervé-**

“Well what now?” Hervé asked.

“Be patient, like when you are fishing.” Nicholas said.

Hervé sighed and started to pace near the elevator.

**-Back with Cassidy and Odd-**

“Okay, but you're really lucky my vision told me about this.” Cassidy said her arms crossed. “And don’t be afraid to dip me if you feel brave enough!”

“Well I guess we're good then?” Odd asked.

Cassidy thought about it, and smiled.

**-Back with Hervé and Nicholas-**

Hervé was pacing near the elevator when it had started to come up. Nicholas smiled, and made a movement with both of his hands.

“You'll see the early worm catches the bird, I mean fish.” Nicholas said as the elevator came to a stop. It was shown to the two boys that Cassidy and Odd were kissing each other on the lips, Odd dipping her as planned.

“Hey you guys enjoying the show?” Odd asked.

Nicholas and Hervé had decided on leaving them alone. Cassidy and Odd had laughed.

“So that's why they were hiding in the factory.” Nicholas said.

“They like each other.” Hervé said.

**-Back in the Lab-**

“You look awfully serious.” Yumi said.

“What's wrong?” Aelita asked.

“I'm just worried about this Lyoko copy. If there is one out there, maybe there's also another supercomputer infected with XANA somewhere else on Earth. To destroy this new supercomputer, I'm gonna have to figure out some sort of way to materialize you into the real world to find the copy.” Jeremie said.

“Relax Einstein we'll handle that when the time comes.” Ulrich said.

“Are you sure, that's your only worry?” Yumi asked.

“You see guys, if it weren't for Cassidy being here Aelita would have had to kiss me. So Einstein would have found out what it means to have an open mind.” Odd said.

Cassidy and Odd laughed, but this left confusion to Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi.

**-With Nicholas and Hervé-**

“So, now you got eye witness proof that Cassidy is going out with Odd? That's the dumbest story I have ever heard since the one about Mr. Chardin's toupee. Besides after from her break up with William, she wouldn't go back into dating so soon.” Sissi said.

“But I told you I saw them, it's not a story it's true. Look here they come.” Hervé pointed.

“You dumbbell,” Odd said passing by Cassidy.

“Who's talking you selfish loser, hmph.” Cassidy walked away.

Hervé had received a slap on the face and Nicholas had laughed.

**-With Cassidy and Odd-**

Cassidy and Odd were by a tree.

“I think that put an end to any ridiculous gossip, do you agree, mi amigo?” Cassidy asked.

“Yeah I do, but well I don't think your heart was in it when you called me a selfish loser.” Odd said.

“What? Now listen here, Odd-” Cassidy was cut off by Odd as he said

“Chill out, I'm just kidding.” Odd had started to walk and so did Aelita. “Well it doesn't take much to wind you up.”

Cassidy punched Odd’s shoulder jokingly, the two had ran then laughed.

“I'm gonna get you.” Cassidy said.

**A/N: I’m so sorry this almost didn’t get done, but thanks to LyokoWarrior1994, I got it done. Please R &R his stories as well as mine. :) Thank you! :)**


	51. Well, Jim would Rather Not Talk About It

**This reminds me of a time…**

**…but I’d rather not talk about it.**

**Aren’t we all tired of Jim saying this?**

**Aw well, you know the drill by now…**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy.**

**On with it!**

**-During the night-**

Cassidy gasped and sat bolt upright, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. Her heart hammered frantically in her chest, as if trying to escape the horrors of the nightmare-- the _sixteenth_ nightmare, the same one that she had had been having for weeks. She quickly discovered that her hands had been gripping the covers and relaxed them, wiping her sweaty palms on the bedspread.

 _Geez! Can’t this girl get a night of rest for once?!_ Cassidy did everything she could to keep the nightmares away. She swore off caffeine, grounded herself from reading anything that was scary, kept herself from playing bloodcurdling games with Odd, she tried to occupy her time by doing strange chores, but she still had the same old nightmare.

She looked to Aelita, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and almost swore that she could hear her mumble Jeremie's name.

 _At least_ she _seems to be having nice dreams,_ Cassidy thought.

She felt her forehead and winced at the touch. _Jeepers, I’m burning up!_

She grabbed some aspirin and a cup and made her way to the girls’ bathroom, thankful that during the journey Sissi wasn’t up at this profane hour.

She downed the pills in one gulp and splashed cold water on her face.

“It’s just a dream,” she repeated to herself. “Just" _splash_ “a” _splash_ “stupid” _splash_ “little dream.”

Cassidy grabbed a towel when the door opened. She jumped when she turned and saw that it was…

“Oh, hi Emily,” she said in a flat tone, not in the mood to talk.

“Hello, Cassidy. Did you have a bad dream, too?”

“You read my mind.” She sighed. “This time it was clearer and came with a fever.”

“It’s okay, we all get them. But to you it’s unusual.” Emily went over and splashed cold water on her face.

“Yeah. I mean, I swore off anything that could trigger it--" She bit back an _even tried to stop going to Lyoko_ and continued. "--but I ended up screwing up for some reason.”

“Aw, well, you can see Mr. Klotz tomorrow.” Emily dried her face.

“Is that what you do when you get a nightmare?” she asked.

“All the time. I once scared him to the point of a ‘Don’t return here and go to the therapist in town’,” she said, a tone of remembering in her voice.

“Your dream probably was worse than mine. I can’t even figure mine out,” Cassidy sighed.

“Ah, it was,” Emily smiled a little, and then explained her dream in colossal, gruesome detail.

Cassidy paled. _Yep, definitely w-worse than mine._

After she was done, Cassidy was backed up against a corner, stomach churning uneasily.

“Okay?”

“Mr. Klotz did the same thing to my last nightmare.”

Cassidy felt bile rising in her throat. “Um…excuse me, Emily. I need to um…Technicolor _yawn_.” She ran to the nearest toilet and yakked.

Emily shrugged a little, turning away. “Sensitive stomach. It happened with Mr. Klotz, too. He didn’t see me for three weeks after that.”

Her supper from the night before, which was Odd’s favorite (meatballs and gravy), had just revisited.

She panted and coughed. “Emily…promise me something…”

“What is it?”

“Never describe your dreams to me like that ever again.” After that fleeting sentence, Cassidy slumped into a faint.

**-Early the next day-**

Jeremie was about to start off the runners when Cassidy walked to him, whey-faced and shaky, as if she had something caught in her throat.

“What happened to you?” he raised a brow in concern.

“Four words, Einstein: Emily and her nightmare.” she hacked into the bushes beside them.

“She used gruesome detail, didn’t she?”

Jeremie Belpois was familiar with Emily’s nightmares. Once, when he was the newest genius at Kadic and had a nightmare, he bumped into her by accident. She gave off the most gruesome nightmare this side of the Pecos. He had a hard time holding down his lunch that day. No one questioned it.

“It was worse than my recurring nightmare.” She shook her head.

“I don’t think running will help you.” Jeremie had his friend sit down. “When she shot off her nightmare, and I tried to go to Phys Ed, I nearly fainted doing the exercises.”

After he started up the runners, Jeremie started his stopwatch.

“Our friends might not like this,” Cassidy said.

**-Meanwhile-**

Kiwi was leading the runners. Ulrich was in a lead with Yumi right behind him. Aelita and Odd followed. All were worn out and panting.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

“Come on! Let’s move it a little faster!” Jeremie barked. “Faster!”

Under normal-ish circumstances, Cassidy would’ve cheered.

**-Back to the tired-out gang-**

“I don’t believe this. He’s trying to kill us!” Aelita panted.

Odd tried to run but ended up on the ground near Jeremie and Cassidy’s feet. Kiwi sniffed his master.

Everyone else was also collapsed around the one standing.

Jeremie stopped his watch. “You guys are ridiculous. You’re way too slow! What a bunch of snails.”

Cassidy nearly retched into the bushes again.

“Except for Cassidy, whom I excused. And you, Odd.” Jeremie bent down at his level. “Even a snail runs much faster than you.”

Odd stood up and panted, “Since when does the…least-athletic person in the world thinks he’s better than I am? And why does Cassidy get special privileges…to sit out whenever she wants?”

Ulrich was next to stand up. “Hey, that’s true. Getting a little carried away, aren’t you, Einstein?”

Kiwi growled at Jeremie.

He shrugged. “Don’t blame me. The stopwatch doesn’t lie, you guys. And to answer Odd: Emily had a nightmare.”

**-At the Quad-**

“That was even worse than the last time. How do you expect to beat XANA if you don’t speed it up?” Jeremie reprimanded the four on the bench.

Cassidy was trying to hold down some saltines she got from the nurse, but ran to the nearest trashcan.

Odd shrugged and folded his arms. “You’re a real comedian, Einstein. All you do is time us. Anybody could do that.”

The aforementioned girl staggered back to collapse at Jeremie’s feet.

“Didn’t I warn you not to listen to Emily’s nightmares?” Ulrich asked as he helped Cassidy to her feet.

“You only half-warned me. You got distracted.” Her brown eyes blinked weakly. “You said: _“And whatever you do…”_ then Odd threw a pillow at you and that was the end of that. I spent a whole month getting feathers out of my hair. Sissi thought I caught the feathers from nature.”

Jeremie had his arms crossed in front of his chest. “One thing is for sure; if you guys don’t get into shape you’re never going to get any stronger and XANA—”

“—will gain headway and beat us,” Cassidy finished in a dull tone.

“Exactly. But if you think of another trainer, be my guest.”

“I try, Jeremie, when I train. Truly I do.”

“Just today wasn’t your day, I know, Cassidy.”

“Maybe there’s a better—a better way of getting in shape,” Yumi suggested.

He turned to the side. “I get it. You’re just…badly trained. And you guys can’t keep up, it’s my fault.”

“Well yeah,” Odd, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich said at once.

“Fine. I may not be the best trainer in the world, but you have to admit, you don’t exactly listen to me,” Jeremie said.

“I do,” Cassidy shifted her eyes back.

“That’s true, too. Maybe we need to find someone else. A specialist,” Yumi suggested.

“A specialist? Do you mind telling me where I would expect to find one?”

Cassidy smiled a little. _Three, two, one…_

Aelita sparked an idea with a smile on her face.

**-At Jim’s room-**

Jim opened the door. “Now just what do you think you’re doing here? Can’t a man have a little peace and quiet even on a Saturday?”

“Well, it’s simple. Although, well, uh…you might think this is a little crazy,” Jeremie started.

“Nothing could surprise me since I orbited the Earth. Spit it out Belpois.”

Jeremie put his hands together indecisively, as if it were a complicated chemistry program. “Um…well, we heard that you were once a Special Forces Trainer.”

“That’s right, Special Forces, ensign, Secret Division force.” Jim laughed, remembering as he paced to his right. “Ah those were the good old days.” He took a tiny moment to pause. “But, with that being said, I’d rather not talk about it.”  
Cassidy started to slump on the floor when Yumi held her up.

“Would you be willing to train students, like us, Jim?” the genius of the group asked.

He turned around. “Train students?”

“Y-Yeah, for like a commando camp like your—um…your special interventions thingamajig.”

“Neato, meet me at the Red Cross Trail Crossroads at fifteen hundred hours sharp. Dress for sports,” Jim said.

“You mean like, today already?” Yumi was shocked and nearly dropped Cassidy.

“It touches me that the students recognize one of the benefits of my experience and skill, especially you, Belpois,” Jim clapped a hand on Jeremie’s shoulder. “I never imagined that anyone could turn _you_ into a man. A real one.”

He put his hands up. “No, you don’t understand. I was talking about training the others. Not for me.”

“This training course is for everybody. Fifteen hundred hours, and I want you guys to be on time, ya hear?” Jim closed the door.

Ulrich and Aelita smiled, Yumi laughed, Cassidy collapsed on the floor, and Odd said, putting a hand on Jeremie’s shoulder, “Ha. This will do wonders for you, Jeremie. Now you’ll be able to put your stopwatch away for a little while! Alright!”

**-Later but not at three o’clock-**

“This is stupid. I can’t do a commando camp. I’ve got a ton of other things on my plate,” Jeremie stopped underneath the Arches.

Yumi had a different idea. “I think you’re just afraid of sweating a little.”

Cassidy was trying to hold down her stomach. Emily’s bloodcurdling nightmare was still fresh in her mind.

“What if XANA attacks while we’re training,” Jeremie worried.

“Just bring your computer with you, that’s all,” Ulrich turned back.

Aelita came up to her knight in glasses. “Don’t worry, Jeremie. Jim’s commando camp can’t possibly do us any harm, huh?”

“With Jim, you never can tell.” He sighed.

**-With Jim’s commando camp-**

“I have never seen a weaker pack of legless slugs in my life. Fifteen hundred hours sharp does not mean fifteen zero two or fifteen zero three—”

“Oh, we’re not going to split hairs over a few seconds, huh?” Odd asked. “My watch…”

“Your watch doesn’t walk with me, Della Robbia. I give the orders around here, so straighten up!” Jim commanded. “Okay, let’s go make our way to the combat clearing where we’ll start off with some basic training. Like pushups.” He ran off with the others not too far behind him.

Cassidy’s stomach growled and gurgled. Aelita took immediate concern. “You sure you want to do this in your condition? You’re hungry and haven’t been able to hold anything down today.”

“I’ll try, but in case of emergency, there are bushes everywhere,” she nodded.

The pink-haired girl looked to Jeremie. “You know, I wonder if it was a mistake to recruit Jim.”

“No, Aelita, it wasn’t just a mistake. It was a bit, colossal mistake,” Jeremie said as soon as Cassidy was running.

**-In the combat clearing-**

“…thirteen…fourteen…fifteen…”

The Lyoko Warriors held the fifteenth pushup.

“Hold that fifteen! Hold it…hold it, I said.” Jim paced around.

Jeremie collapsed…and soon after, Cassidy followed.

Jim then turned around. “Alright, alright. One, two, three, four. On your feet. Breathe in, breathe out.” He mimed jumping rope. “Easy does it. Easy does it. Two, three, four, five.”

Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy followed.

The pink-haired girl looked to her knight in glasses in concern. “Jeremie, are you okay?”

“Not really, I feel awful,” Jeremie was sitting down.

A splitting headache hit the psychic girl.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing, Belpois? This is only the beginning. By the time I’m through with you, you’re going to be a man,” Jim told him. “So get up, now!”

Jeremie did so.

“Jim, don’t you think you’re overdoing it? We want training, not torture,” Yumi came in.

“Wrong again, young lady. You guys are all participating in Jim’s boot camp.”

Cassidy’s stomach kept gurgling.

“And that means two things: you sweat, and you don’t complain, unless you want ten extra pushups! From this moment on, we’re going to live and die as a group. Got it?”

Odd came up. “Okay, okay! No need to get carried away.”

“You got it, Odd?” Jim got in Odd’s face.

Everyone stood at attention. “Sir, yes, sir.”

Jim looked at everyone as if everyone shot off the wrong answer to his question, and then ran off. “Okay, let’s move. Three-mile run!”

He coached every step. “One, two…”

Odd, Cassidy, and Jeremie lagged behind. Odd was holding his sides. “Oh, my poor stomach. I should’ve never taken seconds of the tuna casserole after the beef stroganoff.”

“You think you’ve got it bad, Odd. I’m so hungry and still can’t hold down solids,” Cassidy frowned.

They kept walking up an embankment when Jim circled back around them. “Get those knees up, you soft-shell crabs, come on! Hey, Belpois, you couldn’t even outrun a one-legged chicken!”

The three picked up the pace as Jim chuckled.

“Left, right, left, right!” He chanted to the three.

“At this rate, we’ll need at least a week to recover from Jim’s camp,” Aelita commented as the three made it to the top. Odd and Jeremie hung onto each other to keep from collapsing. Cassidy felt bile rising again. “Odd, pass this onto Jim. I’m…about to laugh at the lions!” She dashed off.

Odd panted a hoarse laugh.

“It’s kinda useless.” Aelita looked at the now-two.

“Young lady, it—hey where’s McGuire?”

“She said something about laughing at lions and ran off, Jim,” Odd panted.

Jim didn’t look at all convinced. “Take five. I need to find McGuire.”

He rushed off into the bushes.

“McGuire…Cassidy?” He looked into the brush and found Cassidy giving an oral sacrifice at the altar of the porcelain god all over a shrub, then losing consciousness.

Jim’s heart pitied the girl. “Poor girl.” He picked her up effortlessly and carried her.

“Is she okay?” Yumi asked as they passed by.

“She lost her lunch and fainted.” Jim kept running until he was a tiny dot in the horizon.

“And she hasn’t said one Spanish word all day,” Jeremie noted, breath restored.

**-Meanwhile-**

Cassidy became aware of a cold sensation in her veins. _What’s going on? Why do my veins feel cold?_

She peeled her eyes open to take in the inside of a green tent. “What am I doing here?” She half-slurred.

“You got dehydrated, looked for O’Rourke, and fainted,” a voice nearly made her jump.

She looked to see the gym teacher-turned-commando boss. “Jim?”

“Yes, McGuire, it’s me. What happened out there? You’re usually semi-best in my class.” She could hear the concern in his voice.

“I’m not trying to be a snitch, but, Emily had a bad dream last night…”

“Say no more. I know exactly what you need.” He shuffled around the contents of the tent, trying to find the items needed to help the sick girl, but found nothing.

“I’ll go to Yolanda and get the supplies. I thought that I had them here!”

He dashed out. Cassidy started itching at the tape attached to her arm. “The water is so cold in my arm.”

She couldn’t rip the tape off.

A pink-haired head popped into the tent. “How are you feeling?”

“Arm feels cold, stomach feels sick, head is hurting, Jim says I’m dehydrated, I’m still screaming at the carpet—and that’s just about it,” Cassidy said.

Aelita sat down next to her and felt her forehead. “Rats, you’re burning up!”

“That aspirin I took when I had my nightmare—milder than Emily’s, I’m telling you—didn’t last long, did it?” She was resigned to the fact.

“These nightmares have to stop,” Aelita advised.

“I know. I try swearing off things that apparently cause nightmares and doing weird chores. That’s why you saw me raking the campus the other day. But they keep coming back. It’s _eviler_ than XANA,” she said.

“We’ll find a way soon.”

She shifted her attention to one of the folds of the tent. “I hope so.”

Just then, Jim came in with the supplies.

Aelita left the tent, saying a quick farewell to her friend.

“Okay, Yolanda says this will help you feel better and put your stomach right,” Jim said as he got them out of the bag. It was an IV bag.

She didn’t have the strength to refuse it. “I didn’t know that you were a medical professional, Jim.”

“Yep, it happened when I was in the Secret Service.”

“Something curious comes to mind, Jim. How come when it’s only me and you—student and gym teacher/commando captain—you feel like you would rather talk about it, but when I’m with others—like my friends or in with groups of students—you stay secret?” Cassidy wasn’t aware that Jim finally found a vein and had begun to insert the second IV.

“That’s what I think, too. I think it has to deal with when you came, my closed book came open.”

Cassidy felt something fiery in her veins. “Really?” Her eyes became a little drowsy. “Wow…”

“You’re not too shy on things either, McGuire. You took to Belpois, Della Robbia, Stones, Ishiyama, and Stern immediately.”

Everything around Cassidy blurred. “It’s in my nature.”

“Well, you rest now, okay? Everything will be okay, McGuire.”

Everything went black.

Jim sighed and then left the tent. “She would’ve been a great soldier.”

He went back to the group, and continued his talk to Aelita. “Young lady, it’s adversity that creates strength and courage, and that’s the shortest path to fame and glory.”

He ran through Yumi and Ulrich, who both had backed out of the way and looked to Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd, saying “hup” repeatedly.

Aelita looked a bit cross.

**-Next-**

Odd had a hard time pulling up and fell flat on his back.

“Cut the clowning, Della Robbia. This is not a circus,” Jim told him.

**-Later-**

Ulrich was almost to the top, but his vertigo was getting to him.

“Stern, don’t be a wimp. You’ve got nothing to be afraid of except a sore bottom.”

**-With Jeremie’s challenge-**

Jeremie’s vertigo also got to him.

“Come on, Belpois. No use hanging there like a wet sock on a clothesline!”

**-During crawling-**

Jeremie was doing fine and so was Odd. Yumi got her PE shirt and pants caught on the barbed wire.

“Move it. Get the lead out and crawl. Faster, ya hear!” Jim commanded.

**-The balance test-**

Jeremie and Odd were doing fine with balance. Aelita, though she didn’t mean to, went off-balance and fell flat on her back.

“Stones! I said _on top of it_.”

Jim stopped his stopwatch. “Not bad for the first time.”

Aelita regrouped with her friends, a hand on her back.

He looked to the now-five. “Right, let’s take a little break here, and then start a new workout.”

As soon as the six were lounging on the grass, Yumi picked up a subject. “Hey, you know what, Jim? We’d love to hear about your past life. I know you usually don’t want to talk about it, but since it’s just between us members of the same commando group…”

Jim cleared his throat, resting his arm on his knee. “Right, well then, listen up. Exceptionally to you, I’ll give you a quick rundown. It all began when I completed my training to become a visual education instructor. I was also a licensed Scuba diver. And that’s why the marines recruited me for their special forces. NASA heard of me and, since I was a Special Forces diver, they had me test out their space suits underwater. So after having received a medal from the president, I was then appointed to the Secret Service. Heh, heh…”

**-On Lyoko’s Forest Sector-**

A tower in the Forest Sector turned red.

**-Back to Jim’s interesting story-**

“…and believe me, Rosita Banana didn’t just play the accordion, she was also one heck of a pilot. When I arrived at Buenos Aires with my cameras her bi-plane bowled me over.”

Jeremie heard his laptop beep. Jim checked his stopwatch. “Right, break time is over now. A quick trot to shake off the rest.” He then started jogging with Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita not too far behind him, repeatedly saying, “Hup”, then, “Come on, people, let’s move it out.”

Jeremie opened his laptop bag, took out his computer, and saw…

“An activated tower,” he said. “We gotta end this circus, right now!”

He put away his laptop and looked to see the others gone. “Huh? They’re already ahead of me.” He put his bag on his shoulder. “Come on, you can do it, Jeremie,” he coached himself.

**-With Jim-**

Jim and the others were running down an incline when they stopped to see what looked to be a big pig. Its behavior looked normal.

“Uh, what kind of beast is that?” Ulrich stammered.

“How about that, a wild pig,” Jim was impressed.

Yumi, with the others, backed away from him. “But it’s _huge._ Let’s go another way!”

Jim looked back at his trainees. “Oh, relax, it’s nothing. I handled much worse than this back in Burma.”

The pig began to charge but the gym teacher kicked it out of the Lyoko Warriors’ way. It tried again, but Jim jump-rolled out of the pig’s line of attack.

It turned around, blinked twice. In its eyes was the **eye of XANA.**

Ulrich took notice. “Did you see it?”

“XANA!” Yumi said.

They ran to Jim's side.

“Hey, listen, Jim. It’s not a normal animal!” Ulrich pointed in the pig’s general direction.

“It’s not a wild boar!” Aelita cautioned.

“Right, it’s what I said. Just an overgrown pig,” Jim said. “That’s all.” He turned his attention to the boar. “Come to Jim, little piglet. Here, little piggy.”

Yumi’s concerns were raised. “No, I’m telling you, Jim. We’d much be better off getting out of here.”

Jeremie ran from the other side of a tree.

Aelita turned her head to him.

Jim looked to Jeremie.

The pig charged at the newest target.

He got in between them. “Look out, Belpois!”

He landed into the bushes.

“Jim! Jim, are you okay?” Jeremie knelt beside his gym teacher.

“Yeah, uh, sure how's the other guy?” Jim was in a daze.

The beast charged again, but this time, Ulrich picked up a rock and hurled it at the pig.

“Wow!” Odd was amazed. “Nice shot!”

Aelita was impressed. “Hey, Ulrich, you got a great arm.”

The XANAfied boar was not happy. Ulrich backed away. “I’ll create a diversion.”

“Good thing you’ve got fast legs, too! GO!” Yumi ordered her boyfriend.

Ulrich did as he was told and the boar followed.

“XANA sent this thing after us. We’ve got no time to lose. Get to the computer lab. Aelita can manage the virtualization process. Hurry up!” Jeremie ordered.

Aelita looked to her knight in shining glasses. “But what about you?”

“I better stay here with Jim and gather Cassidy at the medical tent,” Jeremie said. “If Ulrich can’t meet you guys, then all three of you are going to be needed on Lyoko.”

Odd, Yumi, and Aelita dashed off. “Good luck,” said his sweetheart.

“Jim!” He shook Jim. “Get up, Jim. I’ll help you and Cassidy.”

“Yes, Mr. President. The mission has to go on, whatever it takes. Even if it costs me my stripes,” Jim was still in a stupor.

Jeremie looked at him as if he had bats in the belfry.

**-With the three runners-**

Yumi took the lead with Aelita and Odd not too far behind her.

Suddenly Yumi took a right. “This way. It’s a shortcut.”

**-Meanwhile-**

Ulrich ran from the boar and climbed the wires to the top.

“Hey, it’s not so hard with a little training.”

**-With Aelita, Odd, and Yumi-**

They crawled underneath some low-hanging branches.

“Come on,” Aelita said.

“You can do it, Yumi,” Odd called to her.

Yumi was a little unsure, but crawled with her two friends.

**-With Ulrich and the boar-**

The boar backed up and ran away from Ulrich.

He took out his cell phone and called…

“Jeremie…I’m okay, but the boar is heading back your way. I’m off to join the others,” Ulrich informed.

**­-With Jeremie, Jim, and Cassidy-**

Jeremie hung his phone up. Jim rubbed his head, and Cassidy was still sleeping.

He looked to the outside of a cave. “We have to find a way to conceal our hiding place. I’ll camouflage it with some branches.”

Jim had a hand on his knee. “Give me a minute to get my strength back and I can help you. My leg is fine. I’m ready to walk again.” He tried to get up but let out a yelp of pain and sat back down.

“No, Coach. Don’t move. I’ll take care of it,” Jeremie went off.

**-Back with Yumi, Aelita, and Odd-**

Yumi, Aelita, and Odd ran across a log. Aelita held her balance greatly.

**-Back with Jeremie, Cassidy, and Jim-**

After Jeremie set up the last branch, he opened it up and went inside.

Cassidy started to wake up. “W-What happened?”

“You were sleeping, Cassidy,” Jeremie smiled a little.

She blinked wearily. “Why do I still feel drowsy?”

Jim looked to the IV bags that he had hung on a transportable hook.

“You’re drowsy because the medication is still running, McGuire.” He tried to stand but slumped down again.

“Jim…”

“Let me explain,” Jeremie told Jim.

So he explained what she had missed.

Suddenly, her powers clicked on. “Oh…well, at least I don’t feel like yelling at Ralph in sign language.”

“And this is horrible. I feel completely useless,” Jim lamented, “with this stupid broken leg I got.”

“Your knee is completely swelled up,” Jeremie noted. “You’ll need an X-Ray to see whether or not it’s broken. I’m going to have to immobilize it or it’s going to hurt even worse.” He gathered some twigs.

“Ulrich’s going to join Aelita, Odd, and Yumi, right, Jeremie?” Cassidy tapped her friend’s shoulder.

“Yes, he is.”

“Something tells me that the center Colby Jack Cheese is going to almost rot,” she whispered in all seriousness.

Jeremie nodded and retrieved a handkerchief from his laptop bag. Before he tore it, he stopped. _I better give Cassidy something to do._

“Hey, Cassidy?”

“Yes?” she looked to him.

“Do you have your USB Drive on you?” Jeremie asked.

“Yes, I do.” She pulled out a bluish flash-drive from her pocket.

He handed her his laptop. “I trust you not to mess with the various programs on my computer.”

“I won’t.” She inserted her purple and pink headphones (also in her pocket) and the flash-drive into his laptop.

As soon as Cassidy was typing, Jeremie resumed his work.

**-With Odd, Aelita, and Yumi-**

Odd, Aelita, and Yumi made it to the Red Trail Crossroads and stopped.

“We’re almost there,” Yumi panted.

Odd stood up from where he was. “Okay, just one last sprint. The factory’s not much further.”

The three started to run again. XANA was at an all time high priority.

**-With Jeremie, Cassidy, and Jim-**

Jeremie finished the wrapping on Jim’s knee. Cassidy advised while typing on her stories:

_Vanessa had fear in her stomach, but fury at her heart. She didn’t know which emotion to feel._

_She decided at fury. “I didn’t want this, and you were so determined to get me that you shot my brother with a tranquilizer dart to prove it. Do you want to know what I think of it? I think it is despicable. You worthless Danger trashes are despicable! You think you have got the Jewel when all along you are so power-hungry, you got nothing.”_

Jim looked over her shoulder. “Wow, McGuire. You have very good writing skills.”

She smiled. “It’s not too complicated.”

As soon as Jeremie was done, Jim smiled. “Very good splint there, Belpois! I haven’t seen work like that in a long time.” A hint of a suspicious tease crossed him. “You never worked for the Magyar Commandos did you?”

“Jeremie…as a spy?” Cassidy pressed enter. “That’ll be the day.”

Jeremie smirked. Cassidy was starting to get better.

“No, just a question of common sense. An injured joint won’t get any worse if it doesn’t move,” he told Jim.

“Exactly,” Jim smiled. “You would’ve made a good soldier, Belpois, if only you had a little more muscle. And you, too, McGuire, but with stamina.”

“Maybe you don’t know this, but the brain is kinda like a muscle and that’s the one in particular that I’ve been exercising the most,” Jeremie pointed to his head.

**-At the factory-**

Odd, Aelita, and Yumi raced for the supercomputer in the Lab. Aelita took the hot-seat immediately.

“Come on! Every second counts!” Yumi hastened for her to hurry on the keys.

She typed. “I’m on it, but I’m not as fast as Jeremie.”

A window popped up, showing the Chamber to the Core of Lyoko. Aelita took a little gasp. “XANA’s sent William and some monsters into the Core Chamber.”

**-In the Chamber to the Core of Lyoko-**

William flew with his Manta around the others and thrust his sword forward. **“Fire!”**

The Mantas fired at the Core’s protective shield layers.

**-Back to the Lab-**

“You two, get down to the scanner room. You’ll have to protect the Core of Lyoko,” Aelita commanded.

“But what about the tower,” Yumi asked.

“I guess I’ll have to manage that alone.”

The elevator opened again.

“No, not alone. Old, reliable Ulrich is here.” The samurai boy stepped forth.

“Ulrich!” Yumi rejoiced.

He got within hugging distance of her. “I shook off the wild boar, but it went back into the forest. I’m afraid it could find Jim, Cassidy, and Jeremie.”

“We better not waste any time,” Aelita said.

**-Back to Jim, Cassidy, and Jeremie-**

Jim, Cassidy, and Jeremie were just sitting in their shelter when the former found a leaf on the Kadic K of his sweatshirt. He took a sniff at it upon picking it up and passed it on to Cassidy. “It’s got a funny smell.”

She took it and sniffed. “I know the smell, but I think Jeremie should take this one.” She passed it on to her friend.

He sniffed it as soon as he grabbed it. “Peppermint. My parents have some of it in their garden.”

Cassidy gasped, making a typo in her writing. “The boar’s sense of smell! He’ll come back for us!”

“He sure will. There’s a good chance of that…” Jim trailed off.

**-To the Scanner Room-**

Odd and Yumi raced for each of the scanners. Yumi took the center one while he took the one to her right.

 _“Are you ready?”_ Aelita asked.

Ulrich had a determined-angry look on his features that turned into a smile.

_“Transfer, Odd, Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Odd, Scanner, Yumi. Virtualization.”_

The two were sent to Sector 5.

_“I already called up your vehicles. They’ll be waiting for you at the Celestial Dome. No time to lose.”_

“Got it.” Yumi took the lead and Odd followed.

**-Back to Jim, Cassidy, and Jeremie-**

“Jeremie, go get some peppermint leaves for us to rub ourselves with. I’ll stay here to keep Jim Company and to write,” she ordered.

Jeremie nodded. Seeing how Cassidy did an Uncle Fester so far today, she’d better stay where she was at.

He left the shelter.

“You know how to order like a captain, McGuire,” Jim was impressed.

She shrugged. “It just comes to me at times.”

**-With Aelita and Ulrich-**

Aelita met up with Ulrich in the Scanner Room. As soon as they took their scanners, she said, “Okay, I started up a delayed virtualization program.”

“Where’s the activated tower?”

“In the Forest Sector.” The doors closed and they were sent to the right location.

“Wow, valet parking, that’s classy.” Ulrich hopped on his OverBike and Aelita followed.

“Come on, Ulrich. Rev it up!” she smiled at him.

The two went off to find the tower.

**-With Jeremie, Jim, and Cassidy-**

Jeremie returned with a big bushel of leaves. “Okay, Jim, take some mint and rub it on yourself.”

Cassidy took her share and rubbed it on herself.

“It should be enough to hide our scent.”

Jim did as told.

“It’s a nauseating odor…”

“Better than rubbing ourselves with caribou doody, that’s for sure,” Cassidy kept rubbing herself.

“Oh, I don’t know.”

**-Back to Odd and Yumi-**

Odd and Yumi got on their vehicles.

“I feel a lot better on this machine than on Jim’s ropes,” Odd commented as they took off.

**-Back to Jim, Cassidy, and Jeremie-**

“Okay, now all we can do is wait,” Jeremie said as soon as they used up all the leaves.

Cassidy’s stomach growled loudly in hunger.

“Cassidy! That loud noise will cause the boar to find us,” Jim reprimanded.

“I didn’t mean to. Tengo hambre,” she squeaked in protest.

“Oh…” Jeremie realized. Now that she had stopped barking at the ants, her hunger ripped back online. “And let’s hope that the others…”

“Manage to either find help or disinfect the cheese?” Cassidy guessed.

“Hey are you two delirious or what?” Jim asked.

“Just um…daydreaming, Jim.”

“Why don’t you tell us about when you were in Canada,” Jeremie picked the subject.

“Ah, well that is a long story,” Jim recounted.

**-Back to Aelita and Ulrich-**

Ulrich drove along the path with Aelita as his passenger to an open area of land and stopped. “But where’d the tower go?” he asked.

Aelita looked. “I don’t get it. It must be a calibration error. Without Jeremie or Cassidy to guide us, this won’t be easy.” A Krabe clunked up behind them. “Ulrich! Watch out!”

They drove around to avoid both the trees and the laser.

Unsheathing one of his four katanas, Ulrich blocked one of the Krabe’s lasers when a second Krabe hit the playing field.

As the OverBike hit a bit of ground like a ramp, Aelita called out, “Energy field,” and hit the beast dead center.

It exploded just as the two hit the path once again and braked.

“Well anyway, with all these troops around, the tower can’t be that far.” Ulrich looked into the horizon.

**-Back to Yumi and Odd-**

Yumi and Odd made it to the chamber room. As soon as she was off her OverWing, Yumi tripped the Key mechanism that materialized the stairs.

Odd was the first to jump on the stairs and keep going. Yumi followed. When they reached the top, they looked up.

The Mantas were still firing on the shield layers with William commanding the helm. **“Attack!”**

Two Mantas swooped down to attack the two Lyoko Warriors.

The two hopped the stairs.

Two lasers nearly hit Odd, but he jumped back and dodged a third. “Whoa. Beware of falling objects!” he muttered.

Just as he was about to catch up, Yumi deflected the lasers using her fans.

Odd caught up and looked. “Hey, isn’t that Cassidy’s boyfriend up there?” He pointed a pinky claw up in William’s general direction.

The aforementioned guy looked at the now-cat warrior.

Yumi tossed her fans down. “He’s not her boyfriend anymore!”

The fans missed the two Mantas, at first, but one hit them on the rebound.

She gathered them. “He’s a little too clingy for her now anyhow!”

**-Back to Cassidy, Jim, and Jeremie-**

“And that is when I found out that as far back as a century I was a full-blooded Indian,” Jim said.

Jeremie heard a noise and shushed Jim and stopped Cassidy from typing another character.

The boar sniffed around but then went away.

Jeremie sighed in stiff relief.

“It looked like your little trick worked,” Jim complimented.

“Yeah, the mint smells strong enough now to trick him, but how much longer will it last?”

“I give it a few minutes,” Cassidy whispered. “That’s all I can promise, Jeremie.”

**-With Ulrich and Aelita-**

Ulrich and Aelita drove for a few miles trying to find the activated tower.

“Still nothing,” Ulrich said.

“Alright, we have to go back to where we started. The tower has to be there.”

“Okay, here we go.” He turned around on his OverBike and sped back to where they came from.

A laser connected to Ulrich’s side and he was thrown off the vehicle.

Aelita desperately tried to hold on but the vehicle capsized, throwing Aelita off, and hurtled directly into a tree.

It seemed that the Krabe found another friend.

The “buddy” advanced on Aelita. “Energy field!” She called and threw her field.

The Krabe merely dodged the sphere and kept advancing.

Meanwhile, Ulrich woke up, shaking off the force of the impact, and saw Aelita trying to hold her own in front of the enemy.

He had to get up. So he did so, drew his katanas, but was blindsided by a laser from the first Krabe. He devirtualized.

**-Back to Jeremie, Cassidy, and Jim-**

The boar’s head came through the shelter.

“He found us. What do we do now?” Jim asked the two.

“Yeah, Jeremie?” Cassidy turned to her friend.

Jeremie looked up at the bags, still attached to her arm.

“Cassidy, I really hope you can forgive me after this,” he squeezed on the sedation bag hard.

She slowly started to flutter to sleep again.

Then he started screaming like a madman and ran out of the shelter. “Hey, what are you waiting for? I’m over here!” He kept yelling like his pants were on fire. “Hey! Follow me!”

The boar turned around and followed.

Jim scooted out of the cave to see what was going on. He then looked to the sleeping girl with Jeremie’s laptop on her lap. _She’ll be okay in here._

Then he went back to watch the action. “That kid doesn’t have much muscle, but he sure is big on guts!”

**-Back to Odd and Yumi-**

The Mantas fired upon Odd and Yumi, but they fought back.

She tried a fan on one of them, but the Manta dodged and it barely nicked the Core.

“The first shield layer is about to give,” Yumi said. “We have to do something.”

Odd shot a few arrows, but kept on missing. “I know, and I got an idea!”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” she couldn’t help but wonder.

“Skydiving!” Odd hollered and jumped over the edge, digging his claws into the Manta’s rubber-like membrane.

William saw, then thrust his sword again. **“Attack!”**

The Manta he wasn’t riding on looked down at it as if in question, and so did his Manta.

Odd smiled as he successfully tamed the wild one. “Go get ’em, guys!”

Wild laser fire took hold. Then, William’s Manta shot at Odd’s and he got off before it exploded.

“YEAH!”

As he jumped on the next step, he looked back to see Yumi catching up.

Then he snapped back to attention. “Shield!”

His shield didn’t last long as the Manta shot at and devirtualized him.

Yumi drew her fans and threw them at the Manta, killing it on impact.

William wasn’t thrilled, but hopped off his monster as the fan killed it as well.

Now it was just Yumi and the opposition.

**-Back to Jeremie and the boar-**

Jeremie ran, jumped up, climbed a tree, and looked down. The boar had followed his every step. He started to shimmy down the ropes when the boar rammed the tree, almost knocking him off balance.

“Oh, no! I better get it right this time,” he muttered.

The boar rammed the tree again.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita dodged two lasers and threw an energy field at the Krabe. It missed but she tried again. The third time worked very greatly.

She ran from the other one.

 _“Aelita, how are you doing?”_ Ulrich asked.

“Ulrich, tell me where the tower is! Hurry!” she kept running.

**-Back to Ulrich-**

“You should be next to it according to this!” He wasn’t too confident on what the screen showed.

**-Back to Aelita-**

“That’s impossible! I can’t see it. How come?” She kept running.

The Krabe charged up its laser and fired.

Aelita jumped to dodge then fired an energy field. It dodged. The field kept going and hit the tower. “Got it!” She smiled in victory. “The tower was invisible, but I got it!”

**-Back to Jeremie and the boar-**

Jeremie kept a hold on the lines and was almost to the other side when the boar rammed the tree again, this time knocking Jeremie’s feet off the lower line.

The pig went underneath him.

**-Back to Yumi-**

William charged at Yumi, who ducked. His zabanto was caught in the next step.

Yumi kicked him in the face, finally, payback for her friend.

He panted but got up, mind dragging his big sword back to him. She was wise to jump off and unsheathe her fans.

She threw one of them, but he slashed at them, deflecting their path. **“That was a volley shot. It’s all over for you.”**

She threw again, but he jumped and dodged it.

Yumi got down on her back and kicked him into the path of her fan, getting rid of William easily.

“And I would call that wishful thinking, Ex-y,” Yumi caught her fan again.

**-Back to the boar-**

The boar walked around, waiting for Jeremie to drop off. He hung on tight. “I promise never to eat pork again!”

He was about to slip off when a stone connected to the pig’s snout.

“Okay, then, you piece of overgrown bacon. You thought I was going to let you off that easy?”

Jeremie dropped off behind the pig and ran a little ways away behind a tree. “I’m sorry, Jim. But you should never have left the cave.”

“Let me tell you, kid, you’ve got guts. But if you think I’d abandon my men under fire, you don’t know good-ole Jim!”

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita charged up an energy field and fired at it, giving her enough time to run into the invisible tower and rise up to the second platform.

**-Back to the boar-**

The boar ran after Jim. “Come and get me if you dare!”

It struck him again.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Her feet gently landed on the second platform.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

The boar charged at Jeremie.

**-Back to Aelita-**

She pressed a hand on the interface.

Aelita’s name scrolled on the screen. Then the word Code popped up on screen.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Jeremie braced himself for impact.

**-Back to Aelita-**

“Tower deactivated.”

**-Back to Jeremie-**

The boar stopped, sat confused, and then took off in a different direction, much to the relief of Jeremie.

**-Later on, the next day-**

Jim walked around on campus using a cane.

The gang watched. When he looked to them he waved at them with the cane hand, and then walked over to them.

“Hey, you didn’t do a return to the past. You sure Jim has forgotten everything?”

“Actually, Jim remembers. He just thinks that the pig had gone wild and tried to attack us,” Cassidy took the answer for Jeremie, fully recovered from the day before.

Everyone sighed in relief as Jim came within earshot.

“Well hello, there, Jim. It’s glad to see you back on two feet again,” Aelita smiled.

“More like three, huh? But it’s not too serious. Just a bad sprain and a nasty bruise.” Jim smiled. “I’ll be as good as new in two weeks’ time.”

“For us it’s really a shame. Just one day’s boot camp for two weeks of recovery.”

“Oh, don’t worry. That one day was very enlightening for me. You may not have been up for the commando level but you showed Great Spirit. You really did. As soon as I’m back in shape, I’ll give you lots of other training sessions. And I hope to see you all there.”

“Um…” Aelita said.

“Uh…not me. I’m booked to the end of the year. I got—uh—a sleep session,” Odd came up for himself.

“Honestly, Jim, it's too much of a—” Yumi started.

“A horror—uh, it's too much of an honor,” Ulrich finished.

“Well, I’ll go. I didn’t get to do much in camp,” Cassidy smiled.

“And I’ll be there, too,” Jeremie surprised the lot. “I owe you one, Jim.”

“Excellent, Belpois and McGuire. I knew I could count on you two kids.”

He gave a wave, then hobbled off.

“I must be dreaming.” Odd put his hands on his hips while sitting down. “‘Well, I’ll go’ ‘And I’ll be there, too’? Well, you two could’ve come up with a better answer than that. Like no, for instance, or never, or nein, or nyet!”

“You two must really like Jim’s torture,” Ulrich deadpanned.

“Let me tell you something, kid, you’ve got guts!” Jim’s words echoed around Jeremie’s mind.

While in Cassidy’s mind, they were, “Wow, McGuire. You have very good writing skills.”

 


	52. We all Need to Take a Hot Shower

**Whew…I might need a shower after this—a hot one at least.  
I don’t own Code Lyoko. I only own Cassidy. LyokoWarrior1994 helped in the production.  
-In outer space-  
** A rhino-shaped rock looked to be floating aimlessly in orbit.  
**-At the factory-  
** Jeremie was typing on something. “Okay, then. I’m uploading the program over to you. Now the Skid’s sonar should be able to differentiate bio-signals from the rest of the computer code in the digital sea.” **  
-With Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy-  
** “Okay, Jeremie, program received and activated,” Aelita said from inside the cockpit.  
Odd smiled. “And you think that with this we’ll be able to find where XANA’s keeping the spiritual essence of William prisoner.”  
Cassidy frowned at the mention. After the boar attack, William’s flirting attempts got much stronger. She once avoided Lyoko for a whole week to try to regain herself.   
“Let’s hope so. It’s the only chance we have with bringing him into the real world.” Aelita was in the cockpit.  
“Ah, the return of our tall, handsome hero. I’m sure Cassidy here would love to have him back,” Odd smirked.  
Cassidy looked to Ulrich, a look of begging in her eyes.  
Then Odd threw in another blow. “I’m sure Ulrich’s going to be thrilled to have his old rival back.”  
“Odd, sometimes we think you’re really a bit too much,” Ulrich took over.  
“Only sometimes? Oh, no, I must be slipping!” Odd teased.  
Cassidy shifted her eyes back, heart slipping into the deepest ranges of her stomach. “And I would like to know why William me dio un beso in Sector 5.”  
“You’re still on that?” Ulrich asked her. “Why?”  
“It’s a question in my heart left for the buzzards—unanswered if you will,” Cassidy nose-sighed. “I just don’t know the answer.”  
**-Back at the lab-  
** “Speaking of Yumi, I wouldn’t mind being in her shoes today,” Jeremie smiled.  
“Are you kidding,” Ulrich asked. “Helping around the outdoor science lab with sixth graders isn’t her idea of fun.”  
“Aw, come on, I’m sure she’s loving it.”  
**-Wrong, Jeremie-  
** “To mark the exceptional event of Comet VG724’s passage near Earth, we’re going to create a giant mock-up of our solar system to plot its path to better understand its periodic extra-solar orbit. Beside me, the scale model of the sun, as you can see,” Mrs. Hertz said through the megaphone on the track. “What you’re going to do now is to create eight planets which will orbit around it. So we’re going to break off into different teams, with one team responsible for one planet and its orbit.”  
Johnny looked to Yumi. “Ah, Yumi, I’d really like to be on your team.”  
She smiled. “Sorry, Johnny. It’s not up to me. It’s up to Mrs. Hertz.”  
“Are there any questions?” Mrs. Hertz asked.  
Johnny waved his hands back and forth in the air like a lunatic. “Could I be on Yumi’s team, huh, ma’am?” There was scattered laughter amongst the other graders, making Yumi uncomfortable.  
“Okay, Johnny, but don’t let me catch you clowning around with Hiroki,” the teacher reminded. She didn’t do much to change her outfit, but she did add a necklace.  
Johnny was very excited. “This is going to be a lot of fun, huh?”  
Yumi gave a very unconvincing thumbs-up.  
**-With Jeremie-  
** Jeremie watched the news.  
The reporter gave this: _“The mass and velocity of the comet known as VG724 are so great, that striking the earth would provoke an explosion to the equivalent of one thousand times the strength of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Subsequent earthquakes and tsunamis would destroy the world’s major cities. Atmospheric debris would block out the sun in a long night lasting two centuries. Consequently this will spell mass extinction for flora and fauna and the entire human race. Of course, there is no risk of this happening, since the comet will pass no closer than um…well, two million kilometers from our planet. We also have been informed from highly confidential sources that our government operates a secret military satellite armed with laser cannons sufficiently powerful to be able to alter the path of any interstellar threats such as this.”_  
**-With the Skidbladnir-  
** Aelita checked the enhanced radar. “The detection spectrum is honing in. The sonar is picking up a trace of digital DNA in the area. It might be William, or even maybe…” she trailed off.  
“Your father? Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go check it out,” Ulrich said.  
Aelita took hold of the thrusters and pulled them toward her. “Okay.”  
**-With Yumi-  
** Jim rolled in with the supplies. Mrs. Hertz handed out the envelopes containing each team’s planet. He handed out what they needed.  
Johnny opened his envelope and his eyes widened. “Oh, too cool! Hey Yumi, guess what. We get to do planet Earth!”  
Yumi nodded with an air of boredom. “Yeah, great, this is my lucky day.”  
Hiroki looked to Johnny with their supplies. “Earth and the moon.”  
“Yippee, and to think Jeremie wanted to take my place,” she sounded unconvinced. _Today will be a boring one,_ she thought. Unless Cassidy’s visions have something to say, I think today will be about as fun as tractor pulling.  
Mrs. Hertz came back to the scale model of the sun. “Now don’t forget, the sun here should be the center of your calculated orbits, right? And sixth graders, make sure you know your planetary scale in relation to the sun. May I remind all of you that this exercise will be graded. Now get to work.”  
Jim walked onto the field. “Just a second, Suzanne. I have a very important safety announcement.” He took the megaphone from her and said, “Now about the pole. I’d like to call your attention to an important textual aspect that they have two ends. One is pointy and sharp, that’s the end you put into the ground. You try doing it the other way, you might hurt yourself pushing on the pointy end.”  
Sophie rushed across Jim’s way and grabbed the poll. “Come on, you’d have to be an idiot not to figure that out.”  
Jim showed a sheepish look as his bandaged hand was facing Mrs. Hertz. She rolled her eyes. Sophie is right. Only an idiot could do that sort of damage. **  
-In the Desert Sector-  
** A tower turned red. **  
-With Jeremie-  
** Jeremie looked as the super-scan showed. “Ugh, why now? Why can’t we go on an exploratory mission in peace for once?” Blaming XANA, he rubbed his head. “Well, XANA, what do you have in store for us this time?” **  
-Meanwhile, in outer space-  
** The military satellite’s laser fired at Comet VG724 and it broke off into seven pieces. Now they were hurtling toward Earth.  
**-Back to the Skidbladnir-**  
Aelita was getting closer to their target when she heard Jeremie say, _“Sorry, Aelita, you’re needed back on Lyoko on the double. Activated tower.”  
_ “Got it  Jeremie. I’m turning around.” She tapped on the mini-keyboard and turned the Skidbladnir around.  
**-Back to Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny-  
** Yumi was walking with her notepad and then saw Hiroki spinning something red and yellow. “Okay, I’m done. What do you think of my planet Earth?”   
Johnny had a clay sphere with a smile on his head. “Look Yumi the moon is yours for the asking.” Johnny chuckled a little.   
Yumi smiled with a scoff. “Yeah right. Hiroki doesn’t the Earth have another name?”   
Hiroki was still spinning the red ovular sphere and said, “The blue planet yeah I know.” He raised his other hand up and made the red sphere spin faster. “I was using a little imagination, like if there was a Mars attack.”   
“And you Johnny? Do you really think anything can grow on the moon?” Yumi turned to him.  
“Well no, but I figured it would be  more poetic with plants.”  
“Both of you start over and fix it!” Yumi demanded.  
The projects fell off their creators’ finger/head.  
Johnny looked at Yumi surprised. Hiroki patted his buddy’s shoulder. “Forget it! Imagination and poetry are wasted on her.”

“Please! It’ll take a miracle to get me out of this,” Yumi looked to the sky before burying her face with her notebook. Just then, as if by luck for the Japanese Lyoko Warrior, her phone rang. “Hello? Yes Jeremie?” She looked up. “An activated tower? Wow! Thank you, XANA.” She smiled.  
**-At the Lab-  
** “Huh? What are you talking about?” asked Jeremie a bit flabbergasted. **  
-With Yumi-**

“Oh nothing, on my way right now.” Yumi hung up.  She raced to the factory.

 **-Back at the lab-  
**_“Some breaking news. It appears that the comet VG724 has broken apart,”_  the news lady said.  
“What is going on around here?” Jeremie asked as a window of data popped up.  
“Um… _for reasons yet unknown—correction: Um… International observatories have now confirmed that all is well with the comet, and it will simply crash on—”_ She messed with her notes—“ _uh…nowhere! As you know it will pass very far from Earth. And anyway we can always obliterate it with military satellites.”_ She put a finger to a communications device in her ear. It took a second. _“Which of course don’t exist, this is just a little April fool joke from our producer. So  that’s it! Farewell—I mean more news later.”_ The news lady laughed uneasily.   
“Uno, it’s not April. Dos, something is going haywire.” Jeremie started typing on the keyboard  “Let’s see. Orbital observation program. Comet VG724.” A program popped up. It was a KIWI Search Engine that Odd constantly begged Jeremie to make. To pacify him, Jeremie did, on the condition that anyone could search on it.  
**-Back in the Digital Sea-  
** The others were making their way toward Lyoko.

 _“_ _Aelita I just figured out XANA’s attack. XANA used a satellite to change the course of a comet. It’s gonna create a meteor shower, that will pour down on Earth.”_ Jeremie said.  
**-Back at the Lab-**  
_“What?”_ Aelita asked. _“Are you sure?”_  
_“XANA, YOU ARE SO MUERTO WHEN JEREMIE MAKES THAT DEMISE PROGRAM!”_ Jeremie flinched and almost dropped the communicator in his ear when Cassidy yelled.  
“Well actually according to my calculations most of the meteorite should burst up completely in the atmosphere. On the other hand, there’s a huge chunk behind it that will crash directly into—oh, no! Into the factory!”   
**-Back with the Skid-  
** “Jeremie you have to get out of the factory right now.” Aelita said.   
_“_ Jeremie please listen to Aelita and get out.” Cassidy gripped the torpedo firer and squeezed on it as if it was a tiny tube-like lifeboat.  
**-With Jeremie-  
** “I can’t do that! If the computer gets destroyed you guys will be stuck in the digital sea at XANA’s mercy.” Jeremie tapped his fingers on the armrest. “No! We have to deactivate the tower.” **  
-Back with the Skid-  
** “Relax Jeremie,  we’ll do it in no time.” Odd said.  
“Yeah but that’s not gonna stop the meteorite from falling.” Ulrich was trying to calm Cassidy down to the best of his ability.  
**-Back with Jeremie-  
** “That’s true and that’s why I am staying here at the control center—to launch a return to the past before we’re hit by it.” Jeremie couldn’t bear to leave his friends. If he left, he would put his friends’ and sweetheart’s lives at risk. He would not forgive himself whatsoever if that happened.  
**-Back with the Skid-  
** “Okay.”  Aelita said then boosted the speed of the skid. “Full speed ahead.”   
“ _You got a hub bearing northwest position under the data bank shelf.”_  
“Got it.” Aelita pulled on the main thruster and went under one of the network’s interconnected databases. After they had gone a few knots, she spotted something on her radar. “Hub dead ahead.”   
**-With Yumi-  
** Yumi was running in the woods, when her cell phone started to ring.   
“Jeremie? Yeah, I’m almost there.” she stopped and asked, “What?”   
**-With Jeremie-**  
“Yeah, a meteorite and considering its mass it will not only obliterate not only the factory but also the entire area, including the academy,” he warned. “The others are on their way back, they’ll meet you on Lyoko. Yumi are you there?” asked Jeremie.  
**-With Yumi-**  
She looked back at the school. “Hiroki!” She whispered. It would be her fault if she didn’t do something fast. “Sorry Jeremie I’ll be right there but I uh…got something important to do.” she said.  
**-With Jeremie-**  
“Yumi this isn’t the time. We need you immediately! Yumi?” asked Jeremie.  
**-With Yumi-  
** Yumi had turned off her cell phone, and started running back to Kadic.  
**-With Jeremie-  
** “Yumi!” he exclaimed.  
_“Relax, Jeremie, something in my visions tells me that Yumi went back to Kadic. Hiroki and Johnny are there not to mention all of the other student and teachers.”_ Cassidy said. _“She won’t come here this Lyoko trip, but next time she will.”_ **  
-With the group-  
** The digital sea started to turn red. Just then, they went into a circular trap. The lights in the Skid went out. The passengers were looking a bit terrified.  
“Holy cow, what is that?” Odd asked.  
There was an alarm. “A fire wall, that’s got to be a program from XANA.” Aelita said as she touched the keypad. “I’ll get us of out it.”  
After a few seconds, she pressed a white button and tried to move forward. The Skid was flung back into the trap. “It’s not working. Jeremie we got a problem.” **  
-With Jeremie-  
** “I see it Aelita. I’m already on it.” Jeremie started typing.  
**-With Yumi-  
** Yumi was now running back to Mrs. Hertz’s class, and she got to Hiroki and Johnny. Hiroki held up the newly painted Earth model. It was purple with red now. “Hey, where’d you go? Look, I painted over it with blue. Now look at this awful color.”  

Yumi placed a hand on Hiroki’s shoulder and said, “Hiroki, I want you to go home right now. Okay? Take Johnny with you. I’ll meet you there later.”  
“What? What about Mrs. Hertz’s class?” asked Hiroki.  
“Hiroki! You heard me.” Yumi pointed to an exit.

“What’s the matter with you? Did you get into a fight with Ulrich or Cassidy?” asked Hiroki.

She growled and raced off to the teachers.  
“By the way Suzanne how is it going  with Pedro?” asked Jim.  
“Oh please really Jim? Not around the students.” Mrs. Hertz looked about ready to blush.  
“Mrs. Hertz, we have to evacuate the academy,” Yumi said.  
“What are you talking about, Yumi?” asked Mrs. Hertz.   
“Well, it’s—uh—I know this may sound crazy but a meteorite is going to hit right here where we are standing.”  
“Hold on now Ishiyama. I told you eating that raw fish is no good for you.” Jim looked at her with a look that obviously said, “You can’t fool me twice.”  
“No I  swear it’s true. I just found out from—a friend who works at the national observatory,” Yumi lied.  
Just then the meteors had entered the atmosphere, and began pouring down. Students were amazed, even Jim. “Wow, great fireworks.” Jim said through the megaphone.   
Mrs. Hertz wasn’t so convinced however  
“Jim, we have to evacuate the academy.” she said.  
“Huh?”   
**-Back with the group-  
** The Skid, still pulled in the fire wall, was struggling. Aelita had pressed some keys, and she said, “The firewall’s energy is set up along a fairly basic algorithm.  All we have to do is crack it, and we’ll slip through a breach in security.”   
**-With Jeremie-  
** Jeremie was typing some keys. “Good idea. Hey,  I think I finally understand was XANA is up to.”  
“ _Bravo, Einstein you finally realized that he wants to destroy the supercomputer to keep us from coming in and pulling the virtual carpet from under him?”_ Odd asked.

 _“Odd,”_ Cassidy almost scolded.  
“Well obviously.” He pressed a key. “But this time he picked the most perfect moment.” **  
-In the Skid-  
** “Of course. By destroying the supercomputer, XANA will not only destroy Lyoko, but more importantly our only way back into the real world.” Aelita said.  
“Jeepers, XANA sure has got us good this time.” Cassidy shook her head. “I don’t think even my recent not-so-sporadic-now pesadillas can keep up with this.”  
“But why would he want to trap us here?” asked Aelita. **  
-With Jeremie-  
** “To get a hold of you and Cassidy, Aelita. You two are the ones XANA has wanted to catch since we recreated Lyoko. It’s called killing two birds with one stone,” Jeremie explained. **  
-Back with Yumi-  
** “Come now Suzanne this is ridiculous! are you absolutely sure it couldn’t have been from something else? Fireworks for example?” Mr. Delmas asked.  
Mrs. Hertz shook her head.

“That’s what I keep telling her, but I think she overdid it with the mint tea,” Jim said.  
Mrs. Hertz pushed her glassed toward her nose. “I know what I saw Jean-Pierre, it was a meteor shower. We have to get the students to safety now.”  
Mr. Delmas looked over to the students, and then back to Mrs. Hertz. “Fine, as a precaution I am willing to go ahead and evacuate the academy but I don’t want any panic.”

Yumi smiled and gave the two teachers two thumbs-up. **  
-Meanwhile in Space-  
** The meteors were still flying toward the Earth, and the one that is supposed to destroy the factory was being shown. **  
-Back in the digital sea-  
** “Got it. I found a weak link to the algorithm. It’s as plain as day. The system overcompensates pressure. But it takes three milliseconds to reverse its polarity.” **  
-Back in the Lab-  
** “Of course, by synchronizing the initial pressure you can neutralize the sinusoidal distortion, Aelita.”   
“Translation?” asked Odd.   
- **Back in the Skid-** **  
** “Rubber band system, hang on.” Aelita pressed some buttons. She then pulled a handle, and the vehicle backed up into the back of the firewall. “Stand by for slapping the turbo prob. Ready? And NOW!” She slammed her fist down on a button.

The firewall released as the Skid rocketed through the digital sea. The passengers tried to hold on tight.   
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “Nice one, Aelita. Now get over to the hub. We need you back on Lyoko ASAP.” Jeremie said.   
**-Back in the Skid-  
** Aelita pulled herself together, and took the handle. “Roger.” She started up the Skid and they smoothed over to the hub. The sea now turned blue.  
“Everyone okay?” Aelita asked.  
“My breakfast wants to come back up and say hello. But otherwise, all is well.” Odd gripped his stomach.  
“My stomach is like that too.” Cassidy grabbed hers. “Ugh, Rosa will hate me for losing a waffle in a virtual world.”  
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “They’re never gonna get there in time.  Unless I-” Jeremie snapped his fingers. “Yeah, if only I can manage and regain control of that satellite even for a minute, I just might get the meteorite to change its course again.” He reached for the keyboard, and clicked a button. “Let’s see, defense department. Top secret data…password…” He typed in some words. “Piece of cake.”   
**-Back at the School-**

The students unaware of the situation, Johnny and Hiroki were reworking on the projects. However, Jim turned on the megaphone. “Okay, fire drill, everybody. I want all of you to make your way calmly to the main gate.”  
“Not again.” a student moaned.  
“Another drill.” another student moaned.   
**-Back in the digital sea-  
** “Hub in sight, 30 seconds to dive.” Aelita said.   
**-Back in the lab-  
** “Bingo! Well, now I’m just gonna need a transition relay to link up to the satellite.” Jeremie said, and then adjusted his communicator. He started dialing for Yumi on the supercomputer.   
**-Back at the School-  
** Yumi had her arms crossed with one another as Hiroki and Johnny passed by her. She then put them in her pocket, and began walking until her phone rang. “Jeremie?” She picked it up. “Yes, I’m still at school! I’m really sorry but I had to—”   
- **Back at the Lab-** **  
** “Don’t worry, Yumi, Plan B time. In fact, I’m glad you haven’t left school, yet.”  Jeremie smiled.   
**-Back at Kadic-  
** “Your laptop? Okay, I’ll go to your room and get it. Then what?” Yumi asked as she passed by the Science building. “Um, okay.” She pressed the off button. She started to run to Jeremie’s room.

Johnny noticed this and looked to Hiroki. “Hey, where’s your sister going?”  
“Only one way to find out.” Hiroki said, and the two began to walk away from the other students and in Yumi’s direction.   
**-Back in the Digital sea-  
** The Skid closed in on the Hub.  
**-Back in the Lab-  
** Jeremie was typing some keys and asked, “Do you read me Aelita?”   
**-Back in the digital sea-  
**_“I’m entering the coordinates for Lyoko._ ”  
“Stand by for broadband acceleration in three, two, one, zero.” The Skid dived into the Hub.  
**-Meanwhile in Outer Space-**  
The meteorites were still pouring down into the Earth. The bigger one was getting closer.  
**-Back at school-  
** Jim had seen the meteorites falling, and said, “Take cover.” and went to ground. Students were murmuring, and Jim got up and laughed until he realized that his megaphone was broken.   
“It’s a meteor,” a student said, then more students had said it.  
“Calm down, calm down, right now!”  Jim shouted.   
**-With Yumi-  
** Yumi opened the door to Jeremie’s room, and grabbed the laptop. She than picked up her phone and said, “Jeremie, we’re good. I just picked up your laptop.”   
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “Head to the roof of the Science building and hook it to the antenna.”   
**-Back with Yumi-  
** “I’m on it.” Yumi began running to the Science building.  
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “And hurry up.” Jeremie said.  
**-Back with Yumi-  
** Yumi ran out of the boys’ dorm, but what she didn’t know was that Johnny and Hiroki was behind her. The latter opened the door, and began chasing after her along with the former.   
**-Back with the group-  
** The group rose up out of the digital sea, and was in Desert Sector. Aelita had pulled the Skid up, and they got to the high grounds.  
“Okay Jeremie, we’re back on Lyoko. Where’s the activated tower?” Aelita asked.  
_“Desert Sector quadrant 57, 42.”_  Jeremie informed.  
“Roger.” Aelita pulled the steering thruster and boosted the Skid’s engine just long enough to be above the grounds of Lyoko. By that time, she spotted the tower.  
“There it is.” Aelita said.   
**-With Yumi-  
** Yumi rushed into the Science building, and ran up the steps that led to the top of it. Not too far behind were Hiroki and Johnny. They followed her. Yumi then got to the door that led to the roof. She tried to open it, but the opening wouldn’t open. Yumi kicked on it once, groaned an “Oh, no!”, and continued on hitting and kicking the door out of frustration.   
“That Security Door vs. Yumi’s Ankle. I bet on the door.” Hiroki said. Yumi turned around some of her hair over her face, “What do you two think you’re doing here?”  
**-Back on Lyoko-  
** The Skid was just a couple feet away from the activated tower. “Here we go.” Aelita said then typed some of the keys, and then said   
“Teleport.”   
Ulrich, and Cassidy were teleported out of the skid. Just then, a Kankrelat had showed up.  
“The tower is only 50 meters away.” Ulrich said.  
“How much time do we have Jeremie?” asked Cassidy.  
_“Enough, if you can get rid of your welcoming committee.”_  Jeremie said.  
The Kankrelat was about to fire, but then ran behind the tower. “He ran away, so why waste a laser arrow on a coward? Go on buddy he’s all yours.” Odd looked at Ulrich. Cassidy laughed.

“¡Ah, éles un cobarde!” she squealed.

Odd started racing followed by Ulrich, then Cassidy and Aelita. They then stopped. “Jeepers, this doesn’t look good.” Cassidy said.  
“Yeah, I agree.” Odd said.   
Two Tarantulas had showed up, and Ulrich had taken out two of his four katanas. Cassidy had gotten out one of her tubes. _Turn yourself into a bow and a quiver of arrows_ , she had thought. The tube had done just that, and one more Tarantula then showed up. Finally, William had showed up.  He materialized his zabanto. He had shaken his head, and then put the sword into the ground in a way said, “Ye shall not pass” again.

“All of a sudden that tower seems a lot further away.” Odd said.  
Cassidy’s stomach couldn’t help but agree, as she started to feel butterflies in it. She gulped. “I—uh…”

Aelita rubbed her arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

“But still. WHY in the ALMIGHTY UNIVERSE did I DATE that XANAFIED MINION?” she yelled in panic.

 **“The XANAFIED MINION has a name, you know,”** William catcalled from across the way.  
**Back with Yumi** **  
** “Maybe you should just tell us what you think you are doing.” Hiroki and Johnny advanced the stairs up to Yumi.

“I haven’t got time for you brats, go back outside,” Yumi said as she tried to get the door open but failed.  
Johnny had his arms crossed but with a smile. Hiroki said, “We know how to open it.”

“Shut up Hiroki, I’m sick of your lies,” she shouted.

“But it’s true, we can open any door.”  
Johnny nodded his agreement.   
“Well if you think you are so good then, be my guests.” She picked up the laptop.

“Okay, but first you got to tell us what you’re up to.” Hiroki said.

“Ugh, what have I got to lose? A meteorite is going to crash on the school. If I don’t connect this computer to the roof antenna now, then Jeremie won’t be able to access a satellite that might change its course. Understand?” Yumi held up the laptop.   
“A meteorite? Not bad, tell us what is really going on.” Hiroki said.   
**-Meanwhile outside-  
** A meteor hit the ground, causing a tremor in the earth.  
**-Back Inside-  
** Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny were forced onto the ground. The former got up and the first latter looked to the second latter. “Okay, okay. Let’s go Johnny.” The two crawled to the door. Hiroki got up and started picking the lock. He turned one of his tools around and then the other.

“Incredible.” Yumi said astonished.   
_Not to self, bring my diary with me from now on. Hiding it sure isn’t going to make a difference anymore,_ thought Yumi.

In time, everyone heard a click when Hiroki had pulled the handle.   
**-Back on Lyoko-  
** Aelita was hiding behind some rocks that were being fired at by the Tarantulas. Ulrich said, “Super Sprint!” He tried to super speed over to one Tarantula to attack him, but another one shot him in the stomach, sending him flying back. Odd flinched when he saw that.  
William stood there amused and his arms folded. The Tarantulas started firing and Odd said, “Laser arrow!”  But he missed. Cassidy tried using one of her own arrows, but missed as well. Ulrich rushed back.

“Hot.” Ulrich said.  
“Yeah, well this is the desert.” Odd said.

“How far did you fly, Ulrich?” There was a glint of humor in Cassidy’s eyes.

 _“He flew seventy yards.”_   
“This doesn’t look good. We’ll never get through,” Aelita looked at her friends.

“Yeah, I have to agree with you there Aelita.” Cassidy said.  
“You should never say never.” Odd said.

“Reminds me of the old trailer I saw when I was a girl. American Tail: Fievel Goes West,” Cassidy smiled.  
**-Back with Yumi-  
** Yumi was now on the roof of the science building along with Hiroki and Johnny.

“Okay, Jeremie, I am on the roof. Now what do I do?” Yumi asked.  
- **Back in the Lab-** **  
** Jeremie typed on some keys, and said, “Listen try to find the antenna cable.”   
**-Back with Yumi-  
** Yumi saw the antenna cable, and jumped for it, landing safely back on her feet. “Got it!”   
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “Great now cut it as cleanly as you can and stick it to the blue plug that is in the back of my laptop. Push it as hard as you can. We can’t strip the wire. There’s not enough time.”  
**-Back with Yumi-  
**_“It should work.”_  
“Great! What am I supposed to without a knife?” asked Yumi.   
Johnny took out his Swiss Army Knife. It unveiled so many tools, including scissors, a file, and a corkscrew.

“Huh?” wondered Yumi.  
**-Back on Lyoko-  
** The Tarantulas were still firing at the Ulrich and the others. Aelita had come out from behind a rock and fired an energy field at a Tarantula which combusted.   
“Nice one, Princess.” Odd said.

“Muy bien, Aelita.” Cassidy said.   
Just then the same Kankrelat staggered behind them and tried to fire at them, Odd readied his laser arrows. “A coward and a cheater?”

Ulrich used his super speed and took out the Kankrelat.   
“Hey!” He took offense.

“We got to change tactics!” the samurai said.   
William removed his sword, and started running toward them.  
**-Back in the Lab-**

“ _Okay, Jeremie, it’s in.”_ Yumi said.

“Great job,” Jeremie was about to start typing on the keys. “Now, let the duel begin.”   
**-Back with Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny-  
** Wind was brewing up, and the satellite sparked in purple electricity. Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny turned around toward the city.   
**-Meanwhile in outer space-  
** The electricity had gotten to the satellite.  
**-Back in the Lab-  
** A window had popped up, and red data was shown. “How did that rat XANA get on to me? How is it going over there Ulrich?” Jeremie looked at the screen.  
**-Back on Lyoko-  
** “Not so good Jeremie,” Ulrich looked at the scene.   
The others were being pushed toward the edge by William and his Tarantulas.

“Stay behind us, Aelita and Cassidy. We can’t afford to lose the both of you,” Ulrich said. “And without you, Aelita, we will never be able to deactivate the tower!”  
The Tarantulas were firing at them, and Ulrich blocked them with his katanas.   
“How can anyone be such a bad shot?” Odd jumped over them but the Tarantula shot him in the chest. He was now on the ground.  
“Odd!” both Cassidy and Aelita said as they went over to him.  
The Tarantula looked at them, but then started firing at Ulrich again.

“The Tarantulas haven’t even fired at us once.” Aelita said.

“Nor has William started flirting with me…yet. We still have one hundred life points,” Cassidy gulped before the word yet.  
William then showed up.

“Oh, me and my big mouth!”

“Well that’s because you got a couple of great bodyguards,” Odd smiled.  
**-Meanwhile outside-  
** The meteorite that was supposed to hit the school was now close to doing so.   
**-Back in the Lab-**  
Jeremie had stopped typing some keys, as he saw his screen. “Too late.” and then continued on typing again.   
**-With Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny-  
** Yumi had looked up, seeing the meteorites falling. She pointed  
“Get going you two, hurry up!” she said.

“But what about you?” Hiroki said.  
The sky was now very cloudy, and the wind had increased.  
“I can’t let go of the cable, beat it.” Yumi kept holding the computer.  
**-Back in the Lab-  
** “I’ll never make it. XANA is a flawless program and I’m only human.” Jeremie said while typing on some more keys.  
**-Back on Lyoko-  
** Ulrich was blocking the lasers, Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy behind him.

“This time, it’s all over.” Ulrich said.  
“No Ulrich.” Aelita said as she activated her wings.   
She got in front of Odd and Ulrich.

“What are you doing?” Ulrich asked.

“I’m forcing XANA to make a choice,” Aelita said. William growled angrily at this and pointed his zabanto at her.

Cassidy felt something strange cross over her. She rubbed her head as if she had a headache. _What’s going on?_

Odd looked back at her. “You okay, Cassidy?”

“I—I don’t know, Odd. It feels like something or someone’s taking over.” She almost fell to her knees. “I don’t know who it is, but I know—I know it ain’t XANA.”

Ulrich stopped defending and caught his friend. “If it’s not XANA, who is it?”

“I have no idea, Ulrich.”

“Hurry, Odd!” Aelita’s voice turned Odd to attention. “Devirtualize me.”

“Odd, don’t question it, just do so,” Cassidy gritted her teeth.

_“Odd, Cassidy and Aelita are right, it’s our only hope.”_

Just as Odd let loose a laser arrow, the sensation took Cassidy by storm.

_Cassidy, I’m not dead, but I’m here to help._

_Who are you?_ She asked in her mind.

_Just trust me. I can’t give you any hints right now. Activate your wings and shoot your arrows at the Tarantulas and your XANA-possessed friend. This’ll work._

Cassidy ran her hand across her heart-shaped pendant and flew off.

Odd looked at her appalled. “She’s going to get herself killed!” He ran off to her. “CASSIDY!”

“Odd, stay behind!” Cassidy growled. “I know what I’m doing!” She aimed an arrow at one of the Tarantulas. Keeping her distance from the ensuing lasers, her eyes glowed brown as she gave out a big yell. “YEAH!”

_Don’t get over-confident. We have the tower._

She let one of her arrows release, but missed. _Um…can I change into a gun?_

The mysterious voice in her head chuckled. _Of course. You’re very good at guns anyway._

She changed her bow and arrows into a gun and started an onslaught of bullets. The Tarantulas didn’t know what hit them when they combusted. She spotted her ex, standing as though stupefied, and catcalled, “Catch me if you can, Lady Killer.”

Okay, that did it. William growled heatedly as he dissolved into smoke in the ground and followed her. She dipped and soared, keeping in mind that her ex was on the chase.

Ulrich stood as though hit from behind with a cattle prod. “Did you see that?” he yelled at Odd.

“Yeah, I sure did,” he nodded.

She swooped under a rock outcropping and started to make her way through the Desert Sector to the activated tower.

_Swing upside-down and shoot. Your friend is right behind you. I’ll deactivate the wings for that time, and it’ll be up to you. I’m not going to leave you for now._

Sure enough, her wings disappeared and she flipped, the glow dissipating for the few minutes.

“She’s going to land headfirst, Ulrich. We need to do something,” Odd yelled.

Ulrich went into a lunge position. “Super—huh?”

Cassidy aimed her gun down and shot William in the chest. “You gave my love a bad name. I’m satisfied that Lady Luck, para tí, never smiles.”

She bent her knees as the acceleration of her own gravity started to pick up. The wings activated again and she was carried aloft.

**-Back in the Scanner Room-**

Aelita came out of the scanner. She clutched one side of her stomach and grimaced. _Maybe I should’ve asked Ulrich to do it._

She made her way slowly to the elevator.

**-With Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny-**

Hiroki slid down next to his sister. Johnny followed shortly afterward. Yumi wrapped her arms around the two of them. This was it. It was all over.

**-Back at Lyoko-**

“Look at Cassidy go,” Odd cheered as Cassidy landed next to the tower.

She walked inside the tower. Ulrich’s brows rose above his headband and his jaw dropped. Odd blinked with wide eyes. She wouldn’t be able to deactivate the tower, would she?

**-With Aelita and Jeremie-**

Aelita walked out of the elevator, feeling the phantom pain vanish, and went over to Jeremie. “To win, sometimes you gotta know how to lose.”

“Um…Aelita, I think you need to see this,” Jeremie looked at the screen as if he had seen a ghost.

**-With Cassidy-**

She rose to the second platform. _What am I doing? Isn’t Aelita supposed to take care of this?_

 _Yes, but she’s off Lyoko now. Let me take over now,_ the voice seemed caring and smooth.

She closed her eyes and allowed the mysterious force to take over. Once under the control, she placed a gentle hand to the interface that popped up.

**-With Yumi-**

The sky seemed to clear, but then darken as the wind picked up and the meteor started to hurtle toward them.

Holding onto the little boys for dear life, Yumi closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. A tear came out of one of her eyes. This was it.

**-Back to Cassidy-**

Cassidy’s name scrolled across the screen. It beeped twice at her. Then a new name scrolled across the screen:

FRANZ

Inside, her mind was alive with the electricity of shock. _Franz? **!** I’m being controlled by FRANZ? **!** HOLY—_

_That better not end with a curse, dear._

_HOLY COW OF THE WILD!_

CODE:

**-With Yumi and the boys-**

She held a fervent prayer.

**-With Cassidy-**

LYOKO

As fast as lightning, the sensation left her. She looked around confused. “Huh? Where am I? What happened?” She looked up at the interface where it said Code: Lyoko.

“How in the name of Lou did I do that?”

**-At the lab-**

Aelita’s jaw dropped. She was right. How in the name of Lou did she do that?

Jeremie looked at the screen as if it might as well explode. She couldn’t have possibly done that. She didn’t even share one shred of Aelita’s DNA.

**-With the Satellite-**

The satellite shot its laser at the meteor and it crumbled into tiny pieces.

**-With the factory-**

Four pieces of meteorite rained into the river around the factory. Ashes started to snow to the ground.

**-With Yumi, Hiroki, and Johnny-**

“Hey, what’s—? Wow!” Hiroki said.

“We’re saved!” the two boys exclaimed as they gotten up.

Yumi grabbed her cell phone. “Great shot Jeremie, real bull’s eye.”

 _“That…wasn’t me,”_ Jeremie sounded a bit shocked. _“I don’t really know how to explain it. Maybe later.”_

**-With the Boys on Lyoko-**

Ulrich and Odd looked at the tower as if it would become a monster in ten seconds.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie looked to the screen. He wanted an answer.

 _“Um…Jeremie, I think a return to the past will do the trick, good buddy,”_ Odd sounded like he was joking, but he could tell his friend didn’t know if, like he, the now-cat-warrior was dreaming or what.

He started to type on the keys.

**-With Yumi-**

The ashes all gone, Hiroki asked, “Well Yumi? Don’t the brats get a thank you?”

Yumi had bent down, and put both of her hands on her shoulders. “Thank you, brats.” She kissed her brother on the cheek.

“Yuck!” Hiroki started wiping it off. Yumi kissed Johnny on the cheek after him and the boy gave two thumbs up with a smile.

“You guys really helped me a lot this time.”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna let you forget that, either,” Hiroki sounded like he was threatening his sister.

“Oh, give me a little break, huh?” He cocked an eyebrow, and Yumi clapped her hands once.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie had entered the button for the Return trip.

“Return to the past now.”

The area was engulfed in a white bubble....

**-Back in Jeremie’s room-**

Yumi had opened the door, and her friends were waiting for her.

“So how was your day?” asked Jeremie.

“You won’t believe it, but we got the highest grade. And so I promised Johnny I would keep his moon as a present. I owe him at least that, even if he doesn’t remember anything,” Yumi said, holding a button of the moon.

“See your brother’s not that bad after all.” Aelita said.

“So what happened on Lyoko?” Yumi wanted to know.

Cassidy hid behind Jeremie’s bed. “Um…”

Ulrich sighed and explained what happened to the moment she entered the tower. “She was under the control of somebody other than XANA.”

“I think I found out who it was. The details are fuzzier than my not-so-sporadic recent nightmares at this point, but…” Cassidy trailed off.

“Yes?” Yumi used tried to find her.

“Aelita, I don’t know how, and I’m not related, I think, but it was your father,” Cassidy closed her eyes.

Aelita’s jaw dropped once again.

She came out and walked over to the closed door. In instance she slammed into it.

“Let’s get a scan in before you go take a shower,” Jeremie advised.

**-After the scan-**

Cassidy came out of the scanner a bit dizzy. “Anything, Einstein?”

_“No relation to Franz Hopper or Aelita, but I see a sort of barrier in the location where your sub-consciousness lies.”_

“In English, Jeremie,” she whined.

_“You have a dream barrier that is blocking anything that may be your dreams. I still don’t understand the blackout visions, but as soon as possible, I’ll try to find the solution.”_

“Thank you,” she sighed. “I still don’t understand how I managed to deactivate the tower.”

 _“I don’t understand either,”_ Aelita sounded in the Scanner Room.

“Another mystery made in Lyoko, I guess,” Cassidy shrugged.

 


	53. It came from Lyoko Lake

**At least the Lake ain't haunted.**

**I don't own Code Lyoko. I only own Cassidy.**

**-With the younger Lyoko Warriors about to go on the bus-**

"You can take your hand luggage on the bus with you, and the rest of your stuff goes down here," Jim ordered as he took the luggage to the compartment on the bus.

Mrs. Hertz took role call. In the spirit of renaissance, everyone reverted to his or her former attire. Jim had his red tracksuit. Jeremie had his baby-sky blue turtleneck and brown pants. Aelita had her pink jumper and maroon-looking overalls. Odd regained his pants and switched out his hoodie with the long-sleeve shirt he wore. Ulrich wore his earth tones.

Speaking of Jeremie, he turned to Aelita. "What if XANA attacks while we're away?"

She smiled. "After a week of working day and night on the program, I think we deserve this weekend, don't you?" She tickled Jeremie's chin, who he then turned a shade of pink. "It'll be our first time we're going camping together, too."

Ulrich turned to them, cocking a brow. "What program are you talking about, huh?"

With Odd taking the lead, Jeremie said, "Aelita thought we should shore up the protection shields on the Skid. We haven't tested it, though."

Odd looked behind himself. "You two, plus Cassidy, are incredible, really. I mean, as if we hadn't have enough homework for school already." He had handed his blue and purple bag in to Jim.

"What about Kiwi?" Aelita asked, cocking a brow.

"Cassidy convinced him that it would be too much torment to bring Kiwi. She's taking care of him while staying at Kadic. She will do research on one of the Hawaiian Islands to make up points," Jeremie explained.

"How come she's staying again?" Ulrich asked.

"There were a lot of reasons, and heaven knows how much sense she can make," Odd looked to his roommate, sighing as Jim and Mrs. Hertz reprimanded Sissi for so many bags.

As soon as everyone was settled in his or her seats, Jeremie set his bag down and put his seatbelt on. Aelita strapped herself in, as did Odd and Ulrich. Odd took out four cookie boxes and passed three to Ulrich. "Here, good buddy. The other two are for Einstein and Princess."

He smiled and helped pass the other two boxes to Jeremie and Aelita. "Thanks, Odd."

"Don't thank me. Thank Cassidy. She wanted me to share," Odd smiled.

"Speaking of the ones that got away, Yumi got stuck with a test this weekend while Cassidy stays with her," Ulrich picked up his cell phone.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"Not one. I've got  _two_  tests today. You lucky dogs! I wish I were on that bus with you," Yumi smiled.

"Um…I wouldn't wish that if I were you, Yumi," Cassidy said uneasily. "I think XANA would be in joy if  _all_  of us were there."

In addition to the nightmare that was always the same, Cassidy was also plagued with the thought—no—the  _fear_  of William's evil flirting. She tried to build defenses against it, but he was smarter.

**-With the four-**

"I'd love to sneak you girls on," Ulrich smiled, and then whispered as an add-on, "Mostly you, Yumi."

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"Well, the torture session's about to start. Speak to you later," Yumi said. "Thanks, Ulrich. Love you." She placed her phone in her pocket.

Cassidy then had a spark-flash. "Oh, Yumi…! You should know that one of the test answers is the factor of minus X. I think it'll work."

"Okay," Yumi nodded. She creased a brow. Usually, Cassidy would flip at the sound of hearing her say she loved Ulrich, or if Aelita would say that to Jeremie, or vice versa on either variable. Today, she didn't react the way she would've. "Are you okay, Cassidy?"

"Tired of having nightmares that are always the same and having William flirting with me," Cassidy sighed. "It's exhausting and frightening at the same time."

"He makes your defenses look like worms."

"Defenses?! Yumi, I'm  _trying_  to defend myself. I stayed up all night once with my laptop trying to think of a schematic to avoid him. I guess XANA saw it and ruined it! I'm wondering when he will let up. With XANA, William's  _screwing everything up!_ " Cassidy vented. "It's  _no help_  with my nightmares! I swore off everything I could. I wish I am in front of a steering wheel  _right this instant_  so my head can _honk the horn_!"

Yumi didn't know what to say. They walked in, Cassidy suddenly breathing as though it was easy now.

**-With the younger members-**

Hervé was sleeping, dreaming about the day that Sissi would go out with him. Sissi, next to him, however, checked herself in a compact mirror and then flipped the mirror so slightly so Ulrich was in the mirror.

"Elisabeth! Put that strap higher up!" Jim reprimanded. "Seatbelts weren't meant for puppy dogs."

Odd gave a convincing woof and laughed.

Jim looked at him. "Well, well, someone thought it would be funny to bark."

"Yeah, but hey, it was funny. I don't have a dog on the bus," Odd smiled.

"That's good, Della Robbia. But the dog thing was a little much."

"Sorry, Jim. It won't happen again," Odd promised.

"Okay, I'll let you go this once with a warning. You got it, Odd," Jim asked.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

Mrs. Meyer handed out the tests. "Quiet, please! For this exam, all you need is a sharpened pencil and your logic and concentration."

Yumi looked to Clone William. "You're lucky. As a computer program, this math test should be a real piece of cake."

"What's a math test and a piece of cake?"

Cassidy tried all she could to keep from laughing. The math test required silence and although she was a guest, there was a high chance of her getting kicked out of class. Luckily, she was able to compose herself.

Yumi, however, was taken aback. Jeremie was right. The clone was a sore thumb. The girl sitting in a chair near the teacher's desk would say he was unintelligent.

**-With the others-**

The bus stopped at the location. Jim walked out and then told the other students to disembark. Everyone looked at the island. Mrs. Hertz spread her arms apart. "Here we are. This will be our home and our laboratory for the weekend. An unspoiled haven for all lovers of flora. A field trip to a true Garden of Eden. In short, an ecosystem unequaled in their region. And you are looking right at it."

In the middle of her spiel, the other students looked to each other confused. Sissi was the first to say, "What?! That microscopic island is where we're going to camp?!"

"If you think that's small, wait until you see the rubber dinghies."

Later on, they were paddling to the isle. Odd and Ulrich took turns paddling while Jeremie typed away on his laptop. "I was afraid of this. I can't get a signal here. I won't be able to access the supercomputer."

Aelita clicked on her phone. "Don't worry. In the meantime, I can still call out. I'll tell Yumi and Cassidy."

**-Back with Yumi and Cassidy-**

Yumi looked in her math book after she took her math test. "Wow, you were right. The factor of minus X was the right answer. You definitely saved my grades, Cassidy."

"It was nothing, Yumi. Aelita's going to call," Cassidy blinked, a spark-flash hitting her instantaneously.

Sure enough, Yumi's phone rang. She picked it up. "Not in inferno here, everything okay in Paradise?"

**-With Aelita-**

"Not really. Jeremie can't seem to get online. You two are going to have to check regularly to see what's happening on Lyoko," Aelita informed.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"You've gotta be kidding me. I've got a huge French test in five minutes and—Hello? Hello?!"

"Don't worry, Yumi. The isle they're at has no signal. That's the reason why. We can get to the factory," Cassidy sat beside Yumi.

Yumi shook her phone a little, as if she didn't hear what her friend had said.

**-With Aelita-**

"That's it. I've been cut off, but I think she got my meaning," Aelita reported.

Jeremie looked at her. "Are you sure?"

They kept paddling to the island after that.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"Hurry up, Yumi, Cassidy," a girl told them.

"Be right there," Yumi assured. "We've gotta—um—go to the bathroom." They raced off, Cassidy smiling. Sweet freedom was great on Lyoko, Cassidy never questioned it.

**-With the others-**

The others were standing in a clearing when Jim said, "Remember to pitch your tents very carefully, because if you don't, the smallest gust of wind and—Poof! Down it'll come. Actually that reminds me of when I was living in a teepee in the desert near New Mexico…"

Mrs. Hertz cut in. "Jim…this might not be the right time."

"You don't know what you're missing, Suzanne." He tapped a tent post to his chin. "Anyway, I want you all to read the instructions for the setting up of your tents before you start if you don't want to find yourselves up the creek without a paddle." He chuckled. "Now get going."

Everyone grabbed a bundle of tent supplies. Ulrich unzipped his tent and looked behind him to Odd. "Do you know to set this up?"

"Yeah, sure no, problem." Odd kept walking. "Follow the instructions and just holler if you need any help."

"But—" Ulrich stammered. He couldn't believe that Odd left him hanging. "Thanks a lot."

A chilling voice over his shoulder made him look to the side. "Ulrich, honey, I thought that maybe we could pitch our tents side-by-side so we can talk to each other tonight."

He didn't need to look. "Sorry, Sissi, but I didn't go camping just to gossip or talk about clothes." He took his tent bundle and walked off, leaving her with an open mouth. "I'd rather sleep."

Hervé came in. "Hey, Sissi, well—I would be really glad to set up my tent next to yours for tonight."

"Sure, Hervé," the tone Sissi used was icy with just a perfect hint of sarcasm.

The acne-faced boy smiled. "Really? Oh, that's fabulous! Fantastic! I, uh—uh… By the way, where's your tent?"

She dropped the bundle at his feet. "Right there. Let me know when you set it up." Sissi walked away.

Jeremie typed at his computer. "There's nothing we can do. Without a connection, it's totally useless. Let's hope XANA doesn't take advantage of it."

Aelita pounded in the last tent post and looked to Jeremie with a smile. "Relax, Jeremie. Yumi and Cassidy are watching the store at home."

**-At the Factory-**

The door to the lab opened up and Cassidy and Yumi came out. A gray flash of fur nearly tackled the former girl to the ground. She giggled. "I'm glad to see you, Kiwi."

_Nice to see you again._

"Thanks. But there isn't much time. Yumi has a test in a few minutes," Cassidy nodded.

Yumi's mouth slammed to the floor. "You can read Kiwi's mind?"

"Yes, it happened on the first day back to Kadic's classes, it scared me at first, but now I've grown used to it."

"I guess I was not paying any attention when we had to defend the Core of Lyoko for the first time," Yumi shook her head.

"Hey, it's okay. It happens." Suddenly, she closed her eyes as a sharp snap of pain hit her head. "AGH!"

"You okay, Cassidy?"

 _Cassidy?_  Kiwi tilted his head to the side.

She opened her eyes. It was as if snow was making the brown irises and black pupils go white. "Yumi, Aelita's going to get attacked by the Schyphozoa one last time someday." Suddenly, the ground started to tremble. Just then, Cassidy blinked and winced in pain. "Ow!"

 _Had to do it, Cassidy,_  Kiwi whimpered a little.

The shaking had stopped. "Thank you, Kiwi," Yumi sighed. Then she raced over to the chair and sat down in it. "Okay, let's see." She tapped on a key and the computer turned on. A dark blue loading bar popped up and filled in light blue.

**-With Mrs. Hertz's class-**

Mrs. Hertz gave a lecture about a flower. Soon, she asked a question, "So, in your opinion, what would happen if the lake dried up?"

Nicholas had his answer. "Uh…we would be able to walk home?"

The science teacher sighed. Sometimes Nicholas was really dense.

**-In the Ice Sector-**

A tower turned into a blood-red color.

**-In an unknown area of Lyoko-**

A tower pulsated bright red.

**-Back at the Lab-**

All of a sudden, an unimaginable pain hit Cassidy hard. She shrieked so loud that Yumi stopped looking at the screen and Kiwi jolted awake.

"Cassidy?! What's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

"My—back!" Cassidy collapsed on the lab floor. "On the—rock scar!"

Yumi carefully removed Cassidy's pink shirt and looked at the scar. It seemed to spark as if it had been wired with electricity in such a short time. She warily touched it, though Cassidy whimpered as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Yumi flinched back. Even the lightest of touches on that general area would intensify the pain. She could only watch.

"Hang in there, Cassidy, please!" Yumi pleaded. She couldn't afford to lose her friend and Savior.

**-Back to Location Unknown-**

The tower stopped pulsing.

**-Lab-**

Pain lifted, Cassidy was reduced to a panting and tearful girl.

"Are you okay?" Yumi asked, worried.

"I—I think so," Cassidy screwed up her eyes in an attempt to recover.

Yumi carefully pressed a finger to her friend's scar again. Cassidy didn't flinch, nor did she whimper. It was as if she was without pain, now.

"Strange," she murmured quietly.

"May I have my shirt back, please? I'm starting to feel cold," the other girl seemed to feel full of energy again, despite the fact that a few seconds ago, she was in a world of pain.

Soon things seemed to calm down again. Yumi slid back to her position in front of the screen.

**-To the electrical lines-**

Sparks flew from the electrical lines, down the telephone pole in a spiral. It hit the ground and jumped over the rubber dinghy rack into the water. A few seconds later, a black mass took form.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"Well, everything seems okay—No open window, no activated tower—I may even get higher than an F on my French test," Yumi muttered.

"Don't speak too soon," Cassidy blinked again. This time her eyes were a slightly lighter shade.

Just as she spoke, the Supercomputer started to beep. Yumi looked back at it just when she was about to move. A window popped up to show one  **activated tower.**

"No. Ah…I guess that's that," Yumi whipped out her phone.

"The signal's still cut between us and the others," Cassidy's eye color turned back to her regular brown.

"Are they on a desert island or what?"

**-Back to the gang-**

Mrs. Hertz kept going on about the flower and then pointed the group she was teaching elsewhere else. "…of a rare species of butterfly, as we will soon see here in the woods."

Everyone walked off. Nicholas was still on about something. "I didn't see what was so funny. I mean, what's the use of a boat if there isn't any more water?"

The black form came closer. Nicholas and Heidi looked. "Hey, there's a lot of pollution in this lake," he said dumbly as she gasped. He took a stick and poked at the black oily substance. Electricity sprang from it and hit him.

That scene made Heidi scream. "Help! Hurry up! Come quickly, Jim! Mrs.  _Hertz_!" She turned and raced off.

**-In Sector 5-**

The Schyphozoa made its way up the Celestial Dome and into the North Pole. There it lowered into the room.

**-Back to the Lake-**

Mrs. Hertz took Nicholas's pulse. "He's in a state of shock, but he's breathing."

"There was this thing in the lake. It was black. It shot a lightning bolt at Nicholas, and it was gone," Heidi explained quickly.

"It must've been an electric eel. I've seen them before," Jim remembered. "When I was a forest ranger in Quebec…"

In the middle of Jim's speech, Ulrich and Jeremie looked to each other in worry. Could this be a XANA attack?

"Jim, enough chatter. Make yourself useful and go get the first aid kit," Mrs. Hertz ordered.

"Right away, Suzanne." Jim ran off.

Heidi was still in shock. "It wasn't an eel. It was much bigger. It was huge!"

It was there that Jeremie decided to speak up. "Ma'am, I—I really think that we're in great danger here."

The elderly science teacher smiled in reassurance. "Now, now, don't worry, Jeremie. These things happen. Everything's going to be just fine."

Suddenly, the black blob in the lake returned, shooting lightning at the shore. Everyone panicked, even those back in the clearing where it was safe.

Theo and another girl said simultaneously, "What's going on, Jim? We're scared!"

Jim popped out of his tent with a case in his hand. "Stay where you are. Let me go check it out" He raced back to the shore. "Ah. An ambulance." He froze at the sight.

Ulrich was holding an unconscious Sissi behind a tree. Jeremie was trying to take Heidi's pulse. Mrs. Hertz was draped over Nicholas. And Hervé was lying on the ground, alone and unconscious.

"Huh? Suzanne?" Jim dropped the first-aid kit. "Whoa…what is happening here…"

**-With the Schyphozoa-**

The Schyphozoa glided to and placed its tentacles onto the Skidbladnir. Red energy went up into its bruised and scarred membrane.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

Yumi and Cassidy looked at the screen. "This is just what I was dreaming about one day." After gaining a strange look from the geisha, the cat-girl defended calmly, "Before I had the nightmares, of course."

"XANA's attacking the Skid!" Yumi tried to type on the Supercomputer. "I don't know what to do." She rang up Jeremie's number. "Jeremie, answer, please!"

"Still no service until either A, a connection is possible…"

"And B?"

"…or B, Aelita finds a way to make an antenna using tent posts."

**-Back to the gang-**

Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd congregated around a spot to talk in private. "We absolutely have to find a way to get back to the factory."

"One step off the island means electrocution for sure," Ulrich told his leader.

"If we could create a diversion, maybe one of us could get away," Odd suggested.

"Okay, you and Ulrich do that. I'll retry to get in touch with Yumi and Cassidy. If only we had an antenna," Jeremie whispered.

Aelita looked over at the tents. "Okay, how big an antenna?"

**-With Jim-**

Children were screaming and pleading Jim to let them leave. Paul had his arms around Jim's middle. "Calm down now. I don't know what that thing in the lake is, but I can tell you that it'd better watch it, because he's going to have to deal with me, and sparks will start flying… That is, well, there already are sparks." He put his arms around the frightened children. "Well, you know what I mean. Now, to begin with…" he knelt beside Mrs. Hertz, "…we've got to help Mrs. Hertz."

He started shaking her gently. "Suzanne. Suzanne! Say something, Suzanne." When he had no response, he set her down, reeled his hand back, and several students cringed as his hand went across her face.

**-On Lyoko-**

A familiar figure appeared in the Ice Sector. His face was showing a stone look of anger. Three Krabes took to surrounding him in triangular formation.

**-Back with Yumi and Cassidy-**

Another window popped up revealing four dots. "Oh, no! That's all we need."

"Don't say it!" Cassidy shivered. "Don't even think it!" She knew it was him. She hated him.

"Okay, for you, I won't say it," Yumi had to concede. She knew the mere mention of William's name would make her friend panic.

Suddenly, Jeremie's face popped up in front of the view window. "Jeremie. About time."

**-With Jeremie and Aelita-**

"Hey, listen. We're here playing survivor with an aquatic monster that likes to electrocute anybody who comes too close to the shore. Anything on your side?" Jeremie asked, standing close to the makeshift antenna that Aelita made.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

"We're totally helpless. The activated tower is really well-protected, and the Skid is in the process of losing its energy," Yumi informed.

"Not to mention Mr. Hated just came up," Cassidy shivered.

 _"Does the Skid have many life points left?"_  Jeremie asked.

"At the rate things are going with the ship, it's going to be over in no time." The two girls watched the screen.

**-With Jeremie and Aelita-**

Jeremie covered the mouth piece with his hand and looked to his sweetheart. "Listen. There's no other choice. Ready or not, we have to test the program." He uncovered the piece. "Yumi, Cassidy, do any of you have anything to write with? I'll dictate what you two have to do."

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

Yumi rummaged through her bag. "I oughtta have a pen, since I've got a French test right now!" She pulled out a pen and a pad. "Go on, then, shoot."

**-With Jim-**

"That's the first time I slugged someone without getting a reaction." Jim looked at his hand.

"You have to give her mouth-to-mouth," a student suggested.

"Yeah, mouth-to-mouth! Of course." Jim leaned in when…

"Jim! You come even a hair closer, and it's the last thing you'll ever do on this earth! Understand?" Mrs. Hertz woke up and gave him a stern look.

He couldn't contain his pride. "Hey! I cured her!" All the surrounding awake students were smiling after that.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

After a simple suggestion, Cassidy was typing at the Supercomputer. She admitted that she wasn't as fast as Aelita or Jeremie, but could try her best. "Now, shift the energy on the lateral shields on the side of the attack." Cassidy had to pause for a second to refer to her visions.  _Near the front of the Skidbladnir._  "To the right?" she asked as she resumed typing. A window with a red exclamation point in a circle flashed in front of her. "Other right…" The psychic girl consulted the communicator in her ear. "Jeremie, what are these commands? I'm afraid that we need Aelita. No tenemos buena suerte."

**-Back to Aelita and Jeremie-**

"They'll never make it on their own, Aelita," Jeremie looked to her.

Ulrich and Odd rushed into the area. "Jeremie, we're all set, but we need Aelita," the former told the genius.

"Yumi, Cassidy, the others are trying to get to the factory. Until then, you two better get things prepared for going to Lyoko," Jeremie gave a nod to Aelita, who followed the two bodyguards.

**-Back to the two girls-**

"Okay," The two girls simultaneously said.

**-With the victims-**

Heidi, Hervé, Sissi, and Nicholas opened their eyes. "Feeling better?" Jim asked them. "Yeah, obviously. Well, you've all been through a nasty shock."

All of a sudden, a shrill voice made him turn his head. "JIM!"

"Alright, what's the matter, now?"

"Help me, Jim! It's the boats!" Odd raced in and got on his knees.

Jim gave him a look of "Mm-hm". He followed the student to the shore. "Only you can help me retrieve all the defenseless boats out there, Jim!"

"Okay, I heard you. Don't overdo it, now, Della Robbia."

"Look over there!" He pointed out almost all the dinghies in the water.

"Holy moly! How did the boats get into a mess like that?"

"I was searching for my cookie box in one of the canoes, and, well, a wind came up and blew them away. Oh, Jim, help me retrieve them!" Odd pleaded.

"Okay, but you stay right here, you understand," Jim went out on the dinghy left and started in his job.

Meanwhile, another stray dinghy appeared behind a willow tree. Ulrich was paddling the boat. He looked to Odd, who smiled. Jim was going one way and didn't pay attention to the now AWOL boat.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

The girls stood in their scanners. "Are you sure you are ready for this, Cassidy?"

She blinked hard. "As I'll ever be."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to, right?"

"I know, but I want to save the world as usual. I've already saved your life thousands of times." She nodded to Yumi.

The scanners closed before Yumi could say anything else. Soon they were off to Lyoko in a flash. When they landed, there was no chance for them to talk. They got up and raced across the virtual snow.

**-With Jim-**

Jim paddled to the first boat. "Okay, here's the first one." He made a grab for it and carried it to the shore.

Then he steeled himself for the next boat, but then the boat was carried by a current. He looked over to where it was going and saw… "Why that's, that's that sneaky Ulrich Stern."

Ulrich kept paddling. He was halfway to shore.

"Come back immediately, will ya?! Stern, I'm responsible for—gah!" Jim asked, standing up and putting a foot in the other dinghy. It wasn't his best idea, for he fell into the water.

**-With Yumi and Cassidy-**

They stopped near the vicinity. Cassidy turned one tube into a gun and got her wings ready. "I'm ready to fight, Yumi." Though the marked absence of William was a relief, she still feared him. She tried to throw a cold, wet towel on the flames of fear in her mind. This was no time for cowardice.

"Three on two," Yumi had her own worries. With a metallic  _shing_ , her fans were flicked out.

"We've had worse chances before," Cassidy became airborne.

The monsters fired. Cassidy had to loop to avoid getting hit. "Okay, Yumi. We need to take out as many as we can, here. Just, be careful."

"Okay, just hold your own, too. Remember…"

"Don't say it!" Cassidy growled before zipping off. She knew what Yumi would say next.  _"…that William is on the loose, too."_

"Is she on her time of month or what?" Yumi muttered quietly.

She soared to a Krabe. "Come little Krabby, I'll take thee away, into the land of Red Lobster… Come little Krabby, the time has come to be slain, here in my games of death…" she sang, laughing.

The other two Krabes kept shooting at Yumi. She cart-wheeled out of harms' way and threw her fans. They ducked and she caught her fans. "Tough guys…"

She jumped off the small embankment and raced to one of the Krabes.

Meanwhile, Cassidy kept shooting at her monster. It kept firing back. Suddenly she was clipped in the shoulder. Fearing the wings disappearing, she fired one last bullet before spiraling into the activated tower, unknowingly disintegrating her enemy. She landed on the platform.  _Safe and sound. I may have lost forty life points, but I'm still kicking._

Meanwhile, Yumi jumped on one of the Krabes backs and withdrew her fan. The other Krabe fired. Her fan blocked the shot as she threw the other one. It sliced it on the eye symbol. It froze, paralyzed, and then combusted. The force of it threw her off. Luckily, she landed on her feet. The Krabe left charged up to fire. Yumi, with some luck on her side, cart-wheeled out of the way.

The monster started to follow her.

**-With Jim-**

A dinghy bumped into Jim. He managed to get on it as the water started to bubble.

Ulrich, conversely, noticed it and tried to paddle faster. He must get to the other side to complete their plan. It was the only way.

"STERN, Come back here!" Jim ordered.

The boat's journey to him was interrupted as the black mass started to come up again. Ulrich noticed with a screaming gasp. His strokes became more desperate. The black mass surrounded the dinghy. A lightning bolt jumped up from it and onto him, jolting him into unconsciousness. The boat made it to shore, though he was worse for wear.

The sludgy mass made its way to Jim, next. "Come here, you slime ball. You don't scare me. I've got rubber insole NASA-issued astronaut Space Shoes!" He raised his paddle when the lightning hit him. He flopped around a little before landing over the edge in the dinghy. "'Smarted just a little…"

**-With the Skidbladnir-**

The Schyphozoa was still stealing the vehicle's energy as it had been.

**-Back at Ulrich's dinghy-**

A figure emerged from the rubber blanket. It was Aelita. She was super lucky the electricity didn't affect her. Though her facial expression changed when she saw Ulrich, she then smiled when she saw Sissi's bike.

"Let's see how fast I can pedal," Aelita said to herself.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Yumi kept cart-wheeling away from the Krabe's blast until she gained ample ground. The Krabe fired again when Yumi cart-wheeled again. She tossed her fan at it. It dodged and shot at her again just as Cassidy was about to emerge. This time it got lucky and hit her, she was thrown into Cassidy and the two were thrown into the activated tower again.

"Cassidy, are you okay?" Yumi asked.

"Still not used to getting a body thrown into me, but yes, I'm alright. We both have sixty life points."

Meanwhile, the fan flew in a slight arc into the Krabe's shell. It found its way into the tower, which Yumi caught. "There we go! The place needed a clean-up."

"Did the Krabe I battled with die?" Cassidy blinked.

"Yes."

"Good."

They were about to exit when Cassidy froze with a whimper. "Yumi?"

"Yes, Cassidy?"

"Is there two of us in the tower? Or is there three?"

"Do you sense someone else?"

She nodded. "I think Mr. Hated is right behind us." A virtual chill went down her spine.

Yumi was about to turn and look when… "Please don't look!"

William Dunbar was indeed there.

**-Back to the isle and the lake-**

The sludge made its way up to the island. Jeremie typed on his laptop when Odd walked up. "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that Aelita got through."

" _My_  good news is that I finally managed to get connected to the Supercomputer." The genius smiled, as did the wildcard.

"The bad news is that our black, muddy sludge monster is on the prowl."

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Yumi and Cassidy were kicked out of the tower. Their stomachs were sparking with electricity. That was some kick.

Red ripples formed and the same stone-faced figure walked out. The XANA sign on both his chest and forehead were keen signs for Cassidy to be afraid. He formed his sword from a black smoke.

Yumi unsheathed her fan and threw it at him. He put up his sword to deflect. It hit only the metal of the zabanto. It was his turn. He charged at them and tried to slash/smash them.

Cassidy jumped up and, like Yumi, flipped backward. She blinked in surprise. How did she learn to do that? She wasn't this brave. She always was afraid to do gymnastics. Holding back was her specialty. Her body wanted to, but her heart held back. But this time it was as if her heart was numb to the moves. Was it her fear of William?

William then tried again, but this time, Yumi twirled and, using one of her fans as an extension of her arm, locked it with William's forehead. "You can never beat us, XANA, ya hear?" She flicked it open in front of his eyes.

William lifted his leg and kicked her in the stomach, and did the same to Cassidy. The two were sent sliding back a few feet. William tried to smash-slash at them again, but Yumi and Cassidy jumped back again. The former girl unsheathed her fan and threw it at him again. He deflected again.

The fan flew over in a slight spiral, in an arch, and cut across Yumi's hand. She shook it to relieve the pain. The girls looked up in time to see William jump up in the air again. The two wheeled to the right and avoided his sword. Cassidy again blinked in surprise. Never before had she shown this much dodge in her life.

William tried to smash/slice them again when they jumped to the left. Yumi got on her hands and jumped, giving him a well-timed kick to the back. He dropped his zabanto. Now it was their turn. Yumi launched her only fan left while Cassidy fired a bullet.

He dropped into the ground as black smoke and slithered under the two girls. He jumped back up. If William ever came too close to Cassidy, she would feel a shiver down her spine. This time, the shiver came with a shriek.

Yumi looked behind her, but felt a boot connect with her stomach. It sent her down to the ground. Soon she was joined by Cassidy, who was also in the same position.

Then William gathered his zabanto. This was it. He raced over to the girls, both of whom were rising, put a boot to their chests, and raised his sword.

Virtual hearts in sync with their panic, Yumi and Cassidy gasped and chorused, as if they had time to rehearse it for years, "NO, WILLIAM! YOU'RE A LYOKO WARRIOR! YOU  _SWORE_  TO IT!"

William stopped in his tracks, eyes widening. Suddenly he flashed back.

**-William's flashback-**

_William was in front of the center scanner._

_"'You swear not to give away the secret?" Yumi asked._

_"Even at the cost of your life, William Dunbar?" Cassidy nodded in agreement._

_"I swear," William said formally._

"Good answer, William," _said Jeremie approvingly._

**-Back to the present-**

William dropped his zabanto with a clang. He grabbed at his hair, feeling pain in his head, and then he fell to his knees, away from Yumi and Cassidy.

The two girls looked on with shock, standing up slowly and backing away.

**-With Aelita-**

Sissi's bike in her control, Aelita started pedaling down the road. This was of grave importance. Internally, she was glad that she had retained the skills needed to propel the vehicle. Though it was nothing like the OverBike, she was glad nonetheless.

**-Back at the island-**

Everyone was panicking. Odd helped an unconscious-for-the-second-time Mrs. Hertz to walk. Lightning hit a tree and Odd had to jump. "Watch out!" He hollered to Sissi. Luckily all three were unharmed.

A girl was crying.

"Now if Aelita would just get there in time, we can launch the program," Jeremie muttered.

**-With Aelita-**

Aelita pedaled across the bridge and grabbed the rope to swing to the elevator.

**-With William-**

More flashbacks ensued. William closed his eyes, shaking.

**-William's flashback, part 2-**

_"Hey, you can still change your mind," Yumi told William._

_"Are you kidding?" He stepped into the Scanner and turned around. The doors closed._

**-Back with William-**

He couldn't take it as he spread his arms apart.

**-William's flashback, part 3-**

_The scanner opened to reveal the newest Lyoko Warrior. Odd was concerned. "Well tell us. How do you feel now?"_

_"Ready to take on XANA and his monsters!" William smiled._

**-Back with William-**

He screamed as he put his hands to his head.

Yumi was backing away further. She didn't know what was going on with William, but to her, it seemed dangerous.

Then Cassidy cried, "Please, William, remember. We used to go out with each other. Remember, please?!"

**-William's flashback, part 4-**

_William and Cassidy were walking home with ice cream cones in their hands, laughing. "That was a great joke, William."_

_"Could you tell me why you had to postpone the date until today?" he wondered calmly._

_"Oh, Aelita and I ended up in an accident at the pool. Nothing major. Never again will I have a headache that nearly drowns me," she tittered in love._

_"Ah," William nodded. "Bed rest, huh?"_

_"Doctor's orders."_

_He smiled. He had found the girl of his dreams at last._

**-Back to the island-**

Lightning hit the antenna. The current went down to the ground and hit Jeremie's computer, which made him scream a little when he realized something. "Why, of course." The answer was right in front of him. The smile he wore after that grew.

**-With Aelita-**

Aelita raced to the chair as soon as the elevator opened. "The program's almost complete." She read off a message from Jeremie. "'Is the Skid beyond hope?' No, not yet." Aelita began typing on the program.

**-With William-**

William started to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time, freedom, but at the same time, it was painful. Soon he opened his eyes.

Yumi and Cassidy gasped in surprise. The former girl walked closer and knelt beside him. "William." She received a grunt in response. "William, listen, it's me, Yumi."

The latter knelt beside him, too. "And me, Cassidy."

William was still in a battle. Yumi and Cassidy looked away when he lifted his head with a cough.

"Oh, William," Yumi gently took his hands and pulled him slowly to his feet.

"Cassidy?" William looked not to the person who helped him to his feet.

"William, you're back," Cassidy felt like rejoicing.

"Cassidy, no! You—you shouldn't be here! XANA…he wants to use you!"

"That doesn't matter, William."

"No! Get devirtualized! Go to Illinois!"

"I can't, William! YOU tore up my only chance home. My parents can't afford to get me back," Cassidy shook her head.

"Get out of here and go home."

"Alright! But before I do, William, why did you kiss me in Sector 5?" she asked.

William looked around the Ice Sector. "Because I— **GAH!** "

"WILLIAM!" Cassidy's eyes flashed in fearfulness.

" **Cassidy,**  get out  **of here** ," William's voice was interchanging with voices that sounded of the Legion and his regular tone.

"William, answer me! Why did you kiss me? Do it quickly!" She really wanted the answer so much her tail was shaking.

**"RUN!"**

"No," she squeaked. She nearly had his answer. She was so dang close.

Suddenly he went silent. Yumi tried to touch him when he grabbed her hand, doing the same with Cassidy's, evil in his eyes. Yumi flinched. William kicked them again.

Cassidy knew that she would be in danger. She took her choice and raced away.

 **"Super Smoke!"**  she heard William say. Suddenly she slammed into him.

A shiver went down her spine again. He was going to flirt with her again, and no amount of trying to play his game was going to save her. Suddenly, a darkish red flash slammed into him, saving her by mere microns.

"Th-Thank you, Yumi," Cassidy looked to her, trying to recover.

William finally managed to gather his zabanto. He looked to Yumi with a look of malice.

**-With Aelita-**

A window with four towers popped up within Aelita's view. "Okay, it's launched!"

**-On all four surrounding sectors of Lyoko-**

A tower turned a dark emerald-like green in all four sectors.

**-With the Schyphozoa-**

With the sudden increase in power, the Schyphozoa was blasted apart.

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita stretched in the 'cushy chair'. "Well, we should feel proud of ourselves. Our program is operational." Then she directed her attention to the action in the Ice Sector, typing on the keys. "Yumi, Cassidy, how are we doing?"

**-With the two girls-**

"Aelita, at last!" Yumi rejoiced, flipping behind an ice floe. William found his way to her and almost hit her when she ducked out of the way. The ice cracked with his sword. She made it a few yards, then stopped, kicking up virtual snow.

Cassidy also kept time with Yumi. William was after her, too.

"We can't hold on much longer," Yumi informed. "And if I'm out of the picture, Mr. Hated might get the chance to use flirting as a weapon on Cassidy again."

The cat-girl whimpered at that chance.

Mr. Hated swung his zabanto at them. Yumi flipped backward while Cassidy hopped in the same direction. Their shoes met an edge. The latter mentioned girl looked at the Digital Sea, feeling chills down her spine. "He's going to throw us over, Aelita!"

 _"Give me a moment to set up a delayed virtualization program, and I'm there,"_  Aelita tried to comfort.

**-With the others-**

Lightning was hitting on all sides. Other students were running in terror. Paul ran past Jeremie, who stood up to give an order. "Okay, everybody! Hurry it up! Run to the antenna over there! It'll be our lightning rod!"

Sissi emerged from behind a tent, as did Heidi. Hervé was ducked and covered halfway in the tent beside them. Nicholas and Magali popped their heads out on the other side.

**-Down in the Scanner room-**

The doors to Aelita's scanner closed. Soon she was virtualized into Lyoko.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Yumi and Cassidy feared the worst. William raised his sword when a pink energy field hit him instead. It shot him into the drink.

"Just in time," Aelita said.

Cassidy and Yumi looked over the edge with the released feeling of sadness.

Aelita approached with caution. "Is something wrong, Yumi, Cassidy?"

Yumi sighed, but looked to her friend. "For a few seconds, there, the real William came back, Aelita."

Cassidy nodded as if mute. She was so close to finding an answer but now it was almost a lost call.

Aelita smiled in sympathy. "That means we'll bring him home someday."

**-Back to the isle-**

"The electrical discharges are getting more intense. Given the enormous rate of ionization, against the dispersion factor on the ground, they're going to reach a highly critical mass in—let's see, just about seven minutes," Jeremie calculated.

Odd looked to him as if he was crazy. This was no time for science. This was a matter of life or death—literally. "Meaning?"

"In seven minutes, everything on this whole island is going to turn into one big barbecue."  
Odd's eyes widened as he let out a shout of panic.

**-On Lyoko-**

With an energy field, Yumi Ishiyama disappeared off the face of Lyoko. Cassidy took the time to sit on the ground and try to meditate while the pink-haired girl ran into the tower.

**-In the scanner room-**

Yumi came out of the scanner clutching her side. Gathering her strength quickly, she raced for the elevator.

**-Back at the isle-**

Everyone was huddled under the antenna now. The lightning was getting worse and the sky was darkening.

**-With Aelita-**

Aelita raced for the tower and entered it. As soon as she stepped on the center dot, she began to levitate to the second platform, doing a small flip in between.

**-Back at the island-**

The lightning was getting stronger. Everyone was bracing for impact.

**-Back with Aelita-**

Aelita's name scrolled on the screen. Then the word Code popped up on screen.

LYOKO

"Tower deactivated."

**-Back to the isle-**

The sky and water cleared. There was peace throughout the land. Everyone looked up. Jeremie and Odd were the only ones that rose to their feet. "Hey, Benjamin Franklin, do you think Aelita will remember to program a return to the past?"

**-Let's see, Odd-**

_"Go on, Yumi,"_  Aelita ordered softly.

Yumi typed on the keys. "Return to the past, now!"

The white bubble covered all of Earth. With it was a chance to restart anew…

**-In the Bus-**

"So, I regenerated the shield by activating several towers for a few seconds at a time. That's what saved the Skid," Aelita explained.

Ulrich looked to her. "So, that's what you've been doing while we were gone? What a fun weekend," he finished dryly.

"Anyway, it's effective, isn't it?" Jeremie asked. "Obviously it requires too much energy to be able to use it all at a time."

Odd took his turn. "Hey, how come you are so cool all of a sudden, Einstein? XANA attacks don't scare you anymore?"

Jeremie looked to Aelita. "They're still scary, but since he never makes the same mistake a second time, and since Aelita, Cassidy, and I have been working non-stop for all of this week, we'd like a little, um…" he smiled as he looked to Ulrich and Odd.

Cassidy changed her mind earlier and packed to go camping. She smiled. "We'd like a small vacation, is all."

"That's it," Jeremie looked behind him.

"So why did you decide to stay the first time?" Ulrich asked her.

"For one thing, I thought I was too old to camp. Another thing was that I wanted to get an answer from Mr. Hated."

Ulrich put his hands up. "Okay, we get the picture."

"I never did get it, though. XANA regained control before he could say why." She looked out the window, having gained her double seat for her own, in forlorn. A black and red bag sat in the seat beside her.

Jeremie blushed.

"Is Kiwi staying at the factory?" Odd asked, hoping to change the subject for his friend and ex.

"Yes. I made sure he had plenty of food, newspapers, secretly duplicate copies of Milly and Tamiya's articles, his toys, and everything else," Cassidy kept looking out the window. "I made sure to tell Yumi to check the Supercomputer regularly since our signals will get shot."

Aelita tried to look behind her. "You might get your answer someday, Cassidy."

"I know, it's just disappointing, is all."

Ulrich came up with an idea. "Do you want to play 90 Second Alphabet? It always takes your mind off things."

"Sure," Cassidy looked to him.

And so…they played, gradually bringing in the whole bus with it. The Lyoko Warriors held their secret in when that happened, though Cassidy admitted, she was feeling better and better throughout the game.


	54. We were Lost at Sea. Calmate, por favor.

**Well, I’m glad we are not lost.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, and I think you know the rest.**

Odd and Ulrich walked under the arches up to the two members of their gang. Aelita shut the door to the dormitory entrance while Cassidy, who looked like she had been sweating cold buckets of ice the night before, stood at the ready. As soon as Aelita came out, they walked up to the boys. “Hey, Aelita. Einstein isn’t with you or Cassidy?” Odd asked.

Aelita cut to the negative and looked at him. “We haven’t seen him yet today.”

“Plus, I’m so heavy lidded from all these nightmares I’ve been having that I’m just about to give up dreaming altogether,” Cassidy blinked.

“Didn’t Jeremie say you have some sort of dream barrier?” Ulrich asked her.

Cassidy sighed. “It is with a heavy heart, yes.”

“Did you know that you are now sleepwalking, Cassidy?” Aelita creased a brow.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“I saw you sleeping in front of your closet with your head against the door. That’s not very good for your back. Everything okay?”

“I sure hope so. But during sleepwalking, nothing is dreamed. If what you’re saying is true, I shouldn’t be dreaming. I remember dreaming and only dreaming.”

“Did you have episodes before?” Ulrich asked.

Cassidy shook her head. “No. Not even before I came to Kadic.”

“Ah, well, Cat-Lover-Girl, you’re still alive, aren’t you?” Odd quipped.

She sighed. “As long as XANA or Mr. Hated don’t kill me first.”

The samurai looked off to the side. “Speak of the devil, look who’s here!”

For a second, Cassidy’s heart flopped. Did William come out of the scanners to attack her and Aelita again? Then she saw Jeremie amble run over to them, and she sighed in relief.

Jeremie stopped at the post to catch his breath, his arm obscuring something on his forehead. Then he looked to his team. “Hello, everybody.”

“Let me guess, you fell asleep in front of your keyboard again,” Odd smiled.

“And let’s not go any further, okay, Odd?” Cassidy sighed, as if Odd got on her bad side, which was a rarity.

He winced. “Wh—what do you mean, Cassidy?”

“I have a birthmark on my forehead. So I don’t see what the big deal is. Harry Potter has a scar on his forehead.” She was shaking as if heavily ticked off at Odd.

Ulrich crossed his arms across his chest. “Uh-oh, okay, I think I know someone who needs to air out her neurons a bit.”

“My neurons are fine!” Cassidy protested.

“You have been a bit cranky lately,” Jeremie noted. “Yumi told me everything that happened before the return trip after we came back. You totally blew a gasket.”

“I was venting my frustrations about Mr. Hated and my nightmares, Jeremie,” Cassidy tried to be calm to Jeremie.

“Anyway, there’s an imprint of your keyboard on your forehead,” Odd smiled.

“And, let me guess, you are working on a program to bring Mr. Hated back,” Cassidy gave him a bored look.

Jeremie smiled. “Yes, and a way to let you have dreams here while we work on a way to eliminate the dream barrier.”

Her eyes widened. “I thought it would be impossible to dissolve.”

Jeremie smiled knowingly. “That’s what I thought, too. But it’s a relatively simple procedure. It is a bit different from the Reverse Schyphozoa. The only difference is we don’t need anyone else but you.”

“Way cool,” Ulrich smiled.

“Yeah, but the procedure’s temporary. It will only last about a month. Hopefully, it’ll shore up Cassidy’s energy so she can at least keep to schooling. She seems energetic on Lyoko. It should keep her from blacking out when having spark-flashes.”

“Uh, Ulrich, Cassidy, could I talk to you for a sec,” a new voice made Cassidy jump.

The gang turned to see Yumi’s brother Hiroki. He was younger than most of the lower-grade students. Ulrich and Cassidy simultaneously smiled. Odd’s mouth went agape. Jeremie and Aelita smiled as well.

“Uh, well, if you really have to, yeah,” Ulrich turned to his friends. “Go ahead. We’ll meet you inside.” Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie walked away to the cafeteria. The two turned to him.

“Well, uh, everybody says that girls really like you a lot, Ulrich. Same with you, Cassidy, but with some boys,” Hiroki started.

Cassidy looked away. “Um…Odd was the best choice out of my two boyfriends.”

Ulrich scratched in between his shoulder blades. “Depends on the type of girl.”

“Like my sister, for example, Ulrich,” Hiroki smote.

That made Ulrich stop mid-scratch. Why was he mentioning Yumi at a time like this? “Uh, sure…” He blushed. “We are boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“That’s right,” Cassidy nodded.

“And William, too, Cassidy.”

Cassidy stiffened and opened her mouth, about to lunge. Then she stopped. She knew Hiroki didn’t know about Lyoko and never would. According to her visions journals, she didn’t see a vision of him inside the factory, but the burning intuition told her that with her, he might find out someday. She took some deep breaths and counted to ten in her mind. “Okay, um…he wasn’t the best choice, Hiroki. He brutally broke up with me on false charges, remember? You were there, Yumi told me.” She could feel her innards shaking.

He reached up, as if he was a small child. Cassidy knew what that meant. She could trust him as her friend’s brother. She bent down and gingerly wrapped her long arms around his small body and felt his small arms around her mid-lower back above the scar she had received from the vine attack a few months ago. She found after a few seconds that she could breathe again. She could feel his small hand gently rubbing her back in the spots she could tolerate.

After they released each other, Cassidy blinked and her eyes were a lighter shade of brown. “Let me guess on this one, you have a crush on Milly, but don’t know what to say to her.”

Hiroki and Ulrich’s mouths dropped open. Ulrich knew that Cassidy had powers, but she dropped the bombshell like no other.

“It’s okay, I never told her. Besides, the last time I had an interview with her was when Sissi was editor-in-chief, and that was almost two months ago,” Cassidy nodded. “Anyway, you need to know that she’s into journalism. So I carried my notes from my old school to here.” She handed him an old red notebook. “Everything from the Second Amendment to how to avoid libel is in this notebook. Now remember these six words: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. Every word is _super_ important. Who is around the event? What is happening? When is it happening? Where is the event? Why is the event happening? How is it happening? Give her your first scoop and you’ll guarantee a growing relationship.”

Hiroki smiled and raced off to find his first scoop.

Ulrich blinked at her. “Uh…”

She looked to him. “You okay, Ulrich? You look like your brain has been short-circuited for a few seconds.”

Everything poured out of his mouth. “How did you do that? That, that notebook thing? I thought you said that you didn’t have powers before you came here.”

“I didn’t. I never had powers before I came here. I just brought my note beforehand in case I took a journalism class, Ulrich. I never thought I would need it to give to someone until my powers—then intuition—came.”

He simply nodded.

“Let’s hit to the cafeteria. Something tells me that the hot chocolate is very good today.” She took Ulrich’s hand and raced off to the steps.

Once settled with their usual meals, Ulrich and Cassidy met up with Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita and sat down with them.

“What did Hiroki want to talk to you two about?” Jeremie finished drinking to ask.

“Ah, he’s flipped over Milly,” Cassidy smiled. “Luckily, I had just the thing to help him.”

“Well, isn’t that cute,” Odd quipped.

“What did you give him? Advice?” Jeremie asked out of concern.

“Yes, that, but also a notebook for him to study from to understand journalism.” She picked up her croissant.

“But isn’t the guy a little young for her?” Odd asked.

Cassidy pointed her index finger, still holding her croissant. “Hey, I went out with you, and I’m older than you.”

“That’s right,” Aelita smiled. “And to answer you, Odd: No, he’s not. He’s just a little small for his age, and, what’s more, he skipped a grade in school.”

Odd wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “But he acts even younger than his age.”

“Well, around me, he’s also sympathetic,” Cassidy remembered the hug he gave her earlier.

Ulrich tapped Jeremie’s arm with his elbow. “Hey, Jeremie, tell us about these new ideas of yours.”

Jeremie put down his bowl. “Well, okay. Whenever a human being is virtualized, he or she emits a binary residue, which, we can say, manifests itself an emanation of his or her physical person re-sequenced into a sort of digital format.”

Odd dropped his bowl to his tray. Cassidy nearly fainted in exhaustion.

“Yeah, in English,” Ulrich asked. “You just lost Cassidy, as well.”

“Sorry, Cassidy,” Jeremie blinked.

“When you go to Lyoko, you leave a kind of digital trace,” Aelita translated. “Something like a scent.”

Cassidy stood up and shook her head to clear itself from the techno-babble. Then she sat down. “Sorry. Lately, paying attention to your talk exhausts my brain.”

“It’s fine, Cassidy.”

“Couldn’t you have said that in the first place?” Ulrich took a swig of his hot chocolate.

“Mm…no. Anyway, I came up with a program that is based on Mr. Hated’s DNA sequence that I recorded when he went to Lyoko for the first time. If I upload it onto the Skid’s sonar, we can hunt for him on the network every time we go there, and finally find out where Mr. Hated really is,” Jeremie smiled.

“So, what you’re saying is the Skid will become a sniffer-sub,” Odd lifted up a piece of his buttered croissant to his lips.

“That’s right, Odd,” Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “And since we don’t have class this afternoon, I was going to suggest we try it out.”

“Way to go, Jeremie,” Cassidy smiled.

“The second idea is that Cassidy’s nightmares could be weakened by way of the Reverse Schyphozoa. Only thing is, Cassidy needs to go in by herself. The solution is temporary, but it should put color into her. People think she is albino and translucent nowadays.”

“I’m not albino and translucent, I’m just pale and sweaty,” Cassidy protested.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi was studying her notes. She had a history test coming soon and she needed to study the concepts of World War I. She walked up to the vending machines and ordered her drink.

Out from the daylight, from the bushes stepped a dog-shaped figure. It jumped onto the stony bench, wriggled into Yumi’s bag and grabbed a dark-looking book. It walked out, until, suddenly…

“Kiwi, what do you think you are doing?!” Yumi protested.

Kiwi raced away, book in tow.

“Hey! I don’t have time to play, Kiwi!” Yumi yelled as she chased after him. _Why did Odd let Kiwi out? Oh, he’s doomed to trouble now!_ “Give that back to me right now!”

**-With Ulrich, Cassidy, and Odd-**

“You seem far away, Ulrich,” Odd noted as he, Cassidy, and Ulrich were walking. “And so do you, Cat-Lover-Girl.”

“It’s nothing. It’s something Hiroki said to us,” Cassidy sighed.

“Oh, yeah? What was that?” Odd asked.

“Eh…nothing. Forget about it.”

Suddenly, Kiwi burst out from around the corner and bowled Cassidy over. The two fell to the ground with a thud. “What’s Kiwi doing here?!” Cassidy yelled. She heard a thick object hit the ground.

_S-Sorry, Cassidy, I gotta run!_

Her heart hammered. “Kiwi, what the heck did you do?!”

However, little Kiwi had dashed by in a flash.

“What’s wrong with Kiwi? Did Sissi find him chewing her underwear or something?” Odd asked as he grabbed Cassidy’s hand and pulled her up.

Suddenly, Yumi raced up. “Your little dog is _so_ in for it, Odd,” she muttered as she passed by.

“Hey! Yumi, hold on!” Ulrich reached for her, but she was already a few feet from him.

“What in the world was Kiwi doing out of the dorm?” Cassidy raised a brow.

“I remember locking the door,” Odd shrugged. “Maybe he wanted to play a game.”

“He’s suffering loneliness? I play with that diggity dog every day. He shouldn’t feel lonely,” Cassidy whispered heatedly.

“Maybe he got bored.”

“I entertain him every day as well. Tug-of-war, fetch in the park, everything. He fills the void in my heart because I can’t access my own cat Thunder!”

Odd’s eyes suddenly widened, as if withholding some bad news.

“Odd, what’s wrong?”

He blinked and shook his head. “It’s nothing, Cat-Lover-Girl.”

She looked down and saw a thick-bound book. Ulrich picked it up. “Is this yours, Odd?”

Odd shook his head once again. “Are you kidding me? A notebook with a dark cover and a flower is not my style.”

“I have a ‘feeling’ that Kiwi is in trouble now. And since killing him would break you, Yumi would go over and yell at you, Odd,” Cassidy suddenly gasped. “ODD! You gotta hide!”

Ulrich thumbed through the pages.

“Ulrich, don’t! That…”

But it was too late. Ulrich found a page with a picture of him. He gasped at his almost growly expression, the way the sun hit him just right, and his sitting position. His photo self had an elbow on his knee. The other hand was balanced on what he assumed was the ground.

Odd looked over his roommate’s shoulder. “Hey, that’s a pretty good shot of you. Who’s your secret admirer, huh? Let me see.”

Ulrich jumped and rose to his feet. Cassidy reached for the book when he whipped it away. “Ulrich! I know who that book belongs to! Now give it to me so I can give it to its rightful owner.”

Suddenly, a gust of wind opened the book to show a picture of Cassidy. Her eyes were white and her hair was wild, as if her mind was troubled and she was trying to hide it.

Ulrich quickly snapped the book shut.

“It’s Yumi’s, right?” Odd couldn’t help be curious.

“It’s her diary. That’s why she was running after Kiwi,” Ulrich realized.

Odd’s mind started to get into a devious plan. “If you ask me, this is a great chance to see what else she thinks of you.”

“Oh, no! What’s written inside here is none of my business. I don’t want to risk our relationship just because I invaded her privacy.”

Cassidy growled. “I can rally this back to Yumi’s place if you just allow me to have her diary.”

“And risk getting caught by Yumi’s mom?”

“Yumi’s mother has no qualms against me.”

“Qualms?” Odd quirked a brow.

“Has no unease—she’s not uncertain about me. I can tell her almost anything—school, writings, dreams.”

“Not about Lyoko, right?” Ulrich asked.

“Never about Lyoko. I wouldn’t EVER do that.”

Odd shrugged, a devious smile growing on his lips. His tone was enticing. “Are you sure, Ulrich?”

“Yes, Odd the Bajo!” Cassidy yelled.

Odd went up on his tip-toes and gave her a Gibbs-slap. “Watch your Spanish! There are other students present.”

“Hey, Odd, cool it. Cassidy’s had a bad couple of months. First Will—I mean, Mr. Hated—kisses her on Lyoko, lands her in shock, returns and attacks her and Aelita, then flirts with her every time she and he are alone no matter what her defense, then we find she’s having difficult nightmares, adding to her pile of stress, plus school and everything…” Ulrich listed. “And when she and Aelita are alone with him, he always wants to throw them both into the digital sea.”

“Okay, okay, but her Spanish hurt that time,” Odd sighed, and then turned to Cassidy. “I’m sorry. It just threw me into the offended line, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry, too, Odd. Just what Ulrich said, plus Jeremie being right about me being a bit cranky…? At least I’m able to control myself around the teachers. I truly tried to go to Mr. Klotz about my nightmares, but instead, he kicked me straight out. Apparently, Emily mentioned his fear of rats to his face that day.”

After morning classes, Odd, Ulrich and Cassidy came out of their class to see Yumi chewing on a fingernail. “This isn’t good,” Cassidy shook her head. “When Yumi repeats an old habit that died young, she’s stressed.”

The two boys were already ahead of her as they stepped into the older female’s line of vision. “Hi, Yumi,” Odd said.

“Hey, Yumi. What is it? You look angry,” Ulrich tried to act.

Cassidy walked around so she could be in the middle. “Was it Kiwi?”

Yumi nodded solemnly. “He stole…something important to me, and he lost it.”

Her heart pounded so hard. She wanted to tell her best friend what had happened and that her diary was in a safe and secure state. Ulrich looked to her and gave her a soft but slight shake of the head. Cassidy made a face as if to say, “Why not?!” but Ulrich turned his head back to Yumi.

He then opened his bag and reached inside it. “Look, Yumi, I uh…”

“Okay,” a familiar voice made him stop in his track. He looked to see the blonde genius and his pink-haired sweetheart come up next to him. “I got it. I upgraded the Skid’s sonar and made the program for a solo Reverse Schyphozoa. We’re all set.”

“All set for what?” Yumi’s eyes locked onto Jeremie.

“First, Einstein made our Skidbladnir into a bloodhound to find Mr. Hated, and may have found a way to temporarily cure my nightmares,” Cassidy summarized.

“Oh, cool,” Yumi said drily.

Ulrich had to pitch in. “By the way, Yumi…”

“Cassidy!” A newer, younger voice made Cassidy jump. She whirled to see Hiroki.

“Hey, Hiroki,” Cassidy smiled. “What’s up?”

Hiroki scratched at the back of his head. “Well, I gave Milly my scoop.”

“And, did she like it?”

“Let’s just say she loves me for it,” Hiroki smiled.

Cassidy’s heart lifted in joy. “You mean like, right?”

“No, she told me in these exact words: ‘Hiroki Ishiyama, I love you for this scoop. We were looking for one for two days. Thank you.’” He turned around to leave. “I’m going to look around for another one. Thank you, Cassidy!”

“De—I mean, you’re welcome, Hiroki. Godspeed, my friend’s brother!” Suddenly she felt a hand at her hair. Then that hand patted it. “That’ll do, Cassidy. That’ll do,” Yumi’s voice was warm.

“Ulrich, Cassidy, and I have to talk about something—over there. We’ll talk to you guys later.” Odd took the two by the hand.

Yumi nodded. “We’ll be in the lunchroom.”

The three assembled deeper near the arches. Odd quirked a brow. “So, what’s the deal? I thought you were going to return the diary.”

“I would’ve done it if _some_ body didn’t give me the shake-head gesture,” Cassidy looked at Ulrich crossly, spraying the unfortunate boy with saliva. “I keep telling you, I’m not the prying girl type! I’m not like Sissi!”

Ulrich wiped a bit from his cheeks. “Well, you saw how Hiroki came in and gave the good news. He was very satisfied. If I had given the diary back to her then, he would’ve thought that I stole it.”

“Yeah, so?” Odd’s brow was at the peak.

“What if we fix it up so Kiwi finds the diary and you give it to her yourself, Odd,” Ulrich smiled.

Cassidy gasped. “That—might not be such a bad idea after all, Ulrich.”

“That’s two birds with one stone. She gets her diary back, and you get to keep your dog a secret,” Ulrich smiled. “Pretty good idea, huh?”

Odd frowned. “Yeah, great, but—how do you plan to do it?”

“Just listen to maestro Ulrich here,” Cassidy gestured to her not-too-close friend.

Ulrich grabbed the diary from his pack and, from behind him, handed it to Odd, who stowed it away into his shirt. “Hide the diary under a pile of leaves in the park, near the garden shed. Then get Kiwi. Cassidy and I will deal with—no wait, I will deal with Yumi. Cassidy, you get Kiwi.”

“Done,” Cassidy smiled. “Battle stations, guys, we’re going to go a bit sideways.”

Ulrich could only snort.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi walked up the steps to the lunchroom when she saw Cassidy and Ulrich race off into the park. Cassidy’s pink backpack was wiggling, but she looked to be ignoring it.

Yumi cocked a brow. What in the world was going on now? First, her diary gets stolen by Kiwi, and now Cassidy and Ulrich look to be having fun. Then again, why was Cassidy’s backpack wiggling?

**-Back to the plan-**

Kiwi dug through the leaves. _I hope I find Yumi’s diary. She’s going to skin me if I don’t._

“Hey, don’t worry about it, Kiwi,” Cassidy smiled. “A dog’s nose is stronger than a human’s.”

 _I don’t see it here. I’ll go check another pile._ Kiwi romped off to another tree.

“Good idea, Kiwi,” Cassidy whispered.

“You can still read his mind?” Ulrich asked.

Cassidy jumped. “I can’t help myself. I gained the power to read minds for a purpose, I believe. My powers have me in all sorts of directions. I tried to get new management, but it just got worse.”

_I think I found it—Ah, no, wait, it was a dead snake. Its head is chopped off. Garter snake._

Odd walked up to the two as Ulrich looked behind him. “Which one did you put it in?”

“Ah, Kiwi will find it soon enough. You’ll both see,” Odd smiled.

 _I found it at last!_ Kiwi woofed.

“Way to go, my little diggity dog!” Odd cheered.

“Way to go, my friend’s little diggity dog!” Cassidy cheered at the same time.

Kiwi raced back with the book in his mouth. _I’m so happy, yes!_ He dropped it at his master’s feet, panting so jovially.

Odd picked it up, but when he opened the book, his eyes widened. The inside pages were missing.

“’Mind telling me what you’re doing?” Yumi’s voice came over the two boys and only girl’s shoulder.

Cassidy cringed. “We were trying to find your diary for you, since Kiwi lost it. He found it on his own, but seemed to uh—lost the…”

Yumi’s eyes found the empty shell of the book.

“I know this looks bad, but, the thing is, we will not give up until later on to get your diary back, okay? There will be restitution,” Cassidy tried to sound reasonable, but her shaking body made her words sound weak.

“Okay…” Yumi then walked away.

Ulrich looked at Odd crossly. He looked back innocently. “Don’t look at me like that. It was all there when I hid it.”

Later on at the factory, the elevator opened to the lab. Only Jeremie walked out. “Get to the scanner room. I’ll start up the virtualization process. We’ll do the Dream Barrier Destroyer after the mission.”

Odd lifted his elbow and hit the button. The elevator closed on them. Suddenly Cassidy blinked a few times, shivering a little.

“What is it, Cassidy?” Aelita looked to her.

“Something is about to go wrong on this mission. I just have the feeling,” Cassidy sighed.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find Mr. Hated, bring him back, and everything will go back to almost normal,” Ulrich walked around to pat her on the back.

Cassidy whispered to herself, “Mr. Hated is going to be there.”

Soon, the elevator stopped at the scanner room. Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita each walked into a scanner. Jeremie sounded from above them. _“All set? I’ll launch the procedure. For once, it won’t be ladies first.”_

The scanners closed around them. _“Transfer, Ulrich, transfer, Odd. Scanner, Ulrich, scanner, Odd. Virtualization.”_

The two boys descended onto Sector 5’s Arena. Odd looked to Ulrich. “Yumi’s in a foul mood. We need to find the rest of her diary.”

“And how is she going to react when she finds out you hid it in the first place?”

“Hey, this was _your_ idea, Mr. Steady,” Odd pointed a claw at him.

They heard a soft whooshing sound and three girls dipped onto the floor. Cassidy rose up first. “I think I’ll share Yumi’s NavSkid.”

“Sounds good to me,” Yumi nodded. “I sometimes hate to be alone.”

“I’m with you,” Ulrich smiled at her, his virtual heart going aquiver.

“I know, but Cassidy already called dibs.”

“What’s more, with the bad feeling I had today, I think it’s best if I go with her,” Cassidy nodded.

The wall opened up. “Let’s go,” Yumi said as they all raced to the access hall. They didn’t look a second time as they dashed to the edge of the platform and smoothly came to a halt. Then, they heard Jeremie’s voice. _“Ladies, tomboys, and gentlemen, your elevator’s waiting.”_

An elevator descended for them. As soon as it landed in the right spot, the Lyoko Warriors each walked onto the floor. Everyone was smoothly lifted onto the second floor. Then, the elevator stopped at the hangar where they rushed off.

 _“Everyone, get on a teleport spot,”_ Jeremie ordered.

They raced to get onto one. Cassidy and Yumi shared one, thanks to the spacious design plans dutifully made by Aelita.

_“Energize.”_

One-by-one, bright, white columns flashed up from the teleport spots, making the occupants disappear. Aelita energized into the captain's hub. Odd and Ulrich each appeared in the single NavSkids while Yumi and Cassidy materialized into the double.

_“Everybody ready? Stand by for lift-off. Releasing supports now.”_

The docking supports released and the Skid was green-lit to go. Aelita gingerly pushed the red button and grasped the thruster. “Vertical propulsion operational.”

On the outside on the wings of the Skidbladnir, four little engines went from the side to the top of a sort of C. Virtual fire shot down from both.

Inside the cockpit, Aelita pulled back on the thrusters. “Lift-off!”

The Skid shot up through the North Pole.

 _“Get ready to dive into the Digital Sea,”_ Jeremie ordered.

Soon, the Skid went outside of Lyoko, dove to the digital sea, hovered for a moment, and then dove in.

_“Holoweb system, connected.”_

The Skid floated outside of the Lyoko network. “We left Lyoko, Jeremie.” Aelita gently pulled at a lever. “Rotation. Turbo propeller launched.”

The Skid glided smoothly through the Digital Sea.

**-In the lab-**

Jeremie inserted a CD and typed on some keys. “I’m running the program. Stand by to receive initial coordinates.”

 _“Roger,”_ Aelita replied as he hit the enter key.

A window popped up on the screen with a red exclamation point. Jeremie threw his hands up to his face. “Oh, no!”

**-Back in the Skid-**

Aelita pulled up a blue holographic screen. Three parts of the ship were blinking crimson red. “What’s going on here?”

“Is there a bug?” Cassidy asked.

“A problem, Princess?” Odd asked from his NavSkid.

Aelita typed on the screen. “We’ve got a system error. I think the Skid has a malfunction apart of its sensory capacity.”

_“Yes, I see, Aelita. It’s my program that bugged up the Skid’s sonar. The mission’s too dangerous without sonar. You gotta end it now.”_

“Roger, returning to dry dock,” Aelita said as she turned the Skid around.

Odd cracked his knuckles and rubbed an eye. “Okay, the next mission:  dive under my pillows and bury myself under the covers. Objective: A good night’s sleep to clear my head.”

“My next mission: Use the Dream Barrier Destroyer and hopefully have some sweet dreams for once,” Cassidy growled. “Having same nightmare number umpteen is really annoying. Objective is in the mission statement.”

The azure sea changed into a crimson color.

_“Sorry, but you’re going to have to postpone your nap, Odd. And we’re going to have to postpone the Destroyer, too, Cassidy. I’ve got three Kongres heading straight for the Skid.”_

Aelita pulled down three little levers. “NavSkids away.”

Yumi and Cassidy’s NavSkid shot up and out first. Then Ulrich and Odd followed close behind. Yumi gasped at what the two were seeing. A Kongre was coming up right in front of them. Then she pulled back on the thruster and pressed a button, her expression a growl. “Take this, Fish-face!”

The torpedo fired and hit it. It was gone within a second.

Odd looked at the bright display. “Not bad. Yumi’s very effective when she’s mad.” Suddenly, a laser hit him from behind. It was almost like some unimaginable force was about to launch him through the windshield. He sat back up and shook his head. “I got one on my tail.” He took the joystick and maneuvered it left and right to avoid another one. “It’s sticking to me like glue.”

Somehow, the second Kongre was able to evade the torpedo fire coming from Ulrich’s NavSkid. With a few manipulations of the levers, He finally hit his mark. “Yeah, bull’s eye!”

“Nice one, good buddy,” Odd smiled at his charge.

Ulrich looked at the NavSkid, an idea forming in his head. “Wanna team up for the last one?”

Odd’s voice was jubilant as he flipped his around. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

They each fired their torpedoes. “FIRE!” they cried simultaneously. Ulrich and Odd missed as it fired its laser at them. They split apart, causing the monster to swim around in confusion. Suddenly Ulrich’s NavSkid turned around and then Odd’s. They both fired at the same time, and the monster imploded.

“YAHOO!” Odd cried in victory.

**-Back in the Lab-**

Jeremie smiled and nodded his head. “Nice job, guys. Time to come home now.”

**-Back to Aelita-**

Aelita pulled on the tiny levers again. “NavSkids in!”

Odd and Ulrich returned to their position on the Skidbladnir.

Suddenly a red dot appeared where the top NavSkid would’ve been. “Hey! Where are Yumi and Cassidy?” Aelita asked.

**-Back to the lab-**

Jeremie blinked. “Huh?” The screen wasn’t issuing off an answer for him. “I don’t get it. I don’t have any trace of them.” He took off his glasses and leaned his head back. “I lost them.”

**-Back to the Skid-**

“They must’ve got hit by a Kongre,” Aelita worried.

Ulrich’s eyes were wide. “But…that’s impossible.”

This time, Odd’s voice was soft. “Einstein, you think they’ve been virtualized for good?”

**-Back in the lab-**

Jeremie looked at the data from the fight. “No, I—I don’t think so. The data recording doesn’t show any sign of them having been eliminated.” He kept typing on the keys.

 _“That means they’re still on board their NavSkid. Somewhere in the middle of the Digital Sea,”_ Aelita concluded.

“Right, but the Skid is in no condition to find them. You guys have to come back in for me so I can launch a repair program.”

**-Back to the Skid-**

Ulrich pounded the side of his NavSkid with his right fist. “What?! No way!” He withdrew his fist. “We can’t just leave them behind, even if Cassidy’s annoying at times.”

Aelita closed her eyes, thinking profoundly. “Ulrich, no one is leaving anyone, but all of us run the risk of being virtualized forever with the Skid’s systems down.”

Ulrich closed _his_ eyes, and then said, “Yeah, you’re right. We better go.”

**-Later-**

The elevator opened up and Ulrich rushed out. “How long will it take you to fix it?”

“Reprogramming the sonar is linked to balancing the bi-polarity of flux on the one hand. On the other…” Jeremie began to elucidate.

“Just tell us when we can go back, okay?!” Ulrich sounded tense.

“Soon, as long as you let me concentrate,” Jeremie looked at him annoyed.

He didn’t seem relaxed when a warm hand met his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Ulrich. I’ll help him. I’ll call you as soon as we know.”

Ulrich only nodded while Odd smiled.

In the crimson sea, a voice called out, “Can anybody hear us? This is Yumi.”

“And this is Cassidy. Oh, no, I knew it was going to go wrong. Why didn’t I trust my spark-flash?”

“We don’t know where we are.” Then, Yumi spotted the energy level on their screens. “We’re in trouble. We’re almost out of power. Can you hear us?! Answer us! Somebody, please answer us!”

Cassidy started to shiver. “I’m getting a bit cold.”

Yumi wrapped an arm around her friend and brushed her hand through her hair, humming the tune _Chase the Morning_.

Meanwhile, Kiwi sniffed around. He knew he had to find the middle part of Yumi’s diary. He just needed to follow his nose.

Ulrich, however, leaned against a tree. “What a nightmare!” he lamented. He had lost his girlfriend and his friend in the same NavSkid at the same time.

Odd smiled, optimistic. “Oh, relax. You heard what Einstein said. They aren’t gone from the network. We’ll bring Yumi and Cassidy back, don’t worry.”

Ulrich held some of his hair. “But—Cassidy was one of your girlfriends.”

“I know, but she is still a friend,” Odd smiled.

Kiwi dug into the leaves again. Suddenly, he started barking jovially. He brought over what looked to be a bound pack of papers to Odd. “Hey, what have you got there, Kiwi?” He looked at the packet and his eyes widened. “Ulrich, this is Yumi’s diary.”

“What?”

Odd nodded. “I get it. The diary and the binding got separated, and Kiwi dug it back up right where we are sitting now.”

Ulrich grabbed the diary from Odd’s hands. “That’s great. We found her diary, but now we lost Yumi _and_ Cassidy.”

Back into the digital network, Yumi called out, “Jeremie, Aelita, can you hear us? This is Yumi and Cassidy. We’re almost out of power…” Then Yumi felt the temperature drop. “It’s cold here, and… We feel all alone…” She pulled Cassidy close and huddled with her, closing her eyes.

On the other hand, Cassidy visibly shivered. “I want to go back to Earth, Yumi. I don’t know where to go to get back to Lyoko…”

“Everything will be okay,” Yumi tried to be positive. “The cold is probably messing with your powers, like how your Time can.”

Suddenly a Kongre swam in close to the girls. Yumi gasped, opening her eyes. Her right hand grasped the thruster in between them. “Okay, Yumi, you two have only one torpedo left, so don’t waste it.” She pressed the red button, but nothing happened. “Oh, no, not enough power.”

Cassidy typed on her side of the keys. “We sh-should be able to g-get more power if one of us deactivates half of the shield.”

“There’s a double shield on this NavSkid?” Yumi looked to her.

“Since this is a double, yes. Same with the other double NavSkid. It’s stronger that way. The two single NavSkids have standard shielding,” Cassidy whimpered a little near the end.

The Kongre fired, but Yumi spun the ship around. “We’re not done yet.”

Her stomach spun. “Yumi, warn me next time you do that, please?”

“Will do. Sorry.”

Cassidy finished typing in the code to deactivate some of the power in the shield. Sure enough, the shield strength flourished to about half the power they needed.

The monster fired again, but Yumi moved the ship to the right. “Yes. Okay, you and us.” She moved the thruster around and pressed the red button again. “Fire!” She murmured.

The torpedo made its way to the monster, and hit it squarely.

Suddenly, in the lab, there was a red circle on the location screen. Jeremie typed as Aelita stood by, running program after program, when… “Huh?!” He sounded elated.

“What was that?” Aelita asked.

“An explosion by a NavSkid torpedo!” Jeremie answered.

“Yumi and Cassidy!” she rejoiced as she whipped out her cell phone, typed in a number, and put it up to her ear. She had to hug herself to keep from going too excited.

**-Back with Odd and Ulrich-**

Kiwi snored, glad to have found the pages, Odd slept, and Ulrich was awake when his cell phone rang. He rose to his feet and placed it on his ear. “Yes, Aelita?” he sounded desperate. After a pause, he said, “Huh? Okay, we’re on our way.” He hung up and looked back at Odd. “They found Yumi and Cassidy.” But then he gasped when he realized Odd was gone like the wind. “Odd?”

“Well…?” Odd stood by the open sewer, tapping his foot, having his hands in his hoodie pocket.

Back in the NavSkid, Yumi and Cassidy started to look tired out. Cassidy sighed. Her mind was racing. She couldn’t believe that she had come all this way to end up being virtualized for eternity. Even her powers, always telling her of good and bad events to come, were of no comfort. _Pity the backseat,_ she thought.

A voice came through the dark clouds of despair, making her jump. “I want to go home.”

She looked back at Yumi, now looking down.

Inside Yumi’s mind, she flashed back to the day Yumi had had enough of her parents arguing. Her mother had come upstairs to calm her down, though she was crying. She had proposed to go live at Kadic, fed-up with the false promises that they would stop fighting soon. Then a little voice carried itself to her ears. “Yumi, who am I going to play with if you go away?”

More tears fell from Yumi’s eyes that day.

Another flashback happened in which Hiroki needed help with his English assignment. “No, Hiroki, foot becomes feet in the plural.”

Hiroki looked to her. “How do you know all that, Sis?” he asked innocently.

Yumi merely smiled.

Another flashback involved lunch at home. Yumi tapped out a message to Hiroki. Then he tapped one in a reply. Mr. and Mrs. Ishiyama turned their attention to their children. “Oh, what are you children up to this time?” Mrs. Ishiyama asked.

All of a sudden, Yumi burst out laughing, and Hiroki followed suit. They were happy that their parents didn’t know of their secrets.

The next flashback was at the pool. Yumi was staring at her watch when Hiroki surfaced. “Well…? How long?”

“Oh, at least ten minutes,” Yumi smiled.

“Wow!” He smiled.

Out of her flashbacks, she whispered, “Hiroki.”

Cassidy couldn’t flashback the way that Yumi could.

Suddenly, a laser hit them wayside. They gasped when they looked to the side.

At the Lab, Jeremie muttered to himself. “Come on… Come on…”

The elevator opened to reveal Odd, Ulrich, and Kiwi. Without looking back, the genius said, “Yumi and Cassidy sent us a message, guys.”

“Great, we’ll go and get them,” Odd smiled.

“I have to finish the calculations first. I’ve isolated the area, but it’ll be impossible to find their exact location before I fix the Skid’s sonar,” Jeremie informed.

“But if they fired a torpedo, that means they are in a jam.”

Aelita showed him a look. “I transposed the data of the explosion into the Holoweb to get their location via triangulation.”

Then the location device picked up a green arrow. “There they are! They must’ve gotten sucked into a Hub. That’s why we lost all trace of her.” Jeremie smiled.

Ulrich, however, looked solemn.

“But the sonar is still down, guys,” Jeremie frowned. “So going under right now is going to be a big risk.”

Odd smiled. “I’ll go.”

“Count me in,” Ulrich agreed.

Aelita came in. “Well, what are we all waiting for?” She turned around and smiled.

A few minutes later, the Skid was off on the hunt to find their missing members. “There’s a Hub dead ahead.”

_“I read you, Aelita. I’m entering the coordinates from where the girls fired their torpedo.”_

They hovered over the Hub. “Hyper fluid aspiration in 3 seconds. Hang on tight!” They dived in.

Meanwhile, Yumi and Cassidy were trying to get away from the new Kongre that came after its brethren died. Suddenly Cassidy’s eyes sparked in a flash that was shown this time to Yumi. It showed the Skid going into the Hub.

“Our cavalry’s arriving?” Yumi asked.

“I think so,” Cassidy shook out of it.

It came close, but Yumi sped up. Cassidy tried to hold on tight. She was used to high speeds, but sudden stops would make her super tense. Another laser connected to their NavSkid. Cassidy gripped the thrusters tightly as it spun around. The girls let out yelps as it stopped. Soon they were face-to-face with the monster. “It’s all over. What’s he waiting for?”

It looked off to the side and swam off. In the distance, William was in his vehicle, the Rorkal. He fired his torpedoes.

Yumi and Cassidy held each other, bracing each other for impact when, unbeknownst to the girls, the Skidbladnir rose up. The three torpedoes hit it instead of the damaged NavSkid. Yumi opened her eyes. Why weren’t they eternally virtualized? She looked to the side to see the Skid. “Well, Yumi and Cassidy…”

Cassidy and Yumi gasped in joy. The brown-haired purple cat warrior’s brown eyes twinkled. “Aelita, thank God!”

“…thought you’d wander off without telling us where you were?” Aelita asked.

“It took you long enough to get here,” Yumi breathed.

Cassidy’s calf muscles tensed in excitement. “Aelita, you are the best!”

Meanwhile the two other NavSkids were out and running at William and the Kongre.

“I’m glad we can rest easily for now, Aelita,” Cassidy smiled.

The torpedoes hit the NavSkids in the nose. The Kongre and William kept firing their stuff. Odd and Ulrich maneuvered their way back and forth, dodging lasers and torpedoes. Then they split up.

Odd moved his thruster. “I’m in the mood for some fish soup.” He pressed the red button. The torpedoes glided toward it, but it ducked. Using a targeting scope, he fired again. “Guess I better cook it down, first.” He finally hit it. It disintegrated. Then Odd turned back around.

To Ulrich, Odd yelled, “Ulrich, behind you!”

Ulrich looked back and heard two torpedoes firing. He dodged and evaded. He groaned.

A NavSkid met up with him. “We can’t leave you alone for a minute, huh, Ulrich?”

William growled menacingly.

They sped off in two different directions. William looked back and forth, and then growled. Where did they both go? XANA would be disappointed.

Ulrich looked at the positioning device between his legs. He sighed. “Okay, he’s behind Odd.” He turned around so he was behind William. “Big mistake, William!” He pressed the red button. “Fire!”

It hit him from behind and his Rorkal disintegrated. The two rallied to the Skid. “Mission accomplished, Jeremie,” Ulrich said.

_“Hey, great job. Now anchor yourselves to the Skid and head back in. Ah, they’re all coming home.”_

Aelita looked in the cockpit. “Not everybody. But one day, we’ll bring you back, William,” she said softly enough to not get heard by Cassidy.

Once out of the scanners, Cassidy looked to Yumi. “Is it okay if I go sleep over with you?”

“Yep. We’re all set,” Yumi nodded. “Plus with what happened today, a sleepover will be fine.”

 _“Okay, Cassidy. Are you ready for the Dream Barrier Destroyer test?”_ Jeremie asked.

Cassidy nodded. Odd looked up. “She’s ready, Einstein.”

She walked into the tubular scanner, hands shaking. “There are no side effects, right, Jeremie?”

_“Right. Don’t worry.”_

The scanners closed. As she was scanned head-to-foot, she felt more and more energy be put inside her. Her eyes went alight with life. A smile grew on her face. Her color went back to a pinkish tone. When the scanner doors opened, she jumped out, ready to conquer whatever XANA put in front of her. “Man, that was AWESOME!” Cassidy roared excitedly.

That night, Cassidy and Yumi made it back to the Ishiyama Residence. On her bed was the middle part of Yumi’s diary. “There was restitution!” Cassidy’s heart leapt in joy. _Ulrich, you dog._

“You seem better,” Yumi smiled.

“I’m feeling better.”

Outside, Ulrich was walking to the school, humming a tune.

 


	55. Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy become Lab Rats

**I’m going to steal this line from a fanfiction I like:**

**I, the enigmatic ghost kid, was here to play 'lab rat'.**

**I don’t own that line or Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy and that’s enough for me.**

**Also, + text + is sign language.**

It seemed that there was nothing to upset Cassidy’s upbeat mood as she slid into her seat in the cafeteria.

“You are super smiling today,” Odd noted. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, just enjoying the fact that I had a wonderful week of having no nightmares,” she nodded. “Jeremie’s program rocks.”

Sissi happened to pass by. “Hey, what’s all this about…”

“It’s okay, Sissi. It’s just that my computer was giving me nightmares, so Jeremie made an anti-virus program that made it easier for me to sleep at night,” Cassidy sighed happily.

Suddenly, Sissi’s mouth turned into a happy grin. “Thanks for sharing your mood today.” She walked off with her tray in hand.

“Wow, looks like smiling _is_ contagious!” Odd smiled.

“If it turns into an epidemic, I’ll take the blame for it,” Cassidy bantered in a way that said “Anything you can do, I can do better, Odd”. “Hi, Jeremie.”

Jeremie and Aelita slid in beside their good mood friend.

Odd gulped his breakfast. “What’s the big news? I can’t wait to hear it.”

“I found it, at last,” Jeremie replied.

Odd cut a joke. “What? How to build up your muscles without any exercising?”

Cassidy snickered.

“Or how to kill Cassidy’s nightmares completely without wiping her out of existence?”

Her eyebrows rose past her bangs. “Odd! That’s private!”

“Sorry.”

“Funny,” Jeremie sarcastically put. “No. I figured out a way to materialize you onto Earth from the network. Actually, it was much easier than I thought it would be. I applied the Synchronicity Principle to the Supercomputer’s apparatus, and then I used it to develop a kind of energizing projection.” He then took a bite of his croissant. “In other words…”

“…in English, then, it means you now know how to send us somewhere on Earth directly from the network, right?” Odd asked.

“Exactly.”

Cassidy looked to her ex in shock. “Who are you and what did you do to my ex-boyfriend who is still a good buddy of mine?”

“Nothing at all, Cat Girl.”

Ulrich also looked to him. “You understood Einstein’s babbling?”

“Well, yeah. I’m thinking that after all this time, I am finally getting the hang of ‘swamptom physics’.”

Jeremie and Cassidy gave him a dry glare. “Quantum.”

“Yeah, well, it’s still muddy, though.”

Ulrich turned around in his chair. “So, hold it. That means you can bring us up anywhere on the Skid?”

Jeremie looked to Ulrich. “Not anywhere at all, but I can do it in the vicinity of a Supercomputer generating a copy. It’s what I call Teleportation.”

Suddenly, Cassidy gasped in a way that would almost rival Pinkie Pie on a “met a new friend” day. “Oh, no…Ulrich, you didn’t!”

He looked to her confused. “I didn’t what?”

“Santo cielo, Ulrich. You did.” Then a smile popped on Cassidy’s face. “I’ve got it! I’ll save your butt this time. Luckily the principal allowed me to do this ahead of time.”

“What do you mean?” Aelita asked her roommate.

“No idea, but I gotta scamper if this mission of mine is to go according to plan,” Cassidy winked. “I’ll see all of you later.” She took up her tray and left.

“Does anyone understand a lick of what Cassidy just said?” Ulrich asked.

Jeremie shook his head. “No. She’s been vague before, but never _this_ vague.”

“It is strange even for her,” Odd blinked. “Do you think it is a side effect of the Dream Barrier Destroyer?”

“I ran a full check before trying it on her. There were no such signs of worrying effects, but if needed, I could check her later.”

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi walked with Hiroki to the school. It was a mundane task, Yumi admitted, but she knew that she would see her friends. Hiroki was going on and on about his upcoming date with Milly. She was to be treated like a princess, he said. Yumi will chaperone but at a distance, he said.

“Okay, Bro, I get it,” she smiled. “You’re totally flipped over her. I understand it.”

Just then a pink, purple, gold, and brown flash rushed by her. A feeling of unbalance came over her. “Whoa…”

A pair of hands caught her. “Sorry, about that, Yumi. I guess I didn’t look where I was going.”

She looked up into the glasses and brown eyes of her friend. “Cassidy, what’s gotten you in an energetic whirl today? Is it your birthday already?”

“No, silly. The antivirus software that Jeremie made for my computer is making me feel happy. No more nightmares about that,” she winked. There was a twinkling in her eyes.

There was a moment of confusion in Yumi’s eyes. Then, it clicked. She was talking about the Dream Barrier Destroyer. “Well, I’m happy for you.”

“Anyway, I’ve got a mission to run. I’m so glad that my grandparents from Nebraska sent me Father Mike’s bike. I pity Father. He’s having a battle of his own memory. I would hate it if I were in his slippers. Anyway, I gotta run.” She turned to run when a hand grabbed her shirt.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Cassidy,” a small voice said. “Aren’t you forgetting to remember something?”

She turned to Hiroki. “Oh, right. Hi, Hiroki.” She knelt to his level and gave him a hug. “Have fun with Milly tonight, but remember that she isn’t…”

“I get it, Cassidy, don’t worry. Papa gave me the talk just last night. I promise that that won’t happen. I’m too young to think about that anyway,” he smiled and winked.

“If only my father were here to give that talk to me. Oh, well, I could find a fan fiction to help me with that,” she rose to her feet. “Well, now, I’ve gotta run. I have a very important mission to uphold. It’s of a sacred duty.” She walked over to a blue bike and put on a helmet, then her ear buds. “See ya.” She pedaled off, singing at the top of her lungs.

Yumi and Hiroki stood confused. “Since when does she go vague, Sis?”

“I have no idea, Hiroki,” Yumi shrugged. “See you after classes, okay?”

Hiroki smiled. “No problem, I want to see Johnny before class anyway.” He raced off.

She smiled and walked around to the cafeteria. Jeremie and Aelita were already outside. “Hi, guys, what’s up?”

“Are you ready to go and blow up a supercomputer?” her pink-haired friend asked.

Yumi turned to Jeremie. “You can get us to the real world from the network?”

He smiled. “Yeah. We’re meeting at the factory tonight to try it out okay?” He patted her on the shoulder in a friendly way.

Yumi grabbed his arm. “Hey, wait, before you go, have you noticed how weird Cassidy is acting? She seems too full of zip and too vague. She nearly ran me over as she left the first time.”

“Odd thinks she is suffering a side effect of the Dream Barrier Destroyer, but I did a full check before testing it.”

Yumi sighed. “Oh, well. It’s not as if she was that way before, right? It could be just a fluke. Anyway, you got it!” She let go and Jeremie walked away.

Aelita turned back and waved. “Bye!”

Just then, Ulrich appeared. “Uh, Yumi, I wanted to ask you something…”

However, she wasn’t in the mood for him to say anything. She turned and walked away with a grunt.

Odd, who was sitting on the top stair of the cafeteria steps the whole time, had a smile on his face. “Wow! Now that was about as cold as the North Pole; what did you do to deserve that?”

“I have no idea. The cold shoulder started the day before yesterday.”

“That’s weird. Her _birthday_ was the day before yesterday,” Odd quipped.

He jumped. “It was?! I don’t believe it. You’re kidding!” he looked to him.

“Uh-uh. I hope you wished her happy birthday. You know how things like that are to her.”

“Oh, no! I totally forgot! MAN! I bet now she’s going to hate me for weeks,” he feared.

“Probably, unless you go and buy her a nice present to make up for it.”

“I’ll go now.” Then a thought hit the panicking samurai. “Oh, no. I don’t believe it! I think I know what Cassidy’s mission is all about!”

“What?” Odd wondered.

“She is trying to save me and Yumi just like any other time.”

The male cat warrior smiled. “You know that she is crazy about having you and Yumi together like she is about having Einstein and Princess together.”

“That is true—but how do you know?”

“I dated her once before. When we were just sitting in her room talking about random stuff—she is a chatterbox at times, let me tell you—she showed me one of her many vision journals, and I swear, every detail is to an exquisite art. She even has little post-its, telling herself what to do.”

“Which vision journal was it? Pre-Mr. Hated or Mid-Mr. Hated?”

“Pre, mid, I don’t remember off the top of my head right now. Anyway, she seemed pretty determined. One of the post-its read: Date William.”

“Okay, okay. I would if I could get Yumi a gift.” Just then, Ulrich flashed back to about a few hours ago. Jim was holding what looked to be a stiff bag full of stuff. “Stern, how many times do I have to tell you that a flounder is not a flying fish, so there is no reason to throw it out the window, especially since the window is open, and I happen to be there? So I’ve got one word for you, and that’s _two hours of study hall_!”

Ulrich looked up at his coach. “You’re making a mistake, I swear to you, Jim.”

Jim neared him. “Well, Stern, you’re right this time. I did make a mistake. It’s not two hours, but _four_ hours of study hall, and if you keep _baiting me_ , I’ll make sure that you don’t get off the hook for _eight_ hours.”

Back in the present, Ulrich rubbed his head. “Thanks to Jim, I’ve got four hours of detention. And then we have Chardin’s class, and…”

Odd stood up. “Hey, Cassidy’s getting your get-out-of-jail-free card as we speak. Don’t sweat it, Ulrich. I have to get a few things for Kiwi, and while I’m out, I’ll also get a present for Yumi.”

There was some marked relief in Ulrich’s voice. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

He patted his roommate’s shoulder. “Yeah, sure, besides, I owe you one.” He then scratched the back of his head. “In case you didn’t know, the flying fish thing was me.”

Ulrich lunged and grabbed the boy by the shirt. “It was, and you let me take the blame?!”

“I was laughing too hard to tell Jim!”

He glared at his roommate, grip tightening. “Oh, Odd, you know I oughta…” The bell rang, cutting him off. He sighed, letting go of him. He did not want to get caught bullying Odd on campus.

Odd left with a wave, while he sighed.

Cassidy, meanwhile, was already looking through the jewelry department. Her back pinched, but went away as soon as it came. That was a tough bike ride, but it was worth it. She looked around the necklaces when she blinked. She saw a point of light-brunet/dark blond making his way through the crowd. Her heart raced. “Oh, no. No, no!”

Minus the character, everyone else looked toward her. She blinked. “Um…no… This necklace is way too tacky for someone as beautiful as my friend.”

The customers went about their business, while the employees started showing people around. It was as if the unusual shout was nothing. Cassidy sighed and resumed hunting around. “Where can I find a gift for my friend so he can give it to his girlfriend?”

“Maybe I can help,” a voice made her jump.

She whirled around. “Oh, thank God! I need a gift for my friend to give to his girlfriend. He forgot her birthday about three days ago…”

“And you want to save him the trouble. Luckily I think I know the right gift to give to your friend, _and_ , for a special deal, your other friends as well.” He gave her several boxes. “The one on the bottom is for your friend to give to his girlfriend. I paid for them the other day. I was waiting for the right customer to come.”

“Well, um…thank you. Now how am I going to get out of here to my bike? I need to get back to the school.”

“Your bike is not going to be able to carry all these gifts. Let me get my truck.”

“But…”

“Relax, my shift’s over in five minutes.”

Cassidy’s eyes widened. _How did I get blessed with luck today? Did I get a good fortune cookie last night? No, I didn’t have Chinese food last night. It was Swedish meatballs that were overly-saturated in that special sauce Rosa made. Maybe a life-sized overly-wide fairy sprinkled some of his dust on me while I was sleeping last night. I can’t be hallucinating. I don’t do drugs. I swore off the caffeine last week, so I can’t be suffering the effects of it. Maybe it’s hunger. No, I can last forty days without it._

Someone snapped their fingers in front of her face. “Miss?”

She shook her head. “Huh?”

“The truck’s ready.”

\------

On the bridge that night, the full gang—even a happily skipping Cassidy—raced for the ropes. She came to a stop, looking back at Ulrich. “Hey, Ulrich.” She smiled.

“Yes, Cassidy?” a tone of surprise was in his voice. “What is it?”

She handed Ulrich a red and black package. Wrapped around it was a golden rope. “Here.”

Ulrich blinked. His face looked like someone wrote “shocked” all over it. “You spent your literally hard earned Euros on this?!”

“Hey, this was actually free for some reason. The reason, of course was never uncovered.”

Aelita and Yumi landed on the floor feet first. After Aelita, Jeremie found his feet to the floor.

Odd stopped and gave Ulrich a wrapped package. Cassidy grabbed at it. “Wait, Odd.” She gave the package a squeeze. It squeaked in her grip. “Odd, that’s _Kiwi’s_ gift!”

“Whoops!” He hastily swiped Kiwi’s present from Cassidy’s hands. “Hey, will you stop hating me for a minute, Ulrich? Here…” He handed another package to Ulrich. “This should get you on the good side of your girlfriend.” The package was not as elegant as Cassidy’s gift, being that of a brown wrapped paper box with a thin, red ribbon, but it was a gift nonetheless.

Ulrich couldn’t believe his luck. _Two_ presents would be the key to Yumi’s happiness again. “Hey, thanks, you two, but what are they?”

“You know I’m not a spoiler when it comes to gifts I give. I barely even opened the package that I gave you to find out what it was. I only know what Odd almost gave you, and the gift that is in that one,” Cassidy sighed.

Odd gave him an OK signal with his pinkie finger bent. His other hand held the rope. “A surprise. Yumi’s really going to go for it. Don’t worry.”

The rope gave a wiggle in Odd’s hand. “Hey, you guys, HELLO! You don’t mind keeping up with the rest of us, I hope! Do I have to remind you that we have a really important mission…?” Jeremie called up to the three.

“Okay, okay. Hey, we’re not factory workers,” Odd yelled down to him.

Ulrich and Cassidy looked to him. “Well, technically, we are.”

She raced down the ramp and into the elevator. “Sorry.”

Yumi smiled. “Don’t worry, Cassidy.”

Ulrich and Odd came into view. Ulrich took his position beside Yumi. She glared at him before turning to Aelita. “How did your classes go today?”

“Not bad,” she answered sweetly. “How about you?”

The elevator doors closed on the full gang as Yumi said, “Fine.”

Eventually, Jeremie was typing on the computer as the Lyoko Warriors were on their teleport spots. “You guys ready?”  
Cassidy shared a spot with Yumi. “Sí, Jeremie. Estamos listos.”

_“Energize.”_

Bright, white columns flashed up from the teleport spots, and one-by-one, the warriors disappeared and reappeared into the Skid. Aelita appeared in the cockpit. Yumi and Cassidy appeared and landed in a double NavSkid. Odd and Ulrich stayed in separate NavSkids.

 _“Standing by for lift-off?”_ Jeremie asked.

Aelita smiled in confidence. “Standing by.”

_“Supports aweigh.”_

“Ignition,” she pulled up on the levers. “Powering, vertical.” The turbo jets ignited with virtual fire. “Lift-off!” The Skid shot up through the North Pole. Aelita maneuvered it around the dome. Shifting the left thruster, she took a deep breath and turned it out of the tunnel. Then she moved the thrusters forward. The Skid then hovered thousands of feet above the Digital Sea. Giving a simple “Okay”, Aelita typed on the keys. “Shields, activated. Sonar, activated. Stabilizers, online and checked. Primary access, clear. Laser generators, online.” She grasped the left thruster again. “Ready to dive.”

The Skid dropped down, hovered over the surface for a split second.

 _“I’m entering the coordinates of the Replika,”_ Jeremie relayed as it dove into the Digital Sea. _“Holoweb system, online. Okay, you’re looking for a hub at 0, 4-5.”_

“Gotcha, Jeremie. Course heading set,” Aelita confirmed after rotating the Skid from vertical to horizontal. “I’m powering up the turbo props and auxiliary engines.” The turbo jets came to life as it sped to the hub.

Odd adjusted his seat. “Replika, here we go again.”

Ulrich rolled his eyes. “Can’t somebody shut him up?”

“Why? He’s nice at least,” Yumi said quietly.

“He cleans up nicely, too. He was like that on our dates, though we always came back with our clothes messy somehow,” Cassidy recounted.

Odd flinched back with a smile. “Incredible, they’re talking to each other.”

“Shut up, Odd!” Yumi and Ulrich chorused.

Cassidy stayed silent, though inside, she was giggling with glee. Soon Yumi would be happy with Ulrich again. She knew it.

Gliding through the sea like a hot knife through butter, the Skid soon reached the hub. Aelita rotated the Skid from horizontal to vertical. “Get ready. Broadband acceleration in three, two, one…cero.” In no time at all, they dived into it. The way through the tunnel was easy. The vehicle shot out through the side. “Reverse thrust. We’re clear, Jeremie.”

 _“Yeah, I know. You guys oughta be able to see the Replika by now,”_ Jeremie’s voice sounded worried.

Cassidy sighed in sympathy. She, too, was a victim of worrying until she became idiotic. “Jeremie, relax. Yumi, Aelita, and I can see it, too.”

“Hey, what about Ulrich and me,” Odd protested.

“Well, you and Ulrich are on the sides of the Skid, Odd. You can only see a little bit of the Replika.”

“Oh.”

The Skid floated over to the Replika, slowly and smoothly. “Yes, it’s right in front of us. We’re heading for the entry portal.”

“The code is 43156, Jeremie,” Cassidy recited.

“Thank you, Cassidy.”

When the vehicle got close, Aelita placed a hand on the keypad. “Digital key activated.” As the laser beam hit the virtual keyhole, she smiled and looked up to the Skid’s roof. “I’m sending you the signal, Jeremie.”

_“Roger…I’m about to open it up.”_

When the laser beam vanished, the entrance dropped down, and the claws opened, letting the Skid inside.

Suddenly, Cassidy’s stomach curled. _Something is about to go wrong and I can feel it coming._ She shook her head and took some deep breaths. _Come on, girl. This is a Replika mission here, not a “Panic day” mission._

“Everything okay, Cassidy?” Yumi put a hand on her shoulder, a sure-fire way to cool her down.

“Maybe my jubilance from this morning is wearing out a bit. I don’t know,” Cassidy sighed.

Yumi’s fingers gently glided upward to her friend’s hair. It was an innocent enough gesture. It used to work when Cassidy went into shock that one time about the Digital Sea. She spent a full week at Yumi’s house that time.

However, every muscle in Cassidy’s being clenched. Her hand shot up and smacked her friend’s hand away. “Don’t do that, please…” she whimpered.

“Was it Mr. Hated?” Yumi whispered.

 _“Everything okay, you two?”_ Aelita asked.

“I accidentally set off one of Cassidy’s triggers, but she’ll calm down.”

 _“Uh-oh, there’s an activated tower on the Replika,”_ Jeremie relayed.

“XANA doesn’t want to leave us in peace, it seems,” Cassidy sighed impatiently. “Figures. Seeing as this is Lyoko we’re talking about, of course, XANA is never going to leave us a little peaceful time…not unless we turn invisible or something.”

“That means that XANA is up to no good somewhere on Earth not far from the Supercomputer we’re looking for,” Aelita realized. “But what?”

_“If we wanna know, we gotta…”_

Ulrich waved a hand in front of his chest. “Hey, Einstein, what if we give your teleportation thing a try, just to be sure once and for all?”

_“That’s what I was thinking, but first, you’re gonna have to moor the Skid to a tower. There’s one nearby, at three o’clock.”_

“I see it, Jeremie. It looks good.”

Cassidy tried to hold back a snicker.

“I should be able to secure the Skid to it.”

_“Gently, though. A little to the left. Be careful…”_

“Einstein…” Cassidy warned. “You’re being over-overly precautious.”

“Backseat driving again,” Odd agreed. “Better cut it out.”

_“Uh, sorry, Aelita. I know you can do it without me.”_

Aelita carefully hovered the Skid around the white tower, and pressed a hand on the pad. “Ready to moor.” A pink beam of light hit the tower, followed by several little beams. “Skid secured.”

“Nice one, Princess,” Odd smiled.

 _“Good job. Now just give me a minute to activate it for our own use.”_ A few seconds later, the snow white aura around the tower turned an emerald/shamrock green. _“Well, we’re all set. Okay, guys, it’s time; Ready for teleportation?”_

Ulrich looked un-amused. “Ready to go, Einstein.”

Cassidy pulled down an interface screen. Her fingers traced letters on the side saying GOING. “Yumi, write your name on the staying side.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I’m going.”

Yumi wrote her name on the side saying STAYING.

_“Teleportation.”_

Aelita flickered and disappeared. Odd and Cassidy did, too.

Ulrich looked around. The Forest Sector Replika played in his head. “It didn’t work, Jeremie. I’m still here.”

 _“That’s normal,”_ Jeremie informed. _“I forgot to tell you that this time I decided to energize only Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy. I rather you stay with Yumi to protect the Skid. If it’s anything like our last experiment, Cassidy agrees, XANA would be sending you a welcoming committee in no time flat.”_

“If you’d have told us before, we could’ve chosen inside ourselves,” Ulrich chastised.

“Great! You really sound happy to be with me,” Yumi’s words dripped ice, anger, and sarcasm.

He shrugged with a defensive gesture. “That wasn’t what I meant.”

_“Okay, you guys know the procedure. I’ll put you ashore while I get a little work done…”_

**-Back at the lab-**

Jeremie pressed a button. “Aelita? Odd? Cassidy? Do you read me?” There was no answer. “Aelita? Odd? Cassidy?” his voice went up in octave. He pressed the button again. Where could his two amigos and one novia be? Were they okay? Did he just send them to their doom? “AELITA! ODD! CASSIDY!” He tapped several keys. “I wish I knew what was happening…” he adjusted the volume on his headset, heart racing in panic.

 _“Cool, Einstein!”_ Odd’s voice grated against his friend’s eardrum, causing him to scream. _“It WORKS!”_

“Glad to hear it, but that’s no reason to blow out my eardrum. Okay, where are you?”

 _“If my visions are correct, Jeremie, we are somewhere in the Amazon jungle,”_ Cassidy’s voice was soft for Jeremie’s sake.

 _“And it’s daytime here,”_ Aelita observed.

“I get it. You’re in a different time zone.” Jeremie typed on several keys. A map came up on the screen. “You’re in the Amazon region, it seems. Good visions, Cassidy.”

**-In the Amazon-**

“Wow, it’s exciting,” Aelita looked around. Her costume was normal, though her elf ears didn’t exactly translate with the program. Instead, she had normal human ears.

Odd and Cassidy were relatively the same. Only difference was that Cassidy’s sash had a brighter pink hue. She felt slightly disoriented by her heavy lower legs.

“But we’re dressed like we’re on Lyoko. How come?”

 _“Because the teleportation isn’t a_ real _devirtualization.”_ Aelita did a complete assemblé to a tree root and twirled around. _“Those aren’t your human forms that I materialized onto Earth, but they…”_

“Somewhat humiliating, but okay,” Cassidy smiled.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Frank-Einstein, are you trying to tell us that we’re not really _us_?” Odd asked.

 _“Yes, you’re you, but those aren’t your real bodies. More like some kind of specters in the image of your virtual manifestation,”_ Jeremie explained.

Odd kept looking to the canopy. “Aelita, Cassidy, and I become specters?”

“Yes,” Cassidy nodded.

_“In fact you are more like polymorphic specters that…”_

Odd couldn’t contain his glee. “WOW…! Pretty impressive.”

_“If you say so. It doesn’t matter. For now, hurry up and find the supercomputer. The teleportation won’t last forever.”_

“How long have we got?” Aelita asked.

_“Um…f-fifty-two…no…twenty-six…uh, f-thirtee…thirteen minutes.”_

“The guy’s a comedian. And just _where_ does he expect us to find a super computer…?”

“Behind that tree, Odd,” Cassidy pointed. “My visions fail to tell a lie.”

Aelita walked up to the tree and looked behind it. “Good guess, Cassidy.” A factory complex was in Aelita’s line of vision. It was different than their factory, with a silo jutting out of the roof, solar paneling, and a dorm-like single-floor structure on the side, but it was a factory, nonetheless.

“Who’s guessin’?” Cassidy blinked.

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich raced up to Yumi. “Yumi, wait! Can’t we kiss and make up, huh?” Silence followed. “You know, if somebody forgot my birthday, I wouldn’t make a big thing out of it.”

Yumi halted, arms crossing in front of her chest. “That’s because I never, ever forget it.” She resumed her pace.

He sighed, rubbing his chin. _How in Lyoko can I get myself out of this mess?_ “Ch…you know…ugh…!” He walked up again. “Okay, not you…but I meant somebody, you know?”

She turned around, looking at him (where Ulrich internally sighed in relief), and said, “Look, quit while you’re ahead. You’re just making things worse.”

Ulrich looked to the side, shamefaced. What else could he say to her without looking more like a fool than what Cassidy already made him?

_“Yumi, Ulrich—Odd, Aelita, and Cassidy have found a laboratory. My theory was right. They’re trying to locate the supercomputer. Everything okay on your side?”_

“A little chilly, but…” A laser nearly grazed him. “D’OH!” While another laser found its way between them, he jumped away from Yumi, as she cart-wheeled away from him. He pulled out one of his four katanas. Yumi withdrew her fans from her sleeves. Right away, they saw a Tarantula. It was standing on its hind-legs, shooting with its “arms”. Then it walked on all fours.

The chase was on.

With Ulrich and Yumi unaware, William was riding on another Tarantula. **“Faster,”** he roared, thrusting his sword forward. A third screeched in response.

“Jeremie, XANA’s on the move again.” Yumi saw the Tarantulas. They were moving closer to their location.

_“Okay, Yumi… Two vehicles coming right up!”_

Like magic, the OverBike and OverWing materialized out of thin air. The owners respectively raced for and jumped on their vehicles. Ulrich looked to Yumi. “I’ll take care of Mr. Hated over there.”

Heated, Yumi scoffed, “Yeah, right!” and sped forward. He followed soon after, Jeremie warning, _“Be careful. If the Skid gets disconnected from the tower, it’s mission over for Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy, and I’m sure Cassidy would hate that.”_

“We’ll try to make life miserable for the enemy, don’t worry,” her words came out cold though reassuring to her friend.

With William as its rider, the Tarantula clunked towards Ulrich, who was speeding up to them.

Grabbing a katana from his backpack, he muttered, “Fighting William should put me in a better mood.” He assumed the position.

William rose to his feet on the Tarantula’s snout and jumped off. Ulrich looked up just in time and swerved. The possessed boy’s sword hit the ground as Ulrich passed by, causing the sword’s owner to swing around once. William found his feet to the grass.

Ulrich sped toward the Tarantula, jumped, and threw his katana, destroying the monster on contact. The katana skewered into the ground. He turned around and stopped before he could hit a tree. He let out a sigh of relief.

**-Back at the Amazonian lab-**

Aelita, Cassidy, and Odd sidled up the lab’s exterior walls. Cassidy took a deep breath. _Here we go._

Odd looked at Aelita and Cassidy with a cocked brow and curious expression. They nodded. He found the door was loose. “It’s open.”

They walked with a casual gait, as if they were just passing through. He looked left while Aelita looked right. Cassidy looked both ways, worried.

“Right or left?” Aelita asked the two.

Odd pointed left. “Through there.”

Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut. _Where do we go?_ Her schematic went jumpy. Then she shook her head rapidly, as if she was in a stretch and squeeze cartoon. “Darn it!” she whispered. “The dream barrier may be dissolved for now, but the schematic is not running right. I’ll have to agree with Odd this time, Aelita.”

“How can you be so sure, Odd?” Aelita asked.

“Because my sense of direction is infallible,” Odd smiled.

The girls shrugged. Cassidy felt a tug on her visions. _NO! I cannot let it take me right now._ Keeping to the casual gait, the three walked down the left hallway. They reached a wide window when Aelita gasped and touched Odd and Cassidy’s shoulders. Inside was a brunet man, pulling at light green material on a plant-like organism with what looked like forceps. He turned around, the eye of XANA in his eyes, thinking he heard something. The window didn’t give the answer. Instead, it was devoid of any human (virtual or non) life. He came closer. Seeing that as fact, he turned around.

Unknown to him, Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy were ducked under the window. He crawled to them and pointed where his sense of direction was telling them. Cassidy nodded, knowing the signal well. The three crawled under the window, the psychic feeling a second pull so strong she dropped to an army crawl. _Whoa…what is tugging at all my visions today? I didn’t have any nightmares all this week. What’s going on now?_ She winced in silence.

Odd signed, + Are you okay, Cassidy? +

She signed back, + I don’t know. My visions…they are tugging me in two different directions. I don’t know what to do. +

He fell in crawl step with her. + Just keep calm until this mission ends, okay? +

She nodded. + I’ll try. +

They continued on, undaunted.

Back on Lyoko, William walked forward. Ulrich spun his vehicle around on his foot and sped toward him. The enemy saw this as a chance. He raced forward.

Ulrich picked up his katana, dragging it on the ground. It was time. He drew his weapon in front of his face.

William charged and, as Ulrich tried to slice him, ducked, slashing through his enemy’s tire.

The vehicle started skidding. The good guy jumped off just in time, but it revved over the edge. Ulrich flipped over, feet landing at nearly the exact fate. However, he caught himself in time. He watched as his vehicle disappeared into the Digital Sea.

Behind him, William wiggled his fingers on his side.

Meanwhile, Yumi used her tessen fan to block the shots fired. She maneuvered her vehicle left and right. The lasers were a part of the territory. It was not that hard, seeing as she was a skilled Lyoko Warrior. Soaring behind it, she threw her fan. It sliced through its head. She dodged trees as the fan came back to her.

**-Back with Trio Amazon-**

Odd sidled up to the wall. He was standing. So were the girls. As they looked down Hall C3, they found a door. Cassidy leaned on Odd, still a bit weak from a third tug.

“How many tugs are you going to have?” Aelita whispered, concerned.

Cassidy looked to Aelita. “I think as many as the night is young in France.”

They walked out and put their backs to the wall. They could hear footsteps. Cassidy held Aelita’s hand, trying to hold back all types of noise inside her being. Her system was shaking.

Aelita gave a firm, yet gentle, squeeze. + It’ll be okay, Cassidy. +

She tried to take in a deep breath. Then Aelita took her and Odd into a door. “Hurry up,” she whispered. “This way…”

The door shut behind them. Cassidy tried to stay calm. “Um…” she whispered, eyes wide at something. “G-guys?”

Aelita and Odd looked behind them and walked forward. He looked in “What’s this, huh? A supermarket display for…office plants?  Uh-oh, guess not!” A huge cubic glass terrarium stood in the middle of the room. A tree-like structure was populated with giant arachnid-like creatures. Most of these creatures had a familiar eye symbol.

_“Aelita, Odd, Cassidy, hurry up and find the supercomputer. Yumi and Ulrich are busy fighting off a bunch of Tarantulas!”_

“And let me guess…him, too?” Cassidy shivered.

_“You got it. I feared that you would get flirted with again, so I told you that you could come, Cassidy.”_

“Thank you, Einstein.”

“Anyway: Funny, their cousins are right here!” Odd joked in semi-quiet.

_“What are you talking about, Odd?”_

“Uh, nothing, Jeremie.” He turned his head. “Aelita, Cassidy, what do you make of these souped-up spiders?”

Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut. The tugs doubled. “I don’t know, Odd. These tugs are not letting me access my visions. Now I have six tugs.”

“Okay, okay… Aelita?”

Aelita kept staring into the tank. “I’d say that XANA wants to transform these tropical tarantulas!”

“But for what? Spiders don’t attack unless you sit on them!” Suddenly a spider jumped onto the glass, making both cat avatars jump. Odd screamed.

The pink-haired girl turned around and shushed Odd, holding a firm hand over Cassidy’s mouth, worried that she might scream, too.

Odd looked at Aelita cross. “Okay, okay, don’t look at me in that tone of voice! Anyway, I’m sure nobody heard anything.”

Cassidy tensed and removed Aelita’s hand. “I’m sure somebody did, Odd,” she hissed.

The door behind them opened. Cassidy glared daggers into Odd. “Told ya, Odd!”

“You were saying,” Aelita whispered.

A bald-headed man opened his hand. He was wearing glasses just like Cassidy.

Odd raised his arm. “Laser arrow!”

The purple flashes flew to the man. However, he clasped his hand around them.

“Anybody ever teach you to play fair?”

“I don’t think that he’s wants to play fair, Odd,” Cassidy countered. “Look!”

The man threw them back. Odd ducked once, and felt one in his shoulder. The force threw him into a console. Aelita and Cassidy gasped.

The XANAfied victim smirked evilly.

The cat-boy, on the other hand, held his shoulder. “Hey, that really stings.” He looked at a metal bar on the ground.

Cassidy grabbed at her sash, unveiling a clear tube. _Pistol, please?_ When it transformed, she aimed for the bad guy. “Let’s see if you can dodge this bullet.” She pulled the trigger. He returned the fire onto her.

She fell down, feeling the bullet in her chest. She winced as her chest area faded and wiggled. She managed to weakly say, “Your turn, Aelita.”

An orange ball of fire formed in Aelita’s hand. “Energy field.” She threw it, but he ducked.

Cassidy shakily rose to her feet. “Talk about taking your own bullet.”

Just then, XANA-scientist raised his hand. A blue beam shot through it to the girls. A golden shield absorbed and blocked the blast. Aelita gritted her teeth and tried to hold on. Cassidy stood behind her, panting in exhaust. “It’s not going to hold, Cassidy!” Aelita cried.

Cassidy held Aelita’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay, Aelita.” She took her hands off.

The shield weakened as the beam hit her, sending her flying to the glass. She fizzled and faded.

**-Back on Lyoko-**

Ulrich crossed his katanas together. William brought his zabanto down. The two held gazes as the swords flashed. The good boy moved his and brought the other one’s sword down. As William held out his hand, Ulrich quipped, “You lost, William.”

He looked to him. A voice hissed inside his head, “What a nuisance.” The non-XANAfied warrior was holding his blades out in front of him, ready for an attack. He held his concentration, and in a cloud of dark gray smoke, the sword dissolved and reappeared in his hand.

Ulrich charged, determined to take down Cassidy’s XANAfied ex. However, he rushed straight into the blade. “Oh, no…” Right away, he started to dissolve into a cloud of pixilated dust.

William chuckled evilly.

**-In the scanner room-**

Ulrich groaned to himself. “What an idiot.”

**-Back on Lyoko-**

A Tarantula shot at the Skid, and then turned around and shot at an incoming Yumi. Before she could come twenty-five feet close, two lasers connected to the OverWing. She flipped off, unsheathed her fans, and threw them. Both of them connected to the eye on top of the head. It combusted as she caught her fans.

William dragged his zabanto on the ground. Yumi turned around to face him. She was ready to give him a what-for.

He charged.

She threw her fans. “Not so fast, Pretty Boy…” she joked. He ducked, still racing to her.

She sighed. _Oh, he is so in for it now._ Putting her fingers to her temples, she started to glow. The fans went far, then ripped around back.

William turned, stuck his sword into the ground, reached up, and simultaneously caught the fans. He then turned to Yumi, showing her fans. They glowed red until they burst into dark gray smoke. His hand went for his zabanto, and pulled it up.

He pointed it to her. **“It’s over, Yumi.”**

Yumi backed up. This was not how it was supposed to happen. “Jeremie! Mayday, SOS, I need two more fans like, right now!”

_“Uh-oh, ‘right now’ is a pretty tall order, Yumi. But ok, let me see what I can come up with!”_

**-Back in the Amazon-**

Aelita stopped fizzing and fading. The man was standing over her. Cassidy dropped to the floor, a few more tugs coming into play. “Odd, help…”

“Hold on, Cat Girl!” Odd whispered. He swung the metal bar, but the man caught it. He looked at him, shocked. Then XANA-scientist pushed him into the desks.

Behind him, Aelita charged up another Energy Field. The force of it pushed the man out of the room and into the wall across from it. He fell to the ground.

Odd walked out, and looked ahead. There was a room. After scoping it out, he scooped the guy from the armpits. “Here we go, back in your cage now!”

The man’s eyes opened again. A second later, Odd was flying through the air. He was about to do the final act when…

“Hey, you!”

He turned around. Aelita had another golden Energy Field in her hand. Throwing it sent the man flying through the air and into the room. A claw pressed on the interface. The door closed on him. Odd rubbed his chin. “You’re a great specter!”

Aelita looked to him. “You really think so?”

“Well no medals just yet, Princess. We still have to find the supercomputer!” Odd turned around.

Cassidy blinked. “Thanks for helping me back there, Odd…” she dripped sarcasm.

Odd weakened under the angry gaze. “Sorry, Cat-Girl. That guy was more important.”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

William jumped and slashed, though Yumi dodged. He slashed three more times. All the while, Yumi ducked, dodged left and right, and flipped backwards. Suddenly, her feet met an edge. She gasped. “JEREMIE.”

**-Back at the lab-**

Jeremie typed on the computer. “It’s okay. I’m nearly there.” He heard the elevator hiss and clunk open.

A few seconds later, Ulrich asked, “Well?”

“You wouldn’t have a rabbit’s foot, a four-leaf clover, or a horseshoe on you, would you?” Jeremie countered.

Ulrich turned his attention to the screen. “Is it as bad as all that?”

**-Back to Team Lyoko-Amazon-**

Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy raced out into another hallway, stopping in the middle. Aelita put her hands on her hips. “Infallible sense of direction, huh, Odd? I was positive that we should’ve gone in the _other_ direction!”

“Wait, Odd may be right on this one,” Cassidy smiled.

Aelita turned to leave them, thinking that this time Cassidy had lost the rest of what was left of her marbles, when a clawed hand grasped her arm. “Hold on a minute.” He let go, walked forward, and looked inside a window above a door. Cassidy followed him. Inside was what looked like a wired down racecar inside a lab complex.  “Bingo!”

Aelita raced up to him, a smile forming on her lips. “Jeremie, we’ve found the supercomputer!”

“Way to go, Odd,” Cassidy smiled.

About a couple seconds later, Jeremie’s voice echoed in their ears. _“Great, you’d better destroy it right away, because Yumi can’t hold on much longer!”_

A code panel looked up at the three. Odd typed on it, but came up in the red. “Oh no, an entry code…why not a couple of guard dogs too?”

“I think Aelita is useful here,” Cassidy sighed. “With my visions being tugged in several different directions, I can’t find the code.”

“Cassidy’s right, Odd. Let me handle it,” Aelita walked up. She put her hand up to it, as if that hand was cold, and concentrated. A few seconds later, the code panel lit up all green, and the door opened. Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy smiled.

Meanwhile, a light above a door turned green and opened. The man walked out. Time to make those miserable brats pay.

After the three walked inside, Aelita sighed, “Now we’ve gotta get rid of this thing for good!”

Cassidy nodded.

Odd raised his arm. “Let me handle this one. LASER ARROW!” He shot one at it, only to see that it was absorbed into some sort of shield. “I don’t believe this…” Odd groaned as he looked to Aelita.

“Jeremie, we’ve got a problem. The supercomputer has an energy field around it!” Aelita reported.

_“You’ve gotta find out where the shield is getting its energy from. I can’t do anything from here, do whatever you have to, but hurry up!”_

**-Back on Lyoko-**

It wasn’t looking good for Yumi. She managed to dodge every attempt William had, but now she backed into the tower. “Jeremie, it’s now or never!” she cried.

Suddenly, fans materialized in her hands. She smiled as they did, but it came too late. William smashed her, and was entering the tower.

**-In the Scanner Room-**

The scanner opened. “Oh, Jeremie, I’m really sorry…” Yumi sounded about ready to cry.

In the lab, Jeremie sat with wide eyes. Ulrich seemed unfazed.

**-Back to Team Lyoko-Amazon-**

Odd looked around. There was a little circle in the middle of what looked like a metal computer. Aelita pointed. “There! That must be the lens that is projecting the energy field.”

Cassidy fell to her knees. Then one of the tugs ripped a small hole in her visions. She got up. “Something’s wrong! Something is wrong!”

“What is it, Cassidy?” Aelita asked, concerned.

“I…I don’t know, but something is wrong! I know it!” Her virtual heart raced frantically.

Another tug ripped.

“If we destroy it, we can deactivate the shield.”

Odd smiled. “You know, you could’ve me a little bigger target.”

A third, Cassidy gulped. _What in blazes? I need to do something!_

“No one could _possibly_ hit from this distance. That is, except me,” Odd protested, then bragged. “But if it’s all the same for everyone, Cassidy, you take the second shot. You need some action.”

“T-Thanks, Odd,” Cassidy nodded, feeling dread.

“No problem, Cat Girl.” He raised his fist.

The door opened with three XANA-scientists. Cassidy gasped, three more rips. _What is happening here?_ “Odd, I—”

“Go ahead, Odd and Cassidy. I’ll take care of them,” Aelita assured.

A beam of light came to the three, only for it to be absorbed and blocked. Aelita held her stance and her energy shield.

**-In the Tower-**

William floated to the top platform.

**-To team Lyoko-Amazon-**

“LASER ARROW!” Odd shot it to the tiny target. When he did, the field fell. “Yeah! Adiós, amigos. You’re up, Cassidy.”

Cassidy raised her arm with her gun. “Here…I…go…” she felt eleven rips. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “Odd…” she panted, almost in a whisper.

“Cassidy, hurry up!” Odd hastened.

“Odd, Code—William—tower—Yumi—Ulrich—scanners—Code—William—The code, the code, the code, the code! Tower—William—Ulrich—scanners...”

“Cassidy?” Jeremie asked. “Are you okay?”

“The code, the code…” she repeated several times.

Odd growled. “CASSIDY, WHAT CODE?! We have a supercomputer to destroy. This is no time to have flooding visions.”

“William—tower—scanners—devirtualize—William—Ulrich—Yumi…”

“What in the world is going on back there?” Aelita looked behind her, still holding the shield.

**-In the tower-**

William walked up to the middle of the second platform. An interface appeared. He placed a hand on the screen.

CODE:

X…

**-Back to Team Lyoko-Amazon-**

Suddenly, Cassidy’s words made sense. “Odd! The code is…”

**-Back to the tower-**

…ANA

The pink beam dissolved as the tower turned red.

**-Back to Team Lyoko-Amazon-**

“…XA…” the three blipped from existence and back into the Skid.

 _“Odd, Aelita, Cassidy, come in please,”_ Jeremie called.

Aelita appeared in the cockpit, head forward, eyes closed. Odd and Cassidy appeared in separate NavSkids.

The girl in the NavSkid woke first. “XANA!!”

Odd woke up next. “Yumi and Ulrich have been devirtualized, and William entered the tower and then the code XANA. Is that it?”

“Yes!” Cassidy nodded.

Odd looked around hazily. “What is this? What’s going on now?”

Cassidy’s eyes fell shut again. Whatever attacked her powers that strongly exhausted her.

 _“XANA has taken over control of the tower, you guys. Your Teleportation has stopped. We gotta abort the mission. You might as well come back home. Wake up, Aelita!”_  

Aelita shook awake and looked around in a daze.

 _“Aelita, let’s get outta here!”_ Jeremie ordered.

She looked out the window. A tiny dot was on the move.

_“Spider-Man and company have just arrived!”_

“Best get out of here while Cassidy’s sleeping. I don’t think she’d like the shock of Mr. Hated,” Odd cautioned.

“Okay,” Aelita almost whispered as she pressed a button. “Let’s go!” She pushed the thrusters forward. The Skid did a circle around the tower. The last Tarantula kept firing, though the vehicle was going away.

Safely, it dove into the digital sea.

**-Later-**

Cassidy frowned, still exhausted. “I’m so sorry, guys. It’s my fault. If my visions weren’t so ‘My friends all call me Mr. Tuggy’, I would’ve been able to help you shut down the supercomputer this time.”

“This time?” Odd looked to her.

“No idea what I’m saying,” she sighed.

“There’s no sense dissing ourselves.”

She looked up at Ulrich’s words.

“After all, we did our best.”

Aelita raised her arms, as if gesturing to Jeremie. “Maybe, but we’ve still gotta find out what XANA’s planning to do with those cybernetic spiders.”

“Right. We’ll have to go back onto the Replika, Teleport you back in, and destroy that supercomputer!” Jeremie nodded.

Odd yawned. “That’s fine, but until then, anyone mind if I sleep for a few years?”

Cassidy joined suit. “I’m about to fall asleep on this factory floor.”

Yumi smiled at her two beat friends. “Ok, we get the message. We could all use a little sleep!”

**-Later, at the bridge-**

Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie walked in front of Yumi and Ulrich. He tapped her arm. “Uh, Yumi?”

She turned around. “What now?”

He held the two gifts. “Here, two little birthday gifts.”

When he handed them off, she took the gifts in her hands. “Oh! Thanks, Ulrich, that’s very sweet!” She leaned in, and kissed him on the lips.

His cheeks heated up. When she broke the kiss, Ulrich smiled as if in a daze. “Aren’t you gonna open it?”

Yumi shook her head. “In Japan, you never open a present in front of the person who gave it to you.”

“Well, that’s fine with me!” Ulrich said quickly.

Aelita looked at them, a sad look crossing her face.

“I bet you’re thinking about your own birthday,” Jeremie softly said.

She nodded. “Well, yeah… It-it’s one of those things I still don’t remember. I haven’t any idea when I was born.”

Cassidy smiled. “I did some looking in the Hermitage el otro día. I found something that’ll please your eyes.” She took a plastic covered piece of paper out of her bag. “The year is a bit smudged, but the month _and_ the day are still intact.” She handed it to Aelita.

She looked at it and gasped in surprise. “My birth certificate! Where did you find it?”

“In your father’s room. It was a road less traveled, but I found it in his sock drawer,” Cassidy giggled.

Aelita hugged her. “You are the best, Cassidy.”

Jeremie patted Cassidy’s back. “Thank you, Cassidy.”

“Hey, are you guys coming or not? Hurry up before I fall asleep on this bridge!” an impatient voice asked.

“Yeah, we’re coming, no need to wake the whole town up!” Ulrich smiled.

**-In Odd and Ulrich’s room-**

Cassidy sat on Odd’s bed with the owner. She was so tired, she decided to stay on the boys’ floor, but promised to sleep upstairs at the right time.

Odd was opening Kiwi’s gift. “Who’s the pretty present for, huh? Who’s it for, my little diggety dog?”

Ulrich looked to them. “Hey, Odd and Cassidy, thanks again for Yumi, you really saved me this time!”

“Hey, no sweat,” Odd smiled.

“De nada, Ulrich,” Cassidy yawned. “And thank you for letting me bunk here until six o’clock.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ulrich smiled the widest.

Odd took out the yellow dog bone. “Thank you for saving me, Cassidy.”

“I knew that present wasn’t right,” Cassidy smiled.

**-At la casa de Yumi-**

Yumi opened Ulrich’s gifts. The first, the one with the brown paper and red ribbon, held a necklace. She smiled. It was beautiful. The second she opened next. Her eyes widened. In it was two elegant fans almost like her own. They weren’t metallic, but they were almost like her fans.

_If Ulrich was about to wish me a happy birthday late, this is definitely surprising…_

**A/N:** **Thank GOD! I got this done. I’m glad this is done. It is proof that RTTPN isn’t dead. Sorry about that, fans.**


	56. Well, we need to Brag about This One

**Let’s hope we don’t end up losing our right to boast about this.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but I do own Cassidy. And I’m also bringing _Friendship is Magic_ out a bit earlier than the original air date (September 17, 2011). And due to the length of the chapter coming up short, I’ll have to drag it out a bit. This chapter’s not going to end too early. I don’t want to miss Odd’s battle with William or his shining moment with the backup generator. Granted, I’ll have to mix things up a bit.**

**I think this fan fiction should have a TV Tropes page. What do all of y’all think?**

**-At Gym Class-**

“I’ll say it once more for those of you who were daydreaming. One, run up. Two, jump onto the springboard. Three, push off of the pummel horse. Four, pipe-vault, and five, land feet together on the mat,” Jim instructed. “You got that?”

Hervé raised a finger. “No, I didn’t get it at all, Coach. So would you mind giving us a demonstration, Jim?”

“Hervé, he can’t,” Cassidy glared at him, worried for her gym teacher’s safety.

“What’s the matter with you, Pichon? There’s nothing to it. Only a half-wit couldn’t manage it.” Jim turned around to face the pummel horse. “I appreciate your concern, McGuire, but it seems that Pichon can’t wait to see me try.”

“Please, Jim. I’m worried about you. Remember what happened in the forest about a month or two ago?” she blinked at him. “About that ‘wild pig’ that attacked you, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and me? What if you hurt your back?”

“You worry too much, McGuire. I told you Mr. Klotz’s therapy might be good for you.” He cleared his throat.

 _I would if Emily didn’t keep_ scaring/scarring him _with her own nightmares. It_ always _seems that she gets there first_ even if _I wake up earlier than_ she _would._ Cassidy showed eyes of pure nerves. “Um…Jim, is it okay if I take your spot instead?”

Aelita grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy?”

She tried to jerk away, although she had to admit that Aelita had grown stronger in physical strength as she did other strengths. Jim’s commando camp had made Cassidy only a small bit stronger, which confused her. “Do you want the other kids laughing at a fully-grown man doing a pipe-vault in a painfully bad fashion?”

“Oh, let her volunteer, Stones. It couldn’t get any worse than me,” Jim encouraged, suddenly pleased that one of his two cadets had guts.

Cassidy smiled. “Thank you, Captain Jim.” She walked forward. _Okay, girl. You’ve got this. Just run up, jump onto the spring board, push off on the pummel horse, pipe-vault, and dismount with feet together. Remember Yumi._

Yumi wasn’t dead, but keeping her in her mind helped Cassidy keep herself from getting scared. The confident air that her friend had was more than enough to keep her going, even on Lyoko. But even she knew that all the confidence in the world wasn’t going to help her against William.

She clenched both fists, rolled her wrists, and let go. _GO!_ She raced down the line, determined. _For Jim, for Jim, for Jim…_ she repeated in her mind. This was it! This was her defining moment…

She closed her eyes, songs coming into her ears. Her mind completely disconnected from her usually-fearful heart. She jumped a foot from the springboard. Her body flew through the air. _Catch it, girl!_ Her hands felt something solid just between her legs. _Push off._ Cassidy pushed until she thought that she looked like a Y-shaped formation.

All the while, students were in awe. Even Odd was impressed. She wasn’t acrobatic, admittedly so, but she was doing a great job thus far.

She closed her legs and bent her elbows. The next thing she knew, her feet touched the laminate flooring. A roaring cheer made her open her eyes. She shook her head. “What?” She sounded confused. “W-what happened?”

A hand clapped at her back. “I didn’t know you had it in you, Cat-Lover-Girl!” A shrill voice came to her ears.

“What happened?” she didn’t know what had happened.

“You did the pipe-vault, McGuire. Usually, you would stop at the springboard, but Holy Toledo—you went all out this time,” Jim chattered excitedly.

Cassidy looked as if she was going to fall to the floor at any given moment. “I did?”

“Do you need to go to the infirmary, McGuire? You don’t look so good. I’ll write a note to the rest of your classes,” Jim sounded concerned.

“S-sure, Jim.” She staggered off, mumbling something about needing to go help Pinkie Pie.

“The blood must’ve rushed to her head when she was dismounting,” Ulrich whispered to Aelita, who nodded in agreement.

“She did all five steps,” Odd muttered. “Somehow, she wasn’t scared. In any case, that horse oughta be in the rodeo.”

“My best cadet did her work! How about you, Della Robbia?” Jim ordered. “And don’t forget those five Golden Rules.”

Odd strode forward, taking a deep breath. “Okay.” He raced forward, his eyes determined for his goal. He jumped, flipping in midair before catching himself on the pummel horse. Some students gasped in awe as his legs closed together in the air. He kept his sight on the saddle. Jim observed his form. Then Odd bent his elbows, launching himself off the horse and landing, feet together, arms apart. “How was that?” he asked the gym teacher. “You were right. Only a halfwit couldn’t manage it.”

Jim creased his brows. That got on his last nerve.

Later, under the arches, Odd couldn’t believe his luck. “Come on. I don’t believe it. I do a vault worthy of the Olympics, and BAM—four hours of detention. Is that the kind of payoff I deserve?”

Ulrich kept a hold of his yellow bag. “Well, yeah.”

Cassidy, who had gotten back to normal after her trip to the infirmary, shook her head. “I got a detention as well for being too modest and out of it after doing the same vault. I don’t even remember doing it.”

“You did mumble something about helping Pinkie Pie,” Aelita noted. “I don’t know if you meant me, or someone else.”

Cassidy blushed. “I don’t think I meant you, Aelita.”

Odd was paying attention to Ulrich. “Huh?”

Ulrich looked at his friend with a smile on his face. “Come on, Odd. The way you spoke to Jim was…”

“Was what?!” Odd asked sharply.

“Obnoxious, pretentious…”

Odd stopped and turned to Ulrich. “Pretentious?! No one’s more humble than I am, besides Cassidy.” He winked to his ex-girlfriend.

Cassidy felt her heart drop. “Uh-oh…”

Odd heard Jeremie say, “Who are you trying to kid? Your middle name oughta be Braggart, Odd.”

“That’s for sure. I can’t even remember even one day that you didn’t sing your own praises,” Aelita agreed.

“Hey, that is so wrong and I can prove it to you, too!” Odd pointed a finger in their direction.

Cassidy started to shy away. “I’m gonna stay out of this.”

“Okay, I bet you a week of desserts that you can’t go twenty-four hours without bragging,” Ulrich smiled.

Odd looked Ulrich in the face. “You’re on.” Then his attention turned to Cassidy. “And let’s add Cassidy in the bet to make things good, too!”

She looked to her ex-boyfriend, eyes wide and hair slightly wild. “WHAT?!” Her heart raced. “ARE YOU NUT—Wait! That’s an easy-to-answer question. Odd _is_ nuts sometimes!”

Ulrich smiled. “I think that’s a good idea. I bet her a week of vision books that she can go twenty-four hours bragging.”

“WHAT?!” Cassidy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Ulrich! That’s a terrible idea!”

“I know someone who just promised himself some yummy seconds,” Odd smiled determinedly. He reached out a hand to his buddy.

Cassidy put her hand in reluctantly. “I still say that you two are nuts and shouldn’t share a doubled version of the same video game.”

Ulrich’s hand slapped their palms in a friendly gesture. “Yeah, me.”

“Uh-uh, me,” Odd looked at his buddy determined.

“No, me.”

“Why did I get involved in this?” Cassidy whined. “I was going to stay out of this for Odd’s sake.”

“Hey, are you guys all through? May I need to remind you we are supposed to be blowing up XANA’s supercomputer tonight after class,” Jeremie called their attention.

Ulrich sounded surprised. “In the jungle? You mean we’re going back already?”

“That’s right, and we don’t think it’ll be a problem. Odd already knocked out the energy fields protecting it last time,” Aelita reported.

Odd smiled, inspired. “And once again, where mere mortals would’ve failed, Odd demonstrates his greatest, uh, modesty and humility.”

Cassidy grimaced. She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t proud of the way that she ended up making her friends fail the mission, because her visions had her running around like a chicken with its head cut off spouting off nonsense. She got caught up in all the cattle that stampeded her visions.

“So thanks to our non-bragging hero, it’s going to be a piece of cake,” Jeremie was confident.

“I’m not proud of how I ended up making us fail the mission,” the psychic hung her head low.

“Don’t sound like that. It was your visions that ended up failing our missions,” Aelita reassured.

She looked away. Even though Aelita’s words were trying to be encouraging, they only made her feel worse.

After classes, Yumi joined the group at last and pulled open the sewer hatch. She walked down the ladder first. Jeremie followed her straight after, with Aelita at his hands.

Yumi grabbed her skateboard, then Jeremie grabbed his scooter, Aelita doing the same with her scooter. Cassidy kicked up the kickstand and followed the three on her bike. Odd was right behind her, while Ulrich came in last.

Yumi felt herself slowing down, and pumped her leg on the concrete floor. Jeremie showed some uncertainty about the stairs. Odd ground the railing with Ulrich following. Cassidy had to carry her bike down, but didn’t have too much trouble catching up.

Aelita had a determined look on her face. Soon, they all rendezvoused at the ladder leading up to the factory. Jeremie finished in first. Odd and Ulrich came in second and third. Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy came in fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively. Jeremie climbed up the ladder first and uncovered the lid. He then led the way to the ropes with the rest of his friends at his heels. He jumped off with Odd, while Ulrich waited his turn. Yumi raced ahead of him and grabbed the rope Jeremie grabbed. The rope Odd grabbed flew within his grasp, and he grabbed it.

Cassidy veered left and raced down the ramp. She always hated the ropes. Odd tried to dare her to do the ropes from after the crow attack on, but she refused, thinking that jumping from a rope was suicide. He hadn’t given up.

Yumi landed after Odd and Jeremie entered the elevator, and then Cassidy joined up with her. Ulrich landed as the two raced in to take their places. Aelita followed suit.

Jeremie pressed on the up button. Strangely enough, the up button was more effective in getting the Lyoko Warriors to their destinations in the factory than the down button. The metal door enclosed them all, and the car took them down to the lab.

Later, the five Lyoko Warriors waited as the elevator to the Skid hangar descended from the sky in front of them. The five walked onto it, and it ascended to the hangar.

A few minutes later, the Skid dove into the Digital Sea. _“I’m entering the coordinates of the Replika. Holoweb system, connected. You should be able to see it now. I’ve got it on radar.”_

“Affirmative, Skid in position in front of the entrance,” Aelita announced. “Digital Key engaged.”

“Do you want _me_ to give you the code for the entrance, Jeremie?” Cassidy asked, trying to brag, but it was obvious to everyone else that she wasn’t doing a very good job about it.

“Come on, that was horrible bragging,” Ulrich said. “I bet Kiwi would do better.”

“Stop comparing her to my dog, Ulrich, or I will start it up,” Odd defended her honor.

“Fine,” he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

 _“I’ll be fine, Cassidy. Don’t you fret,”_ Jeremie reassured. He was against having his psychic friend in the bet. Unfortunately, Cassidy resigned herself to her fate and signed the deal with Odd and Ulrich. However, he was not going to just stand idly by while she tried and failed to brag. In fact he had a plan.

Soon, the beam from the Skid disappeared. The entrance dropped down, and the claws spread open. The vehicle went inside, and the entrance closed. The Skid emerged from the Sea and ascended to the land forms above. “Tower in sight, Jeremie,” Aelita announced. Once they were close, she then said, “Docking.”

A pink beam of light, with tiny other beams of light, connected itself to the tower. _“Gotcha, I’m activating the tower for us.”_

Right away, the tower turned an emerald/shamrock green.

 _“Are you ready?”_ Jeremie asked.

Yumi spoke first, “Ready.”

“I am totally and, um, awesomely ready,” Cassidy meekly looked to the apparent ceiling of the double.

“That was weak,” Ulrich muttered to himself in singsong, keeping his voice low so everyone didn’t hear.

_“Teleportation, Ulrich, teleportation, Yumi, teleportation, Cassidy.”_

The three disappeared from the NavSkids. In the Amazonian laboratory, there were three flashes. One was yellow, one was purplish-pink, and the other was a pink-purple-Yin-Yang colored flash. Then Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy landed inside.

“You’re the greatest, Jeremie,” Ulrich smiled. “It worked.”

Yumi smiled, looking away from Ulrich for a second to compose herself. “Your teleportation thing is pretty accurate. We’re in the middle of the lab.”

Cassidy swore she heard Jeremie grin. _“Cut the flattery, guys, before it goes to my head. Like Odd.”_

Back on the Lyoko Replika, Odd protested, “I do not have a swelled head. That being said, considering my extraordinary exploits last time, I don’t see why _I_ wasn’t being teleported over.”

 _“Gotta give everyone a chance to have fun, Odd,”_ Jeremie advised.

“Then _why_ was Cassidy teleported over? She was with us last time,” Odd asked.

_“She wants to help Yumi and Ulrich, and make up for it, since last time, her visions had her blathering off.”_

Aelita smiled. “And if the only dessert you want to eat for a week is humble pie, then just keep it up.”

Odd lost his confident air. He didn’t want Ulrich to win. That would put his svelte reputation and sweet tooth at stake. He looked off to the side, hoping to find some way out of this.

Back at the Amazonian lab, Ulrich looked to one side while Yumi looked to the other side. Cassidy concentrated on the map in her mind. “East, through a door, straight, and a little further left. That’s what my awesome sense of direction…um…says.” Her lower right eyelid twitched.

 _“She’s right. Better follow her directions, they are crystal clear,”_ Jeremie told them.

“Got it, we’re on it,” Ulrich said.

Cassidy took the lead, and Yumi and Ulrich followed. When they reached the door, the psychic smiled. “Here we are, Ulrich and Yumi.”

Ulrich and Yumi looked through the window, seeing the wired-down racecar-like structure.

 _“Great, all you gotta do now is open the door and trash the supercomputer,”_ Jeremie advised. _“We told you this would be no problem.”_

“Buen trabajo a todos de nosotros,” Cassidy cheered in Spanish.

On the other end, Jeremie didn’t have enough time to react. He had to take his communicator out of his ear and stop the ringing taking place in it. Once it was back in, he went back to work.

Back at the lab, Ulrich looked at the door while Yumi walked to the interface. Cassidy felt a force, one she had never felt before. Yumi pressed three buttons, but got a red alert.

“Ulrich, before you start to smash it, is it okay if I help Yumi on this one?” Cassidy asked.

“Ladies first,” Ulrich nodded.

She closed her eyes, channeling this mysterious new force. For a moment, Ulrich and Yumi thought that Cassidy was going to take a nap in the lab. However, when she opened her eyes, the iris and pupil in both eyes were both a pure white. Yumi gasped and unsheathed her fan. Suddenly, Cassidy grabbed her arm. “Don’t do it! It’s different this time. Let me help you, Yumi,” she said in a low voice.

Yumi noticed that their surroundings weren’t shaking. At least, they weren’t quaking yet, or unexpectedly devirtualizing. She sighed and sheathed her fan again. “Okay.”

Cassidy let go of Yumi’s arm and knelt down beside the terminal. Her hands snaked around to the other side of it. “Yumi, when I touch the base with my fingers, I’m going to spout off a random string of code in a way you and I both understand. I’ll try to go as slow as possible so you don’t end up in the red zone again.”

Yumi nodded. She hoped her friend knew what she was doing.

“I want you to tell me you are ready when you are,” Cassidy’s eyes dimly glowed.

“I’m ready,” Yumi told her.

“Here we go.” Her hands touched the base, and her head jerked upward. “Live or devirtualize, let the games begin.”

_“Cassidy, are you sure you know what you are doing?”_

She couldn’t move to nod, but said, “Yes, Jeremie. Okay, Yumi, here we go. I’ll reset the system so you can reuse it. It has a failsafe. I’m going to bypass it.” A few seconds passed and the screen returned to its manual setting. “Okay. It’s good.”

 “I’m going to dictate what you have to do, Yumi. Since we don’t have Aelita on board to help us, we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.”

Yumi nodded, amazed at her friend.

Cassidy kept her hold on the base tight like she was one of the last few surviving members in the lab. Her white eyes “focused” on the ceiling, she started to give Yumi pieces of code in easy-to-decipher language.

Ulrich, on the other hand, looked at Cassidy with fright. He reached for his katana and poised to strike her.

Yumi ordered, “Ulrich, stop! Don’t hit her.”

Eventually the door opened. Cassidy’s fingers loosened from the base. Her body fell to the floor, head lowering to a normal level. “Good lord…” her words were breathy and weak. “D-don’t make me do that ag-again…”

Ulrich bent down and lifted her up. “Jeez, Cassidy, did you drop a few pounds? You are easy to pick up.”

“Blame my so-called ‘awesome’ nightmares. They came back about a week ago,” she tried to hold herself up. “I’ve already lost a lot of weight.”

“Easy, girl. That new power thing exhausted you,” he held her.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. To do that with no way to know if it would work…it’s exhausting.”

“Anyway, you got us in.”

 _“The last time, Aelita used her digital power to open it,”_ Jeremie informed.

Cassidy tried to concentrate on her powers, but found that all she could get was a dying spark. “My powers are not responding. We’re going to have to go without them like the last time.”

“That was a lot of power,” Yumi noted. “How did you even get around to doing it?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t, but I guess that’s nothing new. I’ve had one-shot powers before. First, stopping time that only worked when Aelita was about to faint, and then commanding people at the drop of a hat when the vines attacked. After the vines attacked, I couldn’t access that power again.”

“I wondered why you weren’t able to cut time off when you and Odd were kidnapped,” Yumi said as they walked in.

“You ain’t the only one, Yumi,” Cassidy sighed.

Back on the Replika, Aelita was getting a bit restless. “Jeremie, can you hear us? Everything okay?”

_“No, not at all, Aelita. In fact, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that thanks to Cassidy’s help, Yumi was able to unlock the door.”_

“And the bad news?” Odd asked.

 _“The bad news is that for a little bit, Cassidy can’t access her powers,”_ Jeremie informed. _“I’m sure it’ll pass soon.”_

“Are you sure, because I’d love to go and help Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy,” Odd smiled, “…modestly, of course.” He rolled his eyes, although no one could see it.

_“Sorry, Odd, but you got your work cut out for you already. I just spotted an **activated tower**.”_

“We’re on it, Jeremie. Get ready to disembark, Odd.” Aelita’s hands flew over the keys. “Disembark!” She and Odd started to fade from their locations on the Skid and onto the Lyoko-like landscape.

Odd looked up at the sky, Aelita following suit. “Einstein, could you send us a…”

The OverBoard materialized into the vicinity. _“What were you saying, Odd?”_

Odd dropped the request. “Oh, nothing, thanks.”

“Uh-oh,” Aelita said. “It looks like we got a little problem here, too. Cassidy isn’t the only one with trouble today.” She saw that up ahead of the path, three flying objects and a land runner were coming their way.

_“I see Mr. Hated—and three Hornets.”_

William raced toward them, holding his zabanto over his shoulder. The three Hornets flanked them from the sky. **_It’s time to please XANA. He’ll be so proud when I do this deed for him._**

Aelita showed concern as she walked forward with Odd. “Jeremie, should Odd stay here and fight them off, while I deactivate the tower?”

The two could have sworn Jeremie shook his head. _“No, the tower’s too far away, and Odd could never handle them alone.”_

Odd waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Four hornets and Sir Hated the Lowlife? Four laser arrows and it’s game over.”

“Odd!” Aelita scolded, putting her wrists on her hips instead of her hands. “Forget your bet?”

He chuckled nervously. “That isn’t bragging. That’s the simple _truth_.” He crossed his arms against his chest. Then he looked off to the horizon. William was still racing across the grass, the Hornets surrounding him like aerial dogs. One of the Hornets fired at them. Odd raised his arms and crossed them across his chest. “SHIELD!” The shield appeared and absorbed the laser fire. Seeing them done for the moment, Odd lowered his arms and placed them on his hips. “Ya see? Lucky for us, I was here.”

Aelita rolled her eyes. If anything, Odd was going to lose that bet. Cassidy would agree, seeing as she kept a vision book with her everywhere, even to the Subdigitals auditions.

_“Listen, it’s easy. Just hold off Mr. Hated long enough for Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy to get rid of the supercomputer. It’ll only take a few seconds, if Cassidy doesn’t have a blather-off again.”_

On the Replika Earth Location, Cassidy heard it. “HEY! That wasn’t my fault. My visions fell out of my control! I couldn’t rope it in hard enough! It wasn’t my choice!”

_“Sorry, Cassidy. I didn’t mean to say it like that.”_

Back on the Lyoko Replika, Aelita sighed. “Jeremie, you know how words can cross Cassidy.”

_“I know, Aelita. I didn’t mean to go across the issue like that.”_

“Oh, no problem!” Odd jumped on his OverBoard and zoomed off.

Back on Earth, Jeremie typed on the keys. Right away, Ulrich’s call card came up. “Ulrich, do you read me?”

 _“Loud and clear, Einstein—Cassidy’s about to blow it up. She says she wants to do it,”_ Ulrich reported.

“That’s great. Tell me how it looks.”

Back on the Replika Earth Location, Ulrich looked at the supercomputer. “It looks like a wired-down racecar with this triangular lighting thingamajig.”

 _“Okay, just allow Cassidy to do the rest,”_ Jeremie instructed. _“She can do it.”_

He creased a brow and lowered Cassidy’s arm. Something just wasn’t right. “Hey, Einstein, you don’t happen to be aiding and abetting to go against Cassidy bragging, are you?”

 _“What, me? No way. What gives you that idea?”_ Jeremie sounded innocent.

_I’m not going to give myself away. This is for Cassidy’s sake. She doesn’t have one bragging bone in her body. She may be repetitive, but she never brags._

Cassidy’s eyes widened, but she shook her head. “Jeremie, did you just think about Kiwi?” She knew what was going on, but inside, she was supportive of Jeremie’s plan. She giggled. “Did you think he was going to pee on Milly’s article about Mrs. Hertz’s ‘mad experiment’ on a harmless corn plant?”

 _“You read my mind. That’s_ exactly _what I was thinking.”_

Ulrich looked at the psychic strangely, but then retained his suspicious persona. “Cut up the acting, Cassidy. He’s up to something.”

“Who’s acting? Definitely not me. And he did just think about Kiwi, thanks to my amazing mind-reading skills,” she held her head high.

He growled and threw his hands up in frustration. “Fine. I believe you, for now.”

“Thank you, Ulrich.”

“I’m doing this job my way,” Cassidy raised her arm again, aiming the gun.

_“Your way, Cassidy? Like shooting up the supercomputer, thereby destroying the Replika?”_

“Did I just ‘Speak Hmong?’ Yes.”

 _“Though I approve, give me a minute to think it over,”_ Jeremie informed them.

Back on the Lyoko Replika, Odd sped toward the enemies, soaring above the Hornets. “This way, cuties.” He dipped down and kept on going. The Hornets fluttered their wings to his direction.

Back on the Replika Earth Location, Yumi repeatedly opened and closed her fan. She wanted the Replika to be destroyed. She didn’t want to end up delayed. It was a cinch when Cassidy helped her enter the room with her and her boyfriend.

Suddenly, she heard something crash in the distance. She closed and lowered her fan. Something was up. “Did you hear that, Ulrich and Cassidy?”

“Yeah,” Cassidy agreed. “Do you want to check it out?”

Yumi nodded. “If it’ll set my mind at ease, yes.”

She smiled. “Let’s go, then.” She started to walk off when a hand met her arm.

“Wait a second! You can’t just waltz off! We have to trash the supercomputer,” Ulrich scolded.

Cassidy yanked away. “We’ll be fine, Ulrich! I’ll make sure that Yumi and I are not massacred in any way. Besides, I don’t sense the scientists this time. Last time I was here with Odd and Aelita, they were here.”

“Fine, but you get back here to blow up the supercomputer.”

“I’ll make sure that my amazing skills get that done.” She walked out of the room, her boasting still weak in her tone than her words. “Just make sure that you don’t get impatient and steal my thunder.”

Ulrich saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”

The girls heard more smashing sounds as they walked outside. “Unsheathe your weapons, Cassidy,” Yumi warned in a whisper, unsheathing both her fans and opening them.

Cassidy pulled her two tubes from her pink sash. _Turn into guns, please?_ She smiled when they moved to create two semi-automatic pistols. “Right behind you.” With that they walked away from the supercomputer room.

Back on Lyoko, Odd led the Hornets away from William, then he pulled back. The monsters flew ahead of him, unaware of his move. He then aimed his arm and yelled, “LASER ARROW!” He unleashed three arrows, which disintegrated one of them. The two changed direction and started to charge at him, lasers blazing. Odd ducked the lasers the best he could. He jumped off the OverBoard, over the Hornets, flipped around, yelled “LASER ARROW” once again, launched an arrow, and landed on his vehicle feet-first.

“If I tell them this, they’ll say I’m bragging again.” It was true. Odd had a clever quip to say to the lone Hornet, but thought of his bet with Ulrich. Instead, he just sped off with the last Hornet on his OverBoard exhaust.

Back on the Replika Earth Location, Yumi and Cassidy looked around Hall C3, weapons still drawn. Cassidy suddenly fell over, having leaned in too hard. Luckily, she caught herself on her guns, which made a barely-audible _click_. She picked herself up quickly and looked to her friend.

“The coast is clear,” she whispered.

She nodded. The two walked into Hall C3. Cassidy felt a chill go up her spine. “I think Odd and Aelita are contending with a Hornet and my XANAfied ex-boyfriend,” she whispered.

Yumi nodded in sympathy. For the first two weeks since William’s brutal break-up, before finding the torn up tickets, Cassidy stayed with Yumi and Aelita at the Ishiyama’s place. During the day, Cassidy would try to stay strong for her friends. Some of the earlier days were tough. Cho Ishiyama—Yumi’s mother—would comfort her when Cassidy cried, feeling her pain.

One night, when Takeo was in a particularly bad mood, she had one of her episodes. Not in the mood to deal with his daughter’s friend’s suffering, he yelled a string of Japanese curses at her, causing her to cry tenfold. Cho came to her rescue, although throwing the same curses back at him did nothing to soothe either party’s mood. Yumi dragged Cassidy to safety, Aelita hugging her to reassure her that she was okay.

“B-but, I don’t know what—” she did a terrible job of pronouncing what Yumi’s dad had said—“means…”

Yumi gasped, understanding what she tried to say. Suddenly, Yumi threw herself into her parents’ fray. In Japanese, she yelled at her father for wishing death on her friend and calling her ugly. Takeo stopped in his tracks, and never spoke Japanese in front of Cassidy again.

Other days were better. At the middle of the second week at the Ishiyama’s, Cassidy’s tears were less. They weren’t uncommon, but Cho believed that she was on the road to healing.

Back in the present, Yumi said, “I’m glad you came with us. You’re still fearful of him.”

“That I am.”

They walked down the hall and almost passed a room when they heard the smashing happen again. It was coming from the room they nearly passed. “Huh?”

The two turned around and looked at the door. Yumi put her ear to it. She heard scuttling and more glass breaking. “It’s coming from in here.” She looked at Cassidy. The two shared a nod before they walked into the room with the cubic glass terrarium. Unlike the last time that Cassidy had been in the Amazon, the terrarium looked like a car had crashed into it from the inside.

“Jeremie, remind me of what there is in the vivarium,” Yumi said.

“Terrarium, Yumi, terrarium,” Cassidy corrected.

 _“Cybernetic spiders,”_ Jeremie answered.

Suddenly, Cassidy shivered. “Look out!”

On schedule, a giant spider fell from the ceiling, causing Yumi to look behind her and gasp. The two backed away from it, running into another two. “We’re bucked,” Cassidy groaned in dread.

“These guys are ugly,” Yumi agreed.

Suddenly, the two from behind Yumi and Cassidy sprang up into the air and rammed into them, forcing them onto the ground. The girls looked up in terror as the spiders started up the way to them, rubbing two of their legs in front of their faces. Cassidy’s virtual heart started to race in fear. Yumi kicked her spider in the gut, sending it flying through the air and onto its thorax. Yumi then jumped on her hands and soared backward, landing on Cassidy’s spider.

Cassidy picked herself up. Yumi unsheathed a fan and let it loose. But the spider deflected the fan, sending it arching in the air. She caught it. “I’ve had enough of your cyber spider web.” She raced to her right and out of the room with Cassidy on her heels, having shot her spider. “Jeremie, the cyber spiders are being controlled by XANA and they’re just behind us.”

_“Not for long. Get back to the supercomputer room and have Cassidy shoot at it. It should be offline in just a few seconds afterward.”_

Yumi and Cassidy shared a look and nodded. “I’ll turn around and race back. There might be a chance for me to get the supercomputer destroyed.”

“Good luck, Cassidy.”

“Luck is sometimes never on my side, but thanks.” She stopped, turned around, and jumped over the spider.

 _“Ulrich, the plan isn’t big on finesse, but it should work. Cassidy’s coming back to fulfill her duty,”_ Jeremie informed.

Ulrich nodded. “Okay.”

Cassidy came racing back, guns drawn. “I’m here, Ulrich. Yumi’s busy with some of Mr. Hated’s fear right now.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s afraid of spiders, despite taunting you in the unfixed timeline,” she sighed, raising her arm and aiming her gun at the target.

“That one time I was forced to climb the wall?”

Cassidy closed one eye. It was her way to see her hit her target. “Yes.”

_“Do it.”_

She jumped, shrieked from being startled, and took a wild shot. She winced when she heard Ulrich cry out.

“Jeremie, next time, don’t do that when she’s close to completing the mission.”

 _“Sorry, Ulrich and Cassidy,”_ Jeremie sounded embarrassed.

Cassidy took a moment to compose herself. If she were really real, her heart would race to insurmountable levels. “Yes, please, Jeremie. That was totally uncalled for,” she said when she calmed herself. She then turned to Ulrich. “You should go help your girlfriend. She needs your help right now.”

“Yes, Yumi would—wait a minute! How did you know?” he scowled. “I’m not moving until you tell me.”

“She told me when she ordered for me to sleep at her place before the Dream Barrier Destroyer. Move it! She’s not gonna make it for much longer.”

He nodded and raced out of the room, racing to help Yumi.

Cassidy sighed peacefully when Ulrich was out of earshot. “Thank you, Jeremie. This bet is truly hell. I’m not like Odd, or The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

_“Don’t worry. When you are done with this mission, along with some sleep, I might get you a ticket out.”_

She nodded, her eyes locked onto the wired-down racecar-like mechanism. She raised her pistol, an air of confidence about her. This was it. She was going in for her second chance. She pulled back on the hammer and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet flew out of the weapon and into the shield. She gasped. “It regenerated. I’ll have to employ Odd’s method. I’m, um, great and powerful?”

_“Will you relax? Ulrich isn’t with you.”_

“Yeah, but he might overhear.” She looked around. Then she sighed and aimed for the tiny hole that she remembered Odd shot at before her powers ripped a new one. Fortunately, her powers weren’t going to repeat its offense.

Her finger squeezed on the trigger. This time, the bullet flew out of the gun, knocking Cassidy on her tail. She blinked as the projectile hit its target. She spun her legs around before using her strongest leg to push herself up. “That should do it…” she whispered.

Just as the shield flickered off, Cassidy heard a hard _SLAM!_ , and turned around. “Uh…Jeremie, I didn’t predict this happening.” Her virtual heart raced in panic. “This is freaking me out…” She tried to shoot her way out of the room, but instantly ducked as the bullets ricocheted around the room, missing the wired-down racecar-like machinery. “This is freaking me out, dude,” she whimpered.

 _“Don’t…do what you’re doing. Just try to relax and I’ll get you out.”_ Jeremie knew the costs of what she would do if he said “Don’t panic” or “Calm down” instead of what he just said.

“I’m not agoraphobic or anything, but hurry.” Her voice quavered. “I don’t like being in here anymore than Pinkie hates being unfriended, and she turns into an insane pony if that happens.”

_“Easy… I’m getting you out of here. It’s just gonna take time.”_

Suddenly, the hairs on her spectre-like neck stood on end. “Jeremie, I don’t think I’m alone in this room.” Her head turned to find a spectre took the form of the scientist she saw the previous Replika mission. “And XANA set it up.” She aimed fast and shot. “Einstein, I think XANA led me into a trap, and I fell for it.”

_“I see it, Cassidy. I’m working the best I can.”_

She saw the bullets make their way down to the metal ground, useless. “’Seems this one’s impervious! Not even bragging can help me now.”

He advanced to her.

She turned and ran to the door, trying to pull at the metal. “Come on! Come on!” Her virtual heart was racing fast. “I need to get out of here…”

She heard a dark chuckle, making the hairs on her cat ears to prick up. Her being shook as she looked to the side. “J-Jeremie…?”

_“Try to keep calm, Cassidy. I’m typing as we speak.”_

A new voice spoke. **“You really thought that that was your powers talking to you when you were deactivating that terminal?”**

Cassidy whirled, regarding the scientist in front of her. Her throat threatened to choke her words. Was that him? Did he just say something? She tried to keep her sense of calm.

**“You stupid dope, I hijacked the terminal, making it easy for you to deactivate it.”**

Her eyes widened, a memory pricking from inside her mind. In one of the two attempts XANA had used duplicates of her and Jeremie, the clone of Jeremie took it upon himself to call his original and Cassidy “stupid dopes” for surviving the fall in the elevator shaft. To hear the scientist say it made her realize that XANA still remembered that. She felt a burning sensation in her heart—one of anger. Her throat released its grip. “You are the stupid one!”

The scientist’s mouth curled into a sadistic smirk. **“You don’t have any proof. Do you actually think that you would easily win? That this mission will be smooth as silk?”**

“I see that your idioms have become better…” she whispered to herself.

 **“Your powers will soon be mine!”** He then tossed his head back and cackled. **“Then the _Lyoko Warriors_ will fall, banishing their only lifeline that was ever important to them—you. With you out of the way, every mainframe, robot, medical equipment, electronic device, and household appliance will make the human race bow to me.”**

Cassidy gasped.

 _“Don’t listen to him, Cassidy! He’s just trying to break you down! We would never banish you even if he takes your powers. If he does, it’s his fault,”_ Jeremie called out to her.

**“Not even the Elements of Harmony would be able to defeat me!”**

She growled. “They’re fake! They are artifacts on a TV show!”

 **“Are you sure, _brony_ …?”** he whispered so softly. **“I’m sure William would love to use it against you.”**

Although Cassidy felt her heart freeze at the mention of her ex’s name, she gave the scientist a glare and snapped into a stance. “You will not prevail when using my ex’s name against me, XANA.”

He flicked his wrist and a serrated knife as long as Ulrich’s katana appeared in his hand. **“You still have that record. Needless to say, I’m very impressed at how you took out 87 of my minions.”**

“I’m not going to bow to your flattery!” she spat.

Suddenly, the lights started to flicker. Cassidy didn’t know if that was because of XANA or something else. “Jeremie, what in the hay is going on?!”

_“Ulrich just got rid of a generator. He thought it was a great idea.”_

“JEREMIE BELPOIS! Does he know that he just potentially trapped me if you can’t bring me back in?!” She could hear Jeremie wince. She also knew that if the generator was offline, so was the supercomputer.

_“I did not think of that, forgive me. Just…try to hold on. We’ll think of something.”_

“I sure hope so.”

**-Back with Yumi; at about the same time Cassidy’s being talked down-**

Yumi backed into a wall in Hall E5. She was outnumbered, her eyes narrowing down her eight-eyed enemies. “Whoa… Hey, Jeremie, whenever you want for that short circuit!” The three spiders came closer, causing her to unfurl her fans.

 _“Right now!”_ Jeremie announced.

Right away, the spiders collapsed on their abdomens, leading Yumi to breathe in relief. _That was close_.

Back on Lyoko, Odd made a sharp U turn with his OverBoard in a clearing, leading his lone Hornet on a chase. Suddenly, the Hornet started to flash in an orange color and disappear. Odd looked back, confused. Surely the enemy hadn’t just vanished like that. “Huh? Where’d it go?” He made a brusque stop. “Wow, even my _looks_ blow them away.” He put his paws on his hips. Then he brought one of them up to his mouth. “Jeremie, what’s happening?”

 _“We did it!”_ Jeremie announced happily.

He brought the paw down from his lips in slight confusion. “Already?”

Meanwhile, William slowly approached the Skid when a pink ball of energy made its way to him.

“Energy Field!” Aelita called.

With a growl, he used his zabanto to deflect it.

She let loose another one. She was not about to lose their only vehicle to him. She had already lost a lot in her life, the Skid was not going to add to her list.

William sliced it again. There she was, the girl that XANA wants. Even if Cassidy wasn’t there, Aelita was still the prime target. The psychic thorn-in-XANA’s-side was just a bonus. He slowly advanced to the pink-haired Warrior, dodging the next pink energy orb.

 _“Aelita, the Replika is disappearing. Ya better get airborne!”_ Jeremie warned her.

William looked around him. Was this a trick that Jeremie was playing? Or was this going to turn real?

Aelita quickly swiped her hand across her bracelet, jumping as wings carried her aloft. She sighed in deep calm. She was safe, away from the soon-to-be disappearing land.

William raised a fist, ready to smoke her, when he fell through a sudden hole, screaming in surprise.

She flapped her wings when she saw Odd come in on his OverBoard. He looked down the drink. “That’s what you’d call a real swan song dive.”

Back in the lab, Jeremie smiled. The mission was soon to be over. “I told you this was gonna be a piece of cake! You can head for the Skid now, your mission’s over, guys! Are you ready, Ulrich? I’m Teleporting you back.”

Back in the Replika Earth Location, there was rapid humming and beeping. Lights went on at every angle around Ulrich. He didn’t know why it wasn’t shut off all the way. His eyes widened. “Ah! Uh, hold on, I think something’s up!”

_“What?”_

“The power’s back on.”

Throughout the lab, the lights started to go back on and a siren buzzed at different intervals.

**-Back to Cassidy-**

There was a distorted whistle. **“Wow…I had no idea you could full name ultimatum your friends.”**

The lights went back on. She couldn’t see the supercomputer’s complex, but knew it had shot up online again. She growled. “Only when I’m angry or upset. And why are you so impressed all of a sudden? Why don’t you just de-teleport me instead of, I don’t know, JUST TALKING ME DOWN?!”

_“Hm…that sounds like an idea, Cassidy. I forgot about that.”_

**-Back on Lyoko-**

The Replika started to disappear when it started to regenerate. Aelita let her feet land on the virtual grass while Odd flipped off of his OverBoard. “Huh? Uh, Jeremie, is the Replika supposed to be regenerating?”

_“No, it’s not supposed to. Ulrich, there’s gotta be a backup generator somewhere.”_

Back with Ulrich, he spat, “No kidding! Even _I_ could figure that out! Only, where is it?”

 _“How do_ I _know?! I’m looking for it.”_

Ulrich ran through the hall. “Better hurry up. I’m going back to Yumi!”

With Yumi, she walked down the hall, seemingly clear from her pursuers. “Jeremie, how come you haven’t teleported me back yet? And what’s that alarm?”

_“Oh, just a little hang-up. Nothing important.”_

She could hear the chirping of little spiders. She looked over her shoulder and gasped. “Oh, I see.” Her three eight-eyed enemies were back with a vengeance. One of them swiped at her. She cried out and fell back when…

“Not so fast!” A katana smashed through one of its eyes. It collapsed, electricity failing inside it. The katana’s owner put it back in its pack. He looked at Yumi. “Come on, Yumi!” He started running, Yumi overtaking the lead.

“Well, Jeremie, where _is_ this _backup generator?!_ ” Ulrich growled. He failed in saving Cassidy from XANA, but for some reason, he knew that she wouldn’t blame him for that. Instead she’d probably blame him for the bet he had settled with Odd.

 _“I still can’t find it,”_ Jeremie announced.

**-Back with Cassidy, at about the same time as Ulrich and Yumi-**

XANA’s smirk did not change. **“That doesn’t sound so bad, but I have a message to deliver to you from William. It regards a certain— _kiss_.”**

Cassidy’s mouth fell slack. “T-That kiss…?” Her knees shook.

_“Cassidy, don’t listen! He’s breaking you, just like what he does with Mr. Hated all the time.”_

**“He says that the kiss was the best he ever had. He had no idea it would make you freeze like that.”**

“Y-you…you…”

_“Cassidy, I’m almost there, but some bad news. The generator that Ulrich took out has a backup connected to it.”_

“Just as I envisioned time and again,” she sighed, struggling with her own emotions and XANA.

**“It would be a shame if you never find out the reason to why he kissed you at all. Can you imagine how devastated you’ll be if you came to Earth empty-handed—or in your case, empty-pawed?”**

She felt a warm sensation of regret. With a previous mission, she came so close to the answer, but ended up empty-pawed as XANA took William over again. She still wanted it, she knew, but her only hope now was to wait until they could free him.

_“Don’t listen to him, Cassidy. He’s trying to bring you down.”_

XANA got close to her face. **“So? Do you want the answer to why he kissed you or not?”**

She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trembling. She really wanted the answer, but something inside her wiggled. The decision was making her head hurt. She didn’t want the answer from XANA, however. She wanted the answer from the real William, not the prisoner that was Mr. Hated. She opened them again.

**-Back to Yumi and Ulrich-**

“Better take care of those _spiders_ before they take care of _us_. And you should help Cassidy before XANA breaks her to his side,” Ulrich said.

Back to Odd and Aelita, the two stood ready for orders.

 _“Aelita, you have to deactivate the tower. Odd—”_ Odd smiled in a Cheshire way, _“—you stay and protect the Skid.”_

“Aw, no, why do I have to stay while everyone else is having fun…” Odd whined. He only had a small bit of fun with the Hornets.

“Odd…” Aelita sing-songed, as a reminder to him.

“What? I wasn’t bragging,” he told her.

She sighed. That wasn’t what she meant.

Suddenly, a familiar smoky figure jumped up onto the green grass. He stretched a bit, giving a distorted groan.

Odd smiled and rubbed a fist in joy. “Great! Somebody just showed up and wants to play with me.” He looked behind him, regarding his friend. “Go on, Aelita.”

She sighed a bit, but jumped on the OverBoard.

William started racing for Odd, his gigantic zabanto dragging on the ground. He was ready to drive the male feline warrior to the scanners, or to eternally virtualize him.

Odd, who had his arm up to aim a few arrows, lowered it and gave a “Come on with your come on” gesture. “Feel like playing tag?” he taunted. He bent his knees at an angle, prepared for his mighty strike. He flipped out of the way.

Back with Yumi and Ulrich, they raced through the hall near one of its many laboratories. The spiders were still in hot pursuit. They were about to enter Hall A1 when they saw two spiders there. They stopped.

**-Back with Cassidy-**

**“What’s it going to be?”**

She smirked. “Get lost. I am not going to let you be the middle man in my quest for the answer.”

XANA growled. **_“If that’s the way you’re going to be, then why don’t you test out the sharpness of my blade?!”_ ** His arm sliced through the air as he gave a distorted yell.

Cassidy felt the pressure across her neck, the pain of the blade bursting as it slid, and she knew no more…

**-Back with Yumi and Ulrich-**

They turned back to see even more spiders. “Oh, no…” Ulrich groaned as they took fighting stances. “To think this was supposed to be a piece of cake…”

Back in the French lab, Jeremie looked at the screen. “Aelita, better hurry. Ulrich and Yumi are in a huge jam and Cassidy just got teleported out of the area.”

Back on Lyoko, Aelita was gliding fast on the OverBoard. “I’m doing all I can. I still got a ways to go.” She soon saw the tower.

Back with Ulrich and Yumi, Ulrich had his katana out while Yumi didn’t have her fans out. The spiders were getting closer.

With Odd, William recovered his sword from the strike. He raised it above his head and charged. **“For XANA.”** He smashed the ground again with it, and Odd dodged.

Then Odd saw a vantage point. He crawled under William’s legs and turned around. “For me!” The enemy turned and didn’t have enough time to avoid an uppercut from him. “Gotcha! Stings, doesn’t it.” Odd was getting an upper hand.

Suddenly, William dissolved into smoke. **“SUPER SMOKE.”** He glided on the ground to his adversary.

“LASER ARROW!” cried Odd, sending a few into the smoky form. Unfortunately, it was unclear if he was hitting or missing. Then William popped up behind him and tried to smash him. He swung left and above him, Odd dodged. He tried to slice him from below, he jumped with a split. He evaded a side hit, staring down his enemy.

Suddenly, William backed up, surprising the male-feline warrior. Then he was flung over the edge of the Replika’s sector. Odd caught himself on the landmass. He couldn’t let go. He knew the dangers of being in the Digital Sea without the Skid to protect him. Cassidy had slowly revealed details about her experience with it. She didn’t want to reveal any more.

William thought he was victorious when he heard a whistle. He came closer to the edge. He looked around, trying to find the survivor when…

“LASER ARROW!” Odd shouted, letting one fly.

William was flung back, dissolving into red and black smoke. Odd sighed in relief.

Back in the lab, Jeremie saw the strangely-blue dot disappear. “Odd, did you just blow William away by yourself?” he was in disbelief.

_“Yep.”_

He then looked at the screen as if it would explode, but also skeptically. “No boasting?”

Back on Lyoko, Odd looked up into the air. “What do you think I am, a braggart?” he asked shrilly.

Then Jeremie found something. “Yumi and Ulrich, I just located the auxiliary generator.”

Back on the Replika Earth Location, Ulrich got rid of another spider and backed into his girlfriend. “Thanks, but it’s a little too late.”

One of the remaining spiders jumped at them. They were caught unprepared for its attack.

_“Yumi! ULRICH!”_

“Jeremie, you there? What happened to the two lovebirds?” He looked around the Skid. Inside the double, Yumi was knocked out with Cassidy. Ulrich was in his own NavSkid, also out cold. Cassidy was napping. “Hm…interesting. I get it, they knock each other out. Well, Jeremie, we kinda blew our mission, didn’t we?”

_“Not at all. I found the auxiliary generator, but the problem is there isn’t anybody around to take it out.”_

“I don’t want to seem pretentious, but there’s me,” Odd suggested meekly.

_“Okay, get back into the Skid. I’ll teleport you…”_

“Roger, but if I succeed, don’t say I did it just to show off.” He soon entered his NavSkid. “I’m ready to go, Jeremie.”

_“I read you. Teleportation, Odd.”_

Odd faded out of his NavSkid and into the lab in a flash of yellow light. He looked down Hall C3. “What now?”

_“Get out of the lab, and watch out for spiders!”_

He looked around. “I can’t see any hairy legs yet!”

Jeremie looked on his screen, seeing a pop-up window appear. Two red dots were headed into the vicinity of his tower. “Well I can, Odd!”

Two Tarantulas clunked their way to the tower where the Skid was still attached. They aimed their arms, ready to fire.

_“Ulrich, Yumi, Cassidy, you gotta get up and fast, too. If the Skid goes, so do you three. Get up!”_

Unfortunately, the three were still unconscious as the Tarantulas started to shoot. Jeremie could’ve created a virtual megaphone and shouted at the Skid, but it wouldn’t have done any good.

Meanwhile, Odd announced, “Jeremie, I’m out of the lab. Which way now?”

_“Go left. You should run right into the auxiliary generator!”_

Odd followed his friend’s instructions. He turned a corner and heard the chirping of spiders. “Uh-oh.” He pinned himself against the wall. “That generator’s a really popular spot, isn’t it?” he mumbled to himself.

 _“Why?”_ Jeremie asked, appalled.

He looked over the corner, seeing some spiders cover the area. “Because it looks like there is a full house.”

Meanwhile, Aelita made her way to the tower. _“Aelita, you have to deactivate that tower_ right away… _”_

“Almost there,” she reassured. She only had a few more meters to go. “Just a few seconds more…” she whispered softly. All of a sudden, three hornets descended from the sky, causing her to turn around. “Oh, no…” She tried to dodge as the lasers shot through. Suddenly, one of the lasers connected to her vehicle. She dropped down to the ground, causing her to scream out. The OverBoard dematerialized several feet away from her. Aelita got back up, dazed and disoriented. Before she had time to shoot Energy Fields, the Hornets shot and she was flung back, breaking into a frame of pixilated dust.

Jeremie watched, helpless, as his sweetheart disappeared from the screen. “Odd!”

**-Back with Odd-**

“I don’t believe it, let me guess. I’m on my own from now on?” Odd guessed.

 _“Sorry about that. Better make it fast, too, or we can say good-bye to the Skid, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy for good!”_ Jeremie hastened. _“Okay, it’s now or never.”_

Odd cocked his arm, took a deep breath, smiled, and charged. “GERONIMO! LASER ARROW!” He raced and shot at one spider. It went down. Two others advanced, but Odd jumped over one and shot in midair. He got close to one’s face. “Hi, there…” He threw another one into its face, cartwheeling a bit and flipping over so his back faced the auxiliary generator. He stood on his feet. “Jeremie, I need ammunition.”

_“Hang on a second… I’m reloading you now… Okay, you’re all set.”_

Odd turned around and cocked his arm. There were two spiders left. He raced forward, and he pounced on it. He flipped in midair. “LASER ARROW!” He got rid of the one he pounced on. He flipped again and pipe-vaulted another spider. He dismounted and “LASER ARROW!” One more behind him looked at the exploits. He landed with both feet on the ground. “YES!”

The one behind him started to come forward. However, Odd decided to side-step and the spider landed on one of its brethren’s open legs. He smirked. “How’s that for a pipe-vault.”

 _“Odd, you’ve got just one arrow left.”_ Odd advanced to the generator. _“So take good aim.”_

He looked it down, studying his target. “One arrow is all I need.” He cocked his arm and shot at it. The lone arrow reached the auxiliary generator and it started to smoke. Odd looked at it, confused. “Huh?” Then in a coil of purple electricity, the generator exploded in a flash of white light. The male feline warrior was flung back, his body smoking from the blast. His costume was singed as he let out a quip, “Can’t say I didn’t aim well.”

Inside the supercomputer room, the generator sparked and started to shut down.

Jeremie typed on the keys. “De-teleportation, Odd.”

In the cockpit, Odd materialized. He looked around the cockpit. “Hey, nice place you’ve got here, Aelita.”

In the single, Ulrich jolted awake. “Huh? W-what? What’s going on?” His senses were blurred and everything confused him.

“Nothing. Things are cool. Go back to sleep,” Odd reassured his roommate.

Cassidy lurched awake. “Huh?!”

“Sh…Cassidy, it’s okay. Just go back to sleep,” Odd softly consoled. “I’m getting us out of here. Just fall asleep.”

She slowly let herself fall back asleep. What XANA had tried to do definitely exhausted her.

The supercomputer combusted, shutting down from the overload.

Jeremie watched as the Replika shut down on his screen. “You can come back, Odd. It’s over.”

The Forest Replika started to fade away. The Tarantulas that aimed at the Skid fell through to the abyss below. Odd disconnected from the tower. “I’m breaking off.” Slowly he ascended to the ceiling. The Forest Replika fell, grass by grass, tree by tree. The Skid maneuvered to the exit. Once the Skid was out of the vicinity, the Replika combusted.

Jeremie placed the microphone down on the keyboard. “Hah…”

Aelita smiled at him. “You were right, you know. You couldn’t have asked for an easier mission!”

The next morning, Ulrich and Jeremie were washing their faces in the bathroom. The genius of the group caught him up on what happened while he, Yumi, and Cassidy were unconscious. “He took out both William and the supercomputer on his own?! That’s crazy!”

Jeremie rose up from the sink. “What’s crazier is that he hasn’t bragged about it even once!”

“That’s weird!”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s changed.”

Ulrich saw Jeremie pick up his towel. “You mean he’s suddenly become humble?”

“Miracles happen! He might have become a sensible, responsible kid!”

Suddenly, Jeremie’s phone rang. “Hello?”

Cassidy came on the other end. _“Jeremie, I think—”_

Her warning came just a little too late. “YEHAW! Forty-point-one seconds flat! You’re now looking at the new world record-holder for the fastest shower.”

 _“I should’ve called a few seconds earlier. Rainbow Dash would’ve done better than me,”_ Cassidy said in a tiny voice to Jeremie.

“How cool is that?!” He then started to dance. “Give me an O, give me a D, give me another D. Who’s the man of the century?! It’s ODD!” He then moseyed to a mirror. “And you’re handsome, too. Oh, I love it when you break records like that.” He started to flex in front of it.

“Odd…” Ulrich warned.

“Yeah, right, no problem. You can have my desserts.”

He gave a sigh. “And you don’t even care?”

“I guess I gotta face facts. Yes, I’m a braggart, and I love it that way.” He then flexed both arms. “Svelte, but muscular, don’tcha think? And Cassidy should earn those books. She doesn’t brag very well. I didn’t say it just so I could spare her feelings.”

Cassidy’s voice cracked. _“What?! You knew I wasn’t bragging very well and you HID it from me?”_

“Well, yeah. You weren’t very confident in bragging. Plus you used the word awesome without sounding like you were. You didn’t brag in front of XANA either. You just don’t have that bone.”

_“I blame Ulrich for the darned thing! I’d rather stay modest.”_

Ulrich sighed. “I keep Odd’s desserts, but you earn the right to your vision journals.”

_“And I hope that Jeremie can keep a secret about…yes…”_

“I won’t say it at all,” Jeremie reassured.

**A/N: And this one’s done. I’ll try to be faster with my updates, but no promises. However, I’m glad this one is over with. It was fun, but “Dog Day Afternoon” will soon call my name. Happy reading.**


	57. It's a Dog Day Afternoon out There

**Well, Draco said it better himself. “No wonder this place is going to the dogs.”**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko.**

**Who…**?

**(Wait until the end of the chapter to see the end of this question)**

In the boy’s locker room, Odd took his shoes out of his locker. Today was not going to be a good day for him. He forgot to do something imperative before going down to Phys. Ed. He knew that Yolanda would give him an earful of what he should’ve done vs. what he didn’t do.

Ulrich was leaning against the door. “Odd, hurry up.” He couldn’t wait to see Yumi. Today, the ninth and tenth graders had to run track. His girlfriend was in the tenth grade, meaning he would see her. His arms crossed against his chest.

“Okay, I’m coming!” He placed one of his bare feet in the sneaker, already hating the feel of it. This gym class would murder his feet.

Jeremie observed him with a smile. “You’re not wearing socks to get a better feel for the track?” He decided not to skip gym class. He needed a C or higher to pass it. So far, he managed a B+, despite missing a few classes from coding on Lyoko and other various programs.

“No, I forgot to put them on. Boy am I going to have blisters!” Odd griped slightly, looking at his shoe.

Ulrich smiled. “The way you sweat, you’ll probably have to chuck your sneakers!” He chuckled jovially. Odd would have to chuck them and bury them in Lyme to give his shoes mercy—at least, that’s what Ulrich thought.

Suddenly, a little gray dog walked into the room. He had a pair of something in his mouth. His mouth turned up in a somewhat “I told you so” smile. He gave a little ruff-ruff. He knew who he wanted.

Odd turned around, at first confused, and then smiled. “Nice one, Kiwi.” He walked up to his puppy. “Did you see that? Kiwi opened the door to our room, and then he managed to find me all the way on the other side of the campus.” Jeremie, who had watched this with his own brand of confusion and concern, scratched his head, showing his teeth in an uneasy frown.

Ulrich still had a smile on his face. “He followed the smell of your feet, easy!”

Odd laughed sarcastically, petting Kiwi’s head. “Very funny! Your jokes stink worse than my feet, and I still use Cassidy’s remedy!” He used Cassidy’s remedy day and night. Ulrich had yet to tire of it, but he was happy to finally get some rest at night without having to gag.

At the field, Jim looked at his stopwatch. “On your marks, get set, GO!” He then pressed the start button. The first group of runners started on the track. The life of a gym teacher with so many jobs in his past was never easy. However, he had the confidence that today would be his lucky day. He never had to check his horoscope, but he felt sure that it would be saying that Jim would be lucky.

Sissi stood, in her gym attire. When she heard some footsteps, she turned to see Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie. She had previously forgotten her anger toward Ulrich for losing that bet a while back. “You-who! Ulrich? Hey! How do I look?” She flipped her hair a bit, trying to flaunt to Ulrich. She didn’t know that Yumi had taken her “beau” and called him her boyfriend, because her anger overlooked it.

Ulrich didn’t see any changes to her outfit. He always saw her in that getup every gym class. Nothing new was added or gotten rid of. He sometimes pitied Sissi, for she always wore sweat pants in place of form-fitting jeans or regular gym shorts. She would end up with a case of heat stroke one day, and that would be bad. “I’m not sure you really wanna know.” He, Odd, and Jeremie passed by Sissi.

Sissi, however, raised a brow. That was interesting for him to say.

Cassidy had replaced Christophe M’Bala, despite Mr. Hated, Jr., as she called him, standing right next to her. She stood next to Yumi, stretching, keeping her eyes away from the clone. She got into starting position. So did Yumi.

Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie found their way to the track. They stood beside it, but smiles lit their faces as they silently wished their friends—or in Ulrich’s case, one of his friends and his girlfriend—good luck. “Hey, Yumi,” Ulrich whispered to his girlfriend, giving her a thumbs-up. He loved to do that for her.

“Beat your fears, Cassidy,” Odd whispered in a reassuring voice. He knew that if she took one look at Mr. Hated, Jr., she’d have a panic attack. Once when the ninth and tenth graders went to the pool together, which was a rare occasion, Cassidy almost drowned in panic from taking a look at William’s clone. Jim had to call Yolanda to take her away from him. Yolanda soon calmed the girl down, but decided that she stay with her for the rest of that day.

The greeting from Ulrich caused Yumi to smile and sigh, relaxed. Cassidy was consoled by Odd’s reassurance, smiling. This was it. She would race without fear.

“Go!” Jim announced.

Yumi, Cassidy, and another racer started to run. The psychic girl was only two running-footsteps behind Yumi. Yumi, on the other hand, fell a little behind from the other girl, but she overtook the lead easily. The other girl was in third. The two Lyoko Warriors smiled to each other, knowing that they would stay friends no matter who was the winner. The geisha warrior blinked twice at the female feline warrior, a signal that meant “keep looking at me; we will pass him.”

Jim looked at his stopwatch. Not even fifteen seconds in and already Yumi and Cassidy were rounding the final turn. The brunette was looking at the raven-haired girl, to which the gym teacher found weird, but thought nothing of it. He knew that McGuire had gradually started to fear Dunbar’s ire over the course of the months. He could remember her skipping her older year gym class to attend the lower year one. It made up the bulk of her points, but she had to attend gym class in her grade once to secure them somehow. When Dunbar ended up bad-mouthing Jim—a few days after Yumi voted against him being a part of their group—, McGuire was there with a smug look on her face. He didn’t know what that meant, although there were times in which she didn’t make sense, but she made her points secure that day.

Yumi and Cassidy crossed the finish line within seconds of each other. The raven-haired girl threw her arms up and cheered breathlessly. After she crossed the line, the psychic walked over to Odd, panting a bit. It wasn’t hot out, but that just exhausted her for a bit. She looked at Jeremie, whispering, “Einstein, I think we forgot to do something when we discarded the phony woods in the video game.”

“What do you mean?” He looked at her.

“I think it’s time for the monthly anti-virus scan on my laptop,” she winked seriously. “It’s causing me _nightmares_.”

His eyes widened. “Oh…that. Of course. We’ll get to it today.”

Sissi eyed the clone suspiciously. “You look completely lost, William. How come?”

The clone smiled, clueless. “I’m not lost. We’re at the track, right?”

Odd looked to Ulrich, Cassidy, and Jeremie. “Uh-oh… Trouble at twelve o’clock.”

Cassidy stood up. “I might as well brave my fears for today.”

“You don’t have to, Cassidy,” Ulrich reassured, keeping his tone lower than usual. “I snuck a peek into your vision book of the day. Let Yumi take care of this.”

“Are you sure? She is your girlfriend.”

“Just relax. I’m okay with her doing it right now. She’ll do fine,” he whispered assurance.

“Okay.”

Sissi crossed her arms across her chest. “You’re off your rocker. You oughta go talk to the nurse at the infirmary.”

Yumi walked in between the two. “It’s nothing serious. He’s a little…out-of-sync—” she started to cling to him, “—because he’s…uh…he’s in love.”

Sissi recoiled. “Wait a second. Are you trying to say that you and William are…?”

Yumi winked to her boyfriend, who feigned a saddened, jealous look (which, for some reason, came second nature to him), and smiled at the clone. “They say that love is like um…getting drunk! William doesn’t drink of course, he’s just…” She didn’t want to dig the true William’s ditch any deeper than the clone’s behavior.

“Just a complete halfwit, right?!”

Jim blew his whistle. “Tenth graders and Cassidy, that’s it for today. Ninth graders, get on your marks. Move it!”

Jeremie, Ulrich, and Odd walked up to the track. One guy complained that he was tired.

Sissi had a gut feeling. “I think something weird is going on.”

At lunch, the gang sat at the table. Yumi spoke first. “That was a close call with Sissi today.”

Aelita took her turn. “I don’t think she bought the love story between you and William.”

Ulrich looked to Jeremie. “Can’t we upgrade the quality of William’s clone?”

He cut to the negative. “Sorry, like I said, his stupidity is an unforeseen emerging factor beyond our control. To fix it I’d have to reprogram everything, we’re just gonna have to keep improvising!”

Yumi crossed her arms in front of her food. “If we can! Sissi’s getting very suspicious. Think of what’ll happen if she tells her father about William!”

Jeremie slowly started smiling, about to laugh. “Well then, in that case, the only solution I can see is…to keep pretending you’re in love!”

Yumi was incredulous. “WHAT?!”

Aelita smiled. “Yeah.”

Ulrich pretended to choke on his food. He approved of the decision so far. It wasn’t going to harm his relationship. Plus the two had gone out for quite a while.

“Perfect, if you’re always hanging out together, then no-one can get near him!” Aelita continued.

Cassidy sighed. “I still think that I should take the place. Something bad will happen.”

“Will you calm down, Cassidy?” Ulrich said.

“Ulrich, watch your sentence, please,” Aelita asked. “If she was told that the day we got rid of the Forest Sector Replika, Jeremie would receive an earful.”

“Anyway,” Odd interjected, pointing his fork at her. “You’ve got a very vital mission, you’ve gotta keep our secret safe!”

Yumi sighed in defeat. They were right. If the secret got out, then the real William’s life would be at stake. Then he would lose his life, the Lyoko Warriors would have to tell the police everything, Cassidy would probably be taken away to a psych ward because of lunacy and possible psychosis—unless she was caught with a vision, then she’d be taken to a lab to where she’d be experimented on. In short, the gang would be in a more tangled web than their current situation. It wasn’t easy with the life she lived.

Cassidy resumed eating her potatoes, trying not to get agitated with Ulrich.

Jeremie pushed his glasses to his face. “Anyway, I did improve the security program for the tower that runs William’s clone. Aelita, how would you like to go to Lyoko to install it after class?”

“No problem!” Aelita rested an arm on the head of her chair. “Who’s going with me?”

“I need to get my antivirus software from Jeremie, so by default, I’m going,” Cassidy said after clearing her mouth.

Ulrich had martial arts class today. “Do all of us have to go?”

“Just two of you will be enough to keep an eye on things with Aelita,” Jeremie reassured with a frown.

Odd raised an index finger in the air, taking a swallow of mashed potatoes. “I volunteer!” He hung an arm on the back of his chair. “And I also happen to have a fantastic idea!”

Cassidy and Ulrich both felt an instance of dread. “Uh-oh…”

“Why don’t we take Kiwi to Lyoko this time?”

Cassidy’s heart quickened. “Um…Odd, I don’t think that that is the best laid plan of mice and men—or dogs and men.”

“Your brainless dog? But what for?” Jeremie asked.

Odd raised a finger, a bit annoyed. “Oh, first of all, my dog is not brainless.” Another finger joined the first. “Secondly, our natural talents are multiplied on Lyoko. Imagine Kiwi and his sense of smell. He could sniff out monsters from miles away. And he might even be able to sniff out William on the network!”

Jeremie lifted his hand, spoon making an acute angle with his index finger. “No way, Odd!” He then smiled. “Besides, Kiwi’s such a coward, he’d take off the second he saw a Kankrelat!” He started to laugh a little.

“Oh yeah? As fast as you did the time you went to Lyoko?” Odd quipped, causing the whole table surrounding the genius to laugh. Cassidy profusely apologized through her laughs.

Later, after class, Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, and Jeremie raced across the bridge. Cassidy’s nose detected a slight smell of alcohol. _Ugh…someone has been drinking alcohol on this bridge._ The smell was so strong she blindly rushed ahead of the three, grabbed a hold of one of the ropes, and slipped to the bottom, landing on her side. “Ow…”

“What’s wrong? Tripped on a bug?” Odd asked, looking at her sideways.

“Are you okay, Cassidy?” Aelita asked.

“Remind me next time—Ramp!” Cassidy looked up at the three above. “I ain’t ever going on the ropes again.”

“Understood,” Jeremie swung down to check her over. “Hm…I don’t see any damage done.” He pressed the areas where the most impact had been done. Cassidy only winced at a pain in her thigh, but could keep weight on it. Her shoulder was padded with her pink shirt. “Okay, everything seems okay, but if you have any problems at all, you aren’t going to Lyoko.”

“Next time, I’ll be more careful about where I run.”

Aelita popped down next to her second.

Odd wore his backpack for some reason, until a gray pair of ears popped out of it. The bag gave a small yip. He looked back and shushed it. “Quiet…”

The ears’ owner slowly obeyed him as Odd slid down the ropes next to Aelita.

Jeremie, Cassidy, Aelita, and Odd surveyed what had happened down below. Beer cans littered the floor and tire tracks left their mark on the surface. “What happened in here?” Jeremie asked, scratching his head in confusion.

“If you ask me, a biker rally happened. Ugh…that’s such a stench…” Cassidy covered her nose with her shirt. “I don’t think they are there anymore, but they might return later.”

Meanwhile, Sissi looked down the hallway. She was blessed for once that Hervé and Nicholas were in the rec room watching some sports-like science channel. She checked for teachers, knowing the rules. “Coast is clear.” She rushed to the far left end of the hall. William lay with his head on a pillow, widthwise instead of lengthwise. Sissi was confused by that, but entered. He opened his eyes, seeing he had company. “Hey, William, we gotta talk!”

He looked at her, although whether he regarded her or not Sissi couldn’t tell.

“This thing with you and Yumi is baloney, right? Everyone knows she’s mad about Ulrich, who’s mad about _me_!”

“Who? Ulrich Stern? He’s a nice guy; I like him a lot,” William said.

Sissi scoffed. “If you think that Ulrich Stern is a nice guy, then you are not well at all. There are some weird-o things going on around here that I think my father oughta know about.”

Just then, a new voice entered the room. “Hey, Sissi! What are you doing in my new boyfriend’s room?”

Sissi approached her. “Don’t think you can snow me, Yumi. What has your gang done to William?”

Yumi laughed nervously, putting her arm up and over her head, scratching her back, making her way to the clone. “Nothing at all. You’re imagining things.” She embraced him, even though he didn’t return the gesture. “And now, if you don’t mind, we’re going to take a little walk down Lover’s Lane.” She dragged him out of the room, but not before William looked to Sissi and said, “Great guy, Ulrich.”

On the other hand, Sissi didn’t look all that convinced.

Back in the Lab, Jeremie was in the hot seat. “First, I’m going to launch the Dream Barrier Destroyer for Cassidy.”

Cassidy entered the scanner, ready to go. A few moments later, she came out, energized and happy. “Thanks, Jeremie.”

 _“Are you all ready?”_ Jeremie asked.

Aelita smiled. “Ready to go.”

_“Odd, are you ready?”_

“Hang on, don’t rush me, huh!” Odd unraveled the bag just as the doors to Aelita’s scanner closed, and a little maroon-brown nose popped out of it.

Cassidy’s eyes widened. She whispered heatedly, “Odd, are you that insane?! This will be a terrible idea from the word ‘Transfer.’”

He gave her a look, whispering, “Cat Girl, you worry too much.”

She kept whispering. “I only worry for all the right reasons! And he’s staying here.” She picked Kiwi up and headed for the elevator. *

 _“What’s the hold up, guys?”_ Jeremie asked.

Cassidy put Kiwi on the floor, in a hair-raised panic. “Nothing, Einstein…” she shivered.

Odd went into his scanner. “Okay, ready to go, Einstein.”

_“What were you whispering about anyway?”_

“Some sort of book she’s writing. She had her way and I had mine.”

Odd’s scanner closed.

Cassidy went into the middle scanner, assured that she just saved the gang a lot of trouble, smiling. Suddenly, the gray dog jumped into her arms. “Huh? Kiwi,” she whispered. “What are you doing?!”

_I wanna join you three for once instead of staying in that stuffy dorm room. This puppy wants in._

That set alarm bells off in her head. “Kiwi, that’s not a good idea.” She was about to gently set him down on the floor outside of the scanner when the door closed. She internally panicked. She couldn’t rat Odd out, nor did she want to be stuck here. She tried to pull at the doors with one arm, but the metal proved stronger.

Kiwi gave some growls.

_“Cassidy, is that you making that racket?”_

_Aw, great. Now I have to steal lines from Odd. That’s just_ perfect, she thought sarcastically. “Uh, yeah…my stomach’s growling. Would you believe it? ¡Todavía tengo hambre!” she nervously giggled.

 _“Don’t worry, this won’t take very long,”_ Jeremie chuckled warmly.

She gulped and looked down at the dog in her arms, whispering, “I don’t want you to panic, but I sure hope you know what the hell you are thinking!” She gritted her teeth. _And Odd and I will need Hans Klotz’s therapy for months if Emily didn’t just shoot the poor guy with her nightmares._

_“Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Cassidy. Scanner, Cassidy. Scanner, Odd. Scanner, Aelita. Virtualization.”_

Cassidy was wide-eyed as she was virtualized, still holding Kiwi in her arms. This would not end well, despite many well-thought-out plans to avoid it. She could feel her atoms breaking down. She fought the waves of panic. She couldn’t let an accelerated heart rate keep her from this process. She knew this felt just like the Floo Network, but instead of going wherever she wanted, the location was already pre-determined by Jeremie. She could also feel Kiwi’s atoms splitting, too, but instead of coming out as one, she felt some of his atoms becoming hers. She couldn’t fight the onset of this at all.

In the Desert Sector, Aelita’s atoms started to digitalize in midair. Odd’s atoms digitalized next. Then Cassidy slowly came. Her mind started to think clearly, but that was the least of her worries.

The three dropped to the sand, expertly landing.

_“The tower you want is just behind you.”_

Odd looked to the sky, just in case Cassidy had changed her mind. Aelita walked up to him. “Expecting someone?”

He looked at her and pointed to the sky. “Get ready for a big surprise, Princess.” Aelita and Odd watched the skies.

Cassidy on the other hand was tapping her foot nervously. She knew something was up. She could just feel it. She stopped and started pacing.

Odd and Aelita watched for a little bit longer, but saw no one coming. No one was there. It was just an expanse of land. She looked at him. “Well, what is it?”

Odd slowly gave up. “Uh, nothing, I—I was just kidding.”

Aelita rolled her eyes at him. One of these days, she hoped, Odd would start making more sense. However, she knew that that would probably happen when they graduated from Kadic. It wasn’t going to happen overnight.

_“Head for the tower, Aelita.”_

Aelita gave a small, happy scoff. “I’m on my way.” She raced for the tower.

Odd looked at the tower after Aelita ran inside. “We’ll stand guard out here, okay?”

Cassidy felt a bit awkward, but tried not to let it show. Odd walked up to her and whispered “Where is he? Did he stay in the scanner room?”

“Uh…hehe…I don’t think he _stayed_ as much as we’d hoped,” she whispered back nervously.

Aelita raced to the center of the platform. Fortunately, there wasn’t a need to go up to the second platform. A screen popped up for her to use. Using her fingers, she nipped a window to the side and brought up another one. “I’m starting the installation process, Jeremie.” She touched the window she nipped to the side and the other one.

Outside the tower, Cassidy started to itch rapidly behind one of her ears. “I don’t think that this is supposed to happen.” She looked at her paws. She then whispered to herself, turning her head so Odd didn’t see her lips moving, “…to me, that is.”

“I hope we didn’t mess up,” Odd whispered to himself.

“We?” Cassidy asked in a whisper. “ _We_ didn’t do anything. _You_ did everything, minus a few details.”

Meanwhile, Yumi dragged the William clone along as she ran. He asked, “Where are we going?”

“Never mind! Just keep running,” Yumi panted.

Sissi stalked behind him, still trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. She knew something was wrong, and she had to get proof to tell her father. Otherwise, he’d brush her off, thinking her fears and suspicions unfounded.

Back in the Desert Sector, Odd and Cassidy sat on a rock, waiting. He looked at her. “So, who’s this Pinkie Pie if it’s not Aelita?”

Cassidy jolted. “What?!”

“Yesterday, you said, ‘I gotta go help Pinkie Pie,’ before you went out of the gym, staggering.”

If blushing were possible on Lyoko, she’d be purple. “Uh…”

Odd took one of her hands, well aware that her other hand could still devirtualize him with one thought and a pulled trigger. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m a brony, too.”

She dropped off the rock, recovered, and got on her hands and knees. “You better not be teasing me!”

“I’m not. I’m serious, this time,” Odd used reassuring words.

“B-but…you…”

He smiled. “I know who Pinkie Pie is. I was trying to get your attention.”

She grumbled, “Could’ve been a bit more subtle than that.” Suddenly, she heard something. “Jeremie, I hear something. Wait, how can I do that?”

_“Hang on…you’re right, two Tarantulas just appeared. For now they’re at the other end of the Sector. I’m sending you the OverBoard and OverBike just in case!”_

She blinked. “I don’t think I ever learned how to use the OverBike. I was sick one time.” She hopped onto Ulrich’s vehicle. “He’s going to kill me.”

_“You’ll get better at it.”_

Odd hopped onto his vehicle. Cassidy tried to drive her vehicle, but was extremely unstable. She wobbled on the one-wheeled vehicle.

“Be careful, Cassidy,” Odd tried to help.

_“Knock it off, Cassidy! The Tarantulas are far away, but still…”_

She tried to speed up to balance, but that made everything worse. “I can’t seem to keep my balance! What the hell is wrong with me?!” She ramped up a rock formation, the bike suddenly flipping in midair, and fell off it, trying to grab the rock, but falling.

Inside the tower, Aelita checked the program, and then left the tower. “Okay Jeremie, the program’s operational.” She looked around. “But where did Odd and Cassidy go?”

_“Cassidy’s busy clowning around somewhere!”_

When Aelita found her roommate, she saw her lying in an awkward position. Her front looked as if she was lying on her stomach, but her legs looked as though they made a somewhat break-dance move. Her two tubes lay beside her, splayed and rolling. And her tail looked lazy.

“J-Jeremie, I don’t shink that I was…” Cassidy tried to say, groaning from the pain of impact.

“Give her a break. She’s just a beginner on Ulrich’s OverBike, Einstein. She never rode it before,” Odd defended, trying to think of a way to help her out of the precarious situation.

_“Now that you’re done, I can bring you back in. Materialization.”_

The three came out of the scanners. Odd looked around, but thought that Cassidy had Kiwi somewhere. Cassidy searched herself for Kiwi, too, but found nothing. “Uh…” She didn’t want to panic, but she was sure that what happened to Odd in her vision books happened to her. She tripped out of her scanner, landing on her hands and knees in front of the hatch. Odd jumped over to try to help her up.

“Having trouble standing up?” Aelita asked, concerned for Cassidy.

She grabbed the metal of the scanners. “I don’t know why my coordination—Oh, God…”

 _“Is something wrong?”_ Jeremie asked.

Aelita joined Odd in helping. “No biggie, Jeremie. Cassidy just missed her snack time, and it doesn’t seem to agree with her!”

Meanwhile, Yumi and William raced down some stairs, veering left. Sissi stalked from the distance. Yumi led him under a tunnel. “What a pest, that Sissi is.” The snob looked on.

Back in the park, Jeremie removed the cover to the sewers and ascended. His phone rang just as Aelita came out and Odd followed suit. Cassidy came out last. He picked it up. “Yes, Yumi?”

 _“I’m with William and I can’t get rid of Sissi! And I’ve got to go home right now!”_ Yumi explained, tired of running around with the clone of Cassidy’s ex.

Cassidy overheard this, her body shaking in silent fury. “Yumi…” she said quietly.

“Just bring him back to school and we’ll take over,” Jeremie assured, trying his best to cool his psychic friend down.

Yumi stopped. “Okay.” She hung up and turned to the clone. “Come on, Romeo, we’re going home.”

The clueless digitally generated random polymorphic Energy Field controlled by a basic, non-evolving behavioral program stared blankly ahead. “Is Romeo a nice guy too? I don’t think I know him.”

She scoffed a bit, leading the clone. “Let’s go, I’ll explain on the way…”

On the campus, Jim walked around the arches, an angry look on his face, when Odd, Aelita, Cassidy, and Jeremie ambled up the way.

Jeremie was concerned. “Is something the matter, Jim?”

Cassidy had a small spark-flash. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me guess, you lost your wristwatch.”

“Yeah. It must’ve fallen off during Phys. Ed!” Jim groaned.

Suddenly, the girl started to sniff the air. She spun around and started to sniff around a tree, much to Jeremie, Odd, Aelita, and Jim’s surprise.

“McGuire?” Jim looked at his cadet. “Have you gone 100% mad?”

She sniffed and crawled around the tree a few times before her nose caught on to something.

Aelita and Jeremie exchanged a look that said, “She’s lost it completely now, right?” An eyebrow was raised between the two. Odd was slack-jawed, wondering what had happened to his ex-girlfriend-turned-friend. _I think I’ll need therapy._

Soon, Cassidy emerged from the crawl, holding a watch with a brown leather band. “Did you lose a watch like this, Jim?” She blushed, wondering what she was thinking, crawling about in the dirt.

The four Lyoko Warriors walked up to Odd and Ulrich’s room after Jeremie stopped by his room to pick up his laptop. Ulrich lay on his stomach, reading his _Blaze_ comic. He looked up when he heard the door swing and creak. “’Everything go alright?” he asked as Jeremie walked in with his laptop.

“Yeah, no sweat,” Jeremie answered as Aelita and Odd ambled in. Cassidy burst in, sniffing and getting under Odd’s bed sheets. Ulrich rose himself into a sitting position.

“Except that Cassidy’s acting really weird,” Aelita pointed out.

Odd tried to pull Cassidy out by the ankle, to which she growled, exploding from the sheet, swiping at him. Luckily, since she trimmed her fingernails this morning, only her finger tips hit his shoulder. He let her ankle go, crying out in fear, retracting slowly.

“You mean, you only just noticed,” Ulrich deadpanned.

Cassidy then jumped off the bed, looked through the dog drawer, took out Kiwi’s dog bowl, tossed it down, and started licking at it. Jeremie was the first to say something. “Gross.” He was now concerned for his psychic friend.

Aelita was slack-jawed. This wasn’t her roommate’s normal behavior. She didn’t know if Cassidy lost what was the rest of her marbles or if something happened in the scanner room after the doors to her scanner closed. Her eyes were wide. She couldn’t move.

Ulrich was next to say something. “Cassidy, I know you’ll eat almost anything when you’re hungry, but that’s ridiculous!”

Odd walked up as Cassidy kept licking the bowl, finally regaining some of his composure. She had risen to her feet. “Cat-Girl… Come on. Give me the bowl, please.”

“Come on, Cassidy! Get real! What’s wrong with you?” Jeremie asked laughing a bit, as Cassidy begrudgingly gave Odd the bowl. The 80% purple-wearing boy walked away from her with the bowl in his hand.

“Oh, no. This is only going to get worse and worse. I don’t believe this!” She felt an itch in her backside. She then fought off her inner dignity, unzipping the pants that she had “borrowed” from Odd.

Odd blushed, wanting to look away, but finding that he couldn’t. Aelita covered her eyes with a yell of surprise. Ulrich threw a hand out. “Cassidy, stop!”

Jeremie put his laptop to his face, smiling uncomfortably. “Cut that out!”

Cassidy was whimpering in inconsolable discomfort. “I-I’ve got something g-growing out of my backside, I-I think…I think I’m growing a, um…tail…” she squeaked.

Everyone showed a shocked/scared/scarred look. Then Ulrich glared at Odd. This had got to be his fault. Odd, however, was still standing, mouth agape, eyes wide. If it was possible, his shirt would’ve lost color.

Meanwhile, Yumi and the clone of William crossed through Kadic’s gates. Her phone rang. Picking it up, she heard Aelita on the other line: _“Yumi, you’ve gotta hang out with William’s clone a little longer. We’ve got…a slight problem! Here’s Jeremie.”_

Back in Odd and Ulrich’s room, Aelita handed her phone to Jeremie, who was typing away on the keyboard, and trying to ignore Cassidy sniffing him like a puppy. “Talk to Yumi.”

Jeremie took the phone and put it up to his ear. “Listen Yumi, according to my diagnosis, Cassidy absorbed Kiwi during virtualization!”

_“Is it serious, Doctor?”_

“Pretty much. Right now, his human metabolism is still dominant, but if we don’t do something fast, it’ll be too late!”

Aelita tried to gently pet Cassidy. She knew that inside, her roommate was probably traumatized from having absorbed a dog— _Odd’s_ dog—and adopting traits. “’Think we can use the scanners to separate them again?”

On the other hand, Cassidy was trying not to panic. She knew that when Kiwi was panicked, he would start howling and barking. She felt the warm soft hands pet her head, and she ended up panting and smiling.

“I think we can. We have to send her—him—uh, them—back to Lyoko.” Jeremie hated playing the pronoun game when the situation was confusing enough.

Cassidy’s eyes widened. “Oh, God!”

“What?” Odd asked, careful around her.

“W-What if he—impregnated me?” She whispered the last two words.

“Cassidy, with you two being different species, it’s not,” Jeremie reassured. “The chromosomal counts are different and it would be impossible to…”

Cassidy looked as though she would wet herself by accident. Odd stepped in, “Don’t freak her—them—out, man. She’s already panicked about my dog being absorbed into her by accident.” He then knelt beside her, opposite the side Aelita occupied, and petted her, too. “It’s okay, CatDog-Girl. We’ll find a way to get you two separated.” &

Cassidy panted in comfort, feeling his fingers.

 _“Better count me out. I’ve still got that leech on my tail!”_ Yumi told Jeremie in the midst of all this.

Jeremie smiled reassuringly, although he knew that she couldn’t see it. “No, I know what to do. As soon as I get to the factory, I’ll call you back.”

_“Yeah, ok.”_

Jeremie packed up his laptop. “Come on, we’ve wasted enough time. Let’s go!”

Cassidy felt her stomach growl. “Why did I skip lunch today?”

Ulrich quipped to her, “’Wanna eat dog food all of your life?” then he chuckled.

Cassidy growled and pounced on him. “This isn’t a joke!”

Odd pulled her off his roommate. “That was very impolite, Ulrich.” Then he whispered into Cassidy’s ear, “Once we get you and Kiwi separated, then I’ll take you out for a late lunch, and then we could play with Kiwi at the park, okay?”

She relaxed and nodded. Odd was right. There was no need for senseless violence. She couldn’t let herself be swayed by Ulrich’s uncouth words. It would be better if they’d let bygones be bygones for now.

In the sewers, Cassidy followed behind the four Lyoko Warriors on her hands and feet. She tailed Aelita, finding that to be better.

“Don’t look back. There’s a stray dog behind us!”

Cassidy growled. “If you don’t wanna get bitten on the butt, then I’d suggest you cut it out right now!”

Once near the factory, Cassidy popped her head out of the sewers first. “Great, company,” she hissed sarcastically. She saw three men. One looked as though he could’ve been the brother of Simon—the technical advisor in the Subdigitals—at one point. He had an easily-graying head and face of golden-brownish hair. Aside from the skull-and-cross-bone sleeveless shirt—only two of the men were wearing skull and cross bone shirts—, he wore a black sleeveless vest with orange and dark maroon armbands and gray pants covering cowboy boots.

The second man also wore a sleeveless black vest, but also wore a skull bandana. He was thinner than the bearded man, but was thick in muscle. He wore brown pants with strings crisscrossing the sides of the legs over faded golden-brown boots. He wore black wristbands.

The third, the leader of the group, wore a red shirt with two thinly-lined circles surrounding a bird, but also wore tattoos on his arms, although one of them was obscured by the sleeves of the shirt. He, like the second man, wore black wristbands. He wore blue jeans over dark, chocolate brown boots. He wasn’t quite as ripped as the Simon’s brother wannabe, but he was muscular enough to fill his shirt.

The three of them were drinking beer (to which Cassidy thought, _That’s why I was blinded earlier. These three drank a lot._ )

Cassidy stood with her hands behind her back. Ulrich came up to her. “You know those guys?”

“Uninvited visitors who used the factory for a practice track!” Jeremie answered.

The five walked up to the three men. However, the man in the red shirt glared at them. “What are you kids doing here? Beat it right now!”

Ulrich looked to the genius of the group, who then said, “Let me handle them.” He walked up to the three as casually as he could, although he was internally shaking. Here Jeremie Belpois was, about to talk to some bikers. “Hello, gentlemen…”

Cassidy felt Kiwi’s urges wanting her to just jump.

“…we just wanted to go in, that’s all.”

Cassidy’s human nature just screamed, _Jeremie, that approach is not going to work on them. I mean, I know that you are trying to be polite and all, and that’s great, but these guys are gonna let you down and leave you flat, like that Beatles song states._

The second guy crossed his arms in front of his chest. “We didn’t see your names on the door, so get going!”

Ulrich waved Jeremie off. That got them absolutely nowhere. “Don’t waste your energy. They’ve got motor oil for brains. I’ll take care of this.” He forcefully pushed Jeremie back, but not enough to damage the Einstein of the group. He then put up a fighting stance, ready to fight.

“Think you're in a Kung-Fu flick, you shrimp?” the lead biker challenged.

Cassidy couldn’t fight it anymore. She barked, pounced on the red-shirt, and started growling. “Let my friends and me through!”

Jeremie decided to cash-in on this opportunity. “She’s mean. You better be careful! She’ll bite you!”

The second biker looked shocked. “Hey, Rocky, what’s wrong with her?”

Cassidy pounced, causing the two bikers to flee the scene. She raced through the entrance and down the ramp while Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd raced to and swung on the ropes. She met up with the four and headed into the elevator. Ulrich looked at Jeremie. “What do we do about those guys?”

Jeremie punched the up button as Aelita raced in. “We’ll worry about them later on. Right now we gotta take care of Cassidy!” The door quickly shut them in and swept them down to the Lab. The three bikers didn’t know where they went.

Later, Odd and Cassidy took separate scanners. Aelita smiled. “We’re all set, Jeremie.”

 _“Cassidy, I’m going to virtualize you as you are and Odd onto Lyoko. Then I’ll restore each of Cassidy and Kiwi’s DNA sequences which should then…return to their original, molecular state,”_ Jeremie explained.

“What was that?” Odd asked.

Ulrich decided to translate today. “Cassidy, Dog Girl, goes to Lyoko. He unscrambles her and dog’s DNA. She and dog come back separated in the scanner.”

Aelita turned to the samurai. “You’re very clever.”

On Lyoko, Odd and Cassidy floated high above the Mountain Sector. _“Virtualization.”_

Cassidy and Odd landed on the rocky path. The girl started to bark randomly as she stretched. Odd looked at her, concern crossing his features. “It’s like she’s got the hiccups. This going to take long, Einstein?” The girl shook herself off.

_“I can’t tell you two in dog years. It’s pretty complicated, so don’t distract me, okay? And make sure Cassidy doesn’t go anywhere. If she gets devirtualized before I’m finished, it’ll be a dog’s life forever.”_

She scratched her ears with her foot. “I’d hate that!”

Back in the lab, Ulrich looked at Jeremie. “Are you sure we can’t help?”

Aelita looked at Ulrich. “Sh…he’s gotta concentrate.”

Jeremie saw a window pop open on his screen. “Oh, no, **activated tower** in the Ice Sector.”

Aelita turned and ran to the elevator, ready to go. “We’re on it.”

“At least we didn’t miss dinner for nothing,” Ulrich quipped before following his friend. “Cool!”

In the Mountain Sector, Cassidy lay as dog-like on the rocky floor. Odd walked around her, guard raised. He didn’t want his friend and puppy to be fused together forever. He loved Cassidy as a friend and his dog like any owner would, but he knew there would be downsides if she and Kiwi were still merged. For one thing, he’d have a whale of a time explaining that his friend ate his homework—and that was the oldest trick in the book. Another thing was that he’d be in trouble if Jim caught her sleeping in his room.

_“Odd, Cassidy, XANA just activated a tower in the Ice Sector. Ulrich and Aelita are handling it. You two can stay put, understand?”_

Cassidy roused herself slightly. “Yeah, sure. Just the usual routine. Sit, stay, lay down, roll over…whatever…” She laid her head down on her paws.

Back in the scanner room, Aelita and Ulrich entered the scanners. _“Transfer, Ulrich. Virtualization.”_

In the Ice Sector, the samurai and elven warriors virtualized several degrees away from the tower. They didn’t know that they had company—three Tarantulas and William on one of them as the rider. The two landed on the virtual snow.

William thrust his zabanto. **“FOR XANA!”** he shouted. The Tarantulas clunked forward. **_This is going to be close,_** William decided.

“Nice, the locals came to welcome us. How about a little OverBike action?” Ulrich asked, feeling confident.

The vehicle materialized and Ulrich jumped into the seat. _“You got it! Be careful.”_ Aelita raced forward and joined her friend in back. However, she didn’t have time to prepare—as in holding on tightly—as he sped forward. “HEY!” she yelled, trying to keep a hold of his sides.

“Relax, I won’t run any red lights or anything!” the samurai reassured.

Back on the Mountain Sector, Cassidy jolted awake. “Jeremie, do you see what I hear?”

Odd petted her. “I’ll take care of it. Just stay here.”

She growled a little, but rested her head on her paws.

_“Ouch. Three Bloks just showed up. Cassidy, you better hide. Odd will take care of the situation.”_

Cassidy got up and raced for a neutral tower on her hands and feet. She may have been fused with Kiwi, but she knew that she must obey Jeremie’s orders. “XANA’s monsters won’t find me in here—other than my XANAfied ex, but he’s somewhere else,” she rambled.

_“Smart idea, Cassidy. You’re right. Only Mr. Hated would be able to enter the tower. Meanwhile, I’ll call Yumi for backup.”_

Yumi sat on a bench. She already needed to be home to babysit Hiroki, but she also had to keep the secret that she promised Jeremie. She hated doing this; however, it was the only way. She rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. _Mom and Dad are going to go bananas,_ she mused.

Her phone rang and she picked it up. “Well, it’s about time you called. My day’s been just thrilling…” she sarcastically said.

_“Major trouble on Lyoko! Better get over here!”_

Yumi spied a pair of red shoes accompanied by some blue jeans standing by a telephone booth. “I get the feeling you forgot about Sissi.”

_“No problem. Give me a minute, then double-time it over here!”_

All of a sudden, Sissi heard the chirping of her cell phone. She picked it up. “That you, Daddy?”

She heard her father on the other end, but didn’t know that it was Jeremie. _“Elisabeth, why aren’t you home yet? You should be in your room doing your homework! Do you understand? Now then, hurry on home!”_

She stumbled in shock, “But…but…be right there!” She hung up and turned around, walking around a corner.

Yumi noticed and smiled. She jumped up a few seconds later. “She’s finally outta my hair! Well, you know the way back! Ciao!” She ran from the William clone, her target—the factory.

The William clone just sat there blankly, giving a groan of goodbye.

On the Ice Sector, Ulrich sped toward the enemy. Aelita sat on the rear end.

William kept riding the Tarantulas to the good guys. Both were bound and determined to get ready for battle. The black-costumed boy pointed his zabanto in the air. **“ATTACK!”**

One of the Tarantulas stood up and shot twice. Then the other one did the same. Ulrich swerved back and forth, avoiding the laser fire, and pulled out one of his katanas. William then swung his leg around so his foot was on the Tarantula’s snout. The samurai revved his engine, getting closer to the enemy.

Suddenly, a laser connected with Aelita’s shoulder, flinging her off. Ulrich looked back, realizing that he had lost his passenger. “Aelita!” However, he couldn’t stop going to the monsters and William.

Aelita pushed herself up and tried to orient herself. That was a dirty trick XANA played, and one that he most likely did before. She hadn’t risen to her feet, but looked as her chauffer drove away. She let out a small breath. She was okay.

William turned his head, seeing that small margin in error. He sighed and started to command his Tarantula to go to her.

Ulrich deflected lasers as he got near the Tarantula on his left. He jumped on the console, then leaped off, throwing his katana at it. It let out a scream before combusting. The one-wheeled vehicle sped through the carnage, catching its rider. Then he pulled on the brakes, spinning around to see the one that once was on his right about to fire. He dodged a laser as it came past his shoulder.

In the Mountain Sector, Odd raced after the three Bloks. He couldn’t let his friend become his dog (And Odd took just a half-second to think, _That sounds so weird even thinking it._ ) He fired a few arrows while guarding the tower.

_“Is Cassidy okay, Odd?”_

“She’s still in the tower.”

_“That’s good.”_

Cassidy tried to stay put. However, the dog side of her wanted to go out and fight. She didn’t want to put herself out in danger. That would mean she’d be a dog for life. That would be difficult to explain to her parents, but then again, it would be difficult to explain all her adventures to them without betraying the deep-rooted secret that she swore to protect.

“Kiwi, I’m not going out. You heard what Jeremie said. If we get devirtualized before he gets done, we’ll never be able to separate.” She sighed, feeling Kiwi disobey her. “Jeremie…how far are you? Kiwi wants to go out, but I want to stay in.”

_“I’m not too far in the separation programming. I know you don’t want to risk it, but if you can’t help going out of the tower, you’re going to.”_

“That’s why I’m scared of going out of this tower. This dog-human fusion is scaring me.”

_“Don’t—fear. I’m working as fast as I can.”_

She felt her paws start to itch. “Apparently, Kiwi wants out…”

_“It’s too risky.”_

“Don’t you think I know that?” Cassidy asked him.

_“Odd is working on getting rid of the Bloks. Just try to stay in a little longer.”_

Back at the elevator, Yumi walked in and pressed the up button. However, the machinery refused to budge. Jeremie told her that she had to come to the factory to serve as backup for Odd and Cassidy. She picked up her phone, frustrated that she couldn’t access any of the lower floors, a wrist on her hip. “Jeremie, why isn’t the elevator working?”

_“I shut it off because of those three goons. Are they gone?”_

“What three goons?” Yumi asked as she walked out of the elevator to look. “There’s nobody up here.” She thought her friend had lost it, as she thought that her friend Cassidy lost it long ago.

 _“I’ll explain later. No sign of XANA trouble in town?”_ Jeremie asked.

“No,” Yumi said.

_“Good. I’ll switch on the elevator right now. See you in a sec!”_

The growl of motors caught Yumi’s attention. Maybe her friend hadn’t lost it as she had once thought.

She slowly whirled around and saw the three “goons,” as Jeremie described. The leader, Rocky, revved his engine, almost popping a wheelie on his bike. The iris and pupil had been replaced by the Eye of XANA. The back wheel on Rocky’s bike started to spin.

Yumi growled, staring them down as they revved to her.

On the Ice Sector, Ulrich dodged another laser with his OverBike. Once upon a time, the Tarantulas were near-impossible to beat. Over time, the Lyoko Warriors knew which techniques worked and which ones didn’t. Ulrich swerved just enough to let his vehicle knock the Tarantula down. He then jumped up and landed on it, slashing it in the throat. It wasn’t better than the eye, but the Tarantula combusted. However, Ulrich quickly landed just a few inches away from the blast zone. “Jeremie, I think I just hit a pedestrian!”

_“No time for jokes. Aelita’s in a big jam.”_

Ulrich looked over and saw William herding his friend over to her doom. She, on the other hand, tried to avoid it.

William raised his zabanto over his head. **“ATTACK!”**

Back in the Mountain Sector, Odd shot a few laser arrows at the Bloks, but they spun, sending the arrows back to him, making him duck them. “Hey! That’s cheating!”

Cassidy felt herself giving into Kiwi. “Jeremie, I’m sorry.”

_“No. Just stay hidden.”_

“Jeremie, I’m losing a part of the war. Kiwi senses that Odd’s in trouble, and I believe that he is.” She raced out of the tower. She brought out her tube and turned it into a gun. _A from-the-rear attack wouldn’t hurt._ She crept around, trying to be stealthy, seeing the Bloks following Odd. She raised her arm, slowly lining up her target, and clicked the hammer back.

Odd looked back and saw a glint of Cassidy’s gun. “No, Cassidy. Get back to the tower right now. You’re going to get killed here, and what’s worse, you and Kiwi will be fused together.”

The Bloks turned around, looking behind them.

Cassidy sighed. _Thanks for nothing, Odd Della Robbia. My stealth mission is now for naught because of you._ She squeezed the trigger, letting a bullet fly. The noise suddenly brought fear into her. The bullet ricocheted against a rock and a tree before landing into a Blok dead center.

_“Cassidy, if you get hit twice, you’re going to be in the doghouse for good.”_

The Bloks followed her as she ran. “I’d like to see you down here in this mess!”

_“Hang in there. The program’s almost finished.”_

Cassidy hid behind a rock, paws weary. “Where’s Yumi? I thought that she was our backup.” Then she had a spark. “Oh…I think Yumi is in trouble.”

In the top floor of the factory, Yumi raced for her life, the three XANAfied motor-bikers right behind her. She felt herself go weary. Then she saw a couple of ropes. She charged after it and leapt, feeling the ropes in her fingers. She grabbed on and climbed up to the upper platform. She pressed herself against the floor, watching, as the bikers passed by her without noticing. She then pushed away, crawling.

All of a sudden, her phone started to ring. Yumi gritted her teeth. _Oh, no. Not NOW!_

XANA-Rocky looked up to the source of the noise. He knew now where she went. **“Up there!”** The three gave chase.

Yumi stood up and ran. “Thanks, Jeremie,” she sarcastically said.

Back on the Mountain Sector, Odd and Cassidy tried to hold their own against the two Bloks. Odd shot a few arrows, but had to duck when they came back to him. “Since when did they grow a brain or two?” He winced as a laser grazed his shoulder.

_“Odd, be careful!”_

She gasped. “Are you okay, Odd?”

He nodded. “Never better.”

The Bloks made their way to the rock Cassidy was hiding behind, the psychic dog-girl tensing. She barked and jumped up onto it. It spun around rapidly, causing her to feel dizzy. She hopped onto the next one and leaped off just as it started to spin. “Uh…I’m never Blok-hopping again…” She bounded away from the monsters.

 In the Ice Sector, Aelita raced away from William and the Tarantula. She stopped just feet from the edge and turned around. The enemy kept advancing to her. Meanwhile, Ulrich floored his engine as hard as he could. “No…” he couldn’t let Aelita fall in. The eternal virtualization would break a lot of hearts, including Cassidy’s.

Aelita decided she had enough running. She charged up two Energy Fields and shot them forward. “Energy Field!”

William used his zabanto to absorb the blows.

Ulrich kept on the trail, to which William turned his head around. He jumped off, letting the OverBike to drive automatically. The black-suited XANA minion jumped off as it sliced through the Tarantula’s butt. Now he had lost his ride.

Ulrich landed onto the snow. Aelita pointed behind him. “Ulrich!”

He looked over his shoulder. William had Super Smoked up to him. He had little to no time to prepare. The black-suited minion raced forward and slashed his zabanto through the samurai, effectively turning him into pixilated dust. William then turned to Aelita, an evil smile on his face.

Ulrich fell out of the scanner. _“Ulrich! Yumi’s not answering! Something’s not right.”_ He quickly got up at the news. He knew his girl was in danger from the words “not answering.” “Okay, I’m on it.”

In another part of the factory, Yumi raced for her life into the machinery room. She jumped off the deactivated conveyer belt, narrowly avoided getting swiped by XANA-Rocky, crept under it, checking her hand for injury, and saw the other two getting closer. Grabbing a rope, she pulled until it became taut. The two didn’t get the chance to jump off the bikes as they were caught from the rope.

XANA-Rocky, undeterred, threw electricity up at one of the devices, which fell off its wiring.

Yumi moved out of the way, the machinery crashing to the floor, then jumped on the XANAfied leader’s shoulder. Pushing him down, she made her way to the stairs and kept on running. She fell near the top of the stairs, feeling a bolt of electricity go through her. She pushed herself to her knees.

Back at the lab, Jeremie typed on the keyboard. “Odd, Cassidy, we’ve got it. I’ve reconstructed Cassidy’s and Kiwi’s separate DNA sequences. Now I just have to load it into the scanner’s memory.” He typed some more. “It’s done. Three seconds and you’re back to normal. All you have to do is devirtualize her—or have her do it herself.”

Cassidy ran on her paws, and then skidded to a stop. “Finally! My paws are murdering me! And these Blok-heads over there won’t let sleeping dogs lie!” She got onto her feet. The two Bloks spread out on the land. “Please hit me with your best shot, guys. I’d rather be a regular schoolgirl than a schoolgirl with a dog inside her.”

Suddenly, the screens in the lab buzzed. “Oh, no,” Jeremie groaned. “Cassidy! Get out of there!”

She looked up while running. “Huh?”

Odd jumped in between her and the Bloks. “SHIELD!” The lasers went to the purple shield and went back to their firers, causing them to combust.

“Jeremie, what in the hay is going on here?” Cassidy asked.

_“Sorry, I didn’t delete the old DNA data from the memory. If I did, it would’ve bugged.”_

“EINSTEIN!”

_“Relax. We’ll be back online in two wags of a dog’s—um…pony’s—tail.”_

“Not funny, Jeremie. I can tell Aelita’s in danger.”

_“There is no news of Yumi, and Aelita’s fighting your ex and his pals.”_

“Y’all just couldn’t send down _Heaven_ for _us_ without complications!” Cassidy growled, frustrated. “Everything’s falling apart around us and you want me sitting on the rocks scratching bugs in my hair?! Oh! That is it!” She scampered off on her paws. Odd tried to stop her, but his paws didn’t grasp her tail in time.

 _“Cassidy, I’m not done yet! It’s too dangerous! Do you hear me, Cassidy?!”_ He let out a groan as she stubbornly entered the way tower. _“Oh…you’re about as obedient as Kiwi!”_

Odd raced off to catch her. “I don’t know if I can head her off, but I can try to talk some sense into her when I catch up to her,” he offered.

Yumi, on the other hand, walked into the computer control room. The electricity attack Rocky gave her left her leaning on the wall and trying to hold herself up while she walked. Her muscles felt heavy and her mind told her that she had to keep going. She didn’t know if she could hold on much longer, but she had to out-distance those bikers. She had no time for nostalgia. This was an emergency. She leaned on the other door.

She faintly heard the biker’s footsteps getting closer. She held her arm as she walked to the old, reddish-brown, metal door, opened it, and walked inside. Closing the door behind her, she walked over to a rotting iron chest of drawers that Jeremie thought would be a good filing cabinet for when all was said and done. She pulled it over to the door and hid once she had it in the right place, and when she heard the banging of one of the biker’s using his strength against it. She hoped they would just give up and leave the area so she could regain her strength.

One use of electricity powers dashed Yumi’s hopes.

Meanwhile, Ulrich went up to the cathedral hall. He jumped out and looked around. He knew that Yumi was in danger. He turned around and raced for his girlfriend. He had to save her.

Meanwhile, Cassidy came out of the Ice Sector’s tower. She didn’t want Aelita fighting off William alone. She slid to a halt, her senses pricked for where her roommate was. She put a paw to her ear. Suddenly, she heard the low hum of an Energy Field charging and spun around. She realized that the action was _behind_ her, and turned and scampered that way.

However, Odd came out of the same tower, but found that he had missed her. “Now where did she go?”

_“She ran diagonally behind you and is still running that way to help Aelita.”_

Back in the control room, Yumi raced, trying to find a new hiding place. The bikers sent several electricity shots to her, but missed. She tucked and rolled to another post.

Meanwhile, Aelita and William stood a couple of feet from each other. William slashed at her, but she leapt back, her left foot just inches from the edge of the ice. She took a moment to look behind her, and then back at the enemy. He would make her do it. She unleashed an Energy Field, trying to defend herself, when he put his zabanto up and absorbed the blow. The field was just enough to power it.

William raised his weapon, which filled up full of the field.

Aelita could only gape. Usually, William slashed through her Energy Fields and tried to render her powerless. Now that one of them was powering his weapon, she didn’t know what to think.

Suddenly, William slashed, and the Energy Flash glided through the air, hitting Aelita. She started to fall off the edge.

_“Aelita!”_

Back in the room beside the control room, the XANAfied bikers lifted some metal pieces of furniture with their electricity-infused telekinesis. Then they directed it at Yumi. She flinched and cried out in fear. They were going to draw her out from the smoke.

Back in the Ice Sector, William walked to the edge of the ice. He looked down, only to look back up.

Aelita flew up out of Dodge. Then she flew into the direction of the tower. She had to deactivate the tower for Yumi. Something was wrong and she didn’t know what it was.

William raced after her. He had to get her into the Digital Sea for XANA. **“SUPER SMOKE!”** He followed her faster as he turned into his smoke form.

Aelita landed a few feet from the tower, but then a quick slithering of smoke came in front of her and William shot up. She saw him draw his sword back when she heard someone bark.

William looked to the side, a slight bit of confusion crossing his features. Suddenly, a flash of purple knocked him away, dislodging the zabanto from his hands. He landed a few feet on his back, and looked up to see…

Cassidy landed just a couple feet from him. She growled. “Leave. Aelita. Alone…”

_“Cassidy, no! The DNA data isn’t finished yet!”_

William sat up. **_Oh, this is going to be fun,_** he thought.

_“Cassidy!”_

“Too late, Jeremie! This bugger has been a real thorn in my side ever since he kissed me on Lyoko! Now! It’s payback time!” Cassidy growled.

He didn’t call his sword to him. Instead he smirked and crawled to her. He flinched back when she growled at him.

“GO AWAY!” she roared.

William’s demeanor didn’t change. Instead, his fingers instantly went to her hair.

That’s when the Kiwi side of Cassidy snapped. She jumped to the side and picked his zabanto up with her teeth. Then she bowled into him, intent on shredding him to ribbons. She straddled his hips, took the weapon in hand, and aimed it just inches away from his throat. “Did I give you _permission_ to mess with my _pelo?! HUH?!”_

A few yards away, Odd raced along the ice and stopped. There his ex-girlfriend and dog was, straddling down William. He didn’t know whether to whoop in joy or not.

She brought her face in front of William’s. “Did I give you permission to make me _suffer_ every time you and I are _alone_?!”

William did not flinch. He did not call for assistance. He still showed the same sadistic smirk. When she zeroed in on his face, his hands snuck to her sash. He knew she held her weapon with her somewhere. His fingers slowly struck pay ice as he carefully pulled out the tube. It turned black as pitch in his grasp. **_Turn into a gun…_**

With no time at all, the blackened tube turned into a black revolver with the red Eye of XANA emblem engraved on the grip. He slid it next to her neck. Perfect timing. He looked her dead in the eye as he touched the muzzle to where he wanted.

She felt it and froze for a half-second. Then she melted fast and kept her stance.

“It’s your choice…”

She growled. “What did you _say?!”_

He put on his voices of the Legion. **“It’s your choice…or mine…”**

She gritted her teeth. “I’m going to do it anyway.”

He repeated it once again. **“It’s your choice…or mine…”** Then he whispered, **“Cat-Girl…”**

Cassidy paled, dropping the sword. Even the Kiwi side didn’t know how to react. _He knew? He knew all along? This doesn’t make…_ She felt his fingers at her face. Her heart pounded fast. Her muscles were locked. _Even Odd knew not to use it around him. How did he…?_

William chuckled darkly in a distorted voice. **_Oh, it was so easy…_** He caressed her face, knowing he finally had her where he wanted her. He pulled the trigger.

_“Cassidy!”_

Aelita raced into the tower.

William looked, a frown marking his face. **“No…”**

Jeremie made quick work materializing Odd.

In the scanner room, two scanners opened to reveal a shell-shocked Cassidy and a calm Odd. “Kiwi?” he asked as he walked to the third scanner. Was Cassidy in the doghouse for good?

Smoke bellowed as the third scanner’s door opened. After it cleared, it revealed…

“Oh, it is my little diggity dog!” he rejoiced as the dog trotted out to lick his owner’s face. “What a good boy! Yeah!”

Cassidy staggered into the elevator. “I—I’ll go back to the dorms… T-That is if I don’t—pass…birds…” She collapsed, falling unconscious.

Odd turned to look at her. “Uh-oh…”

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi still had her hands full in the biker dilemma. They threw another cabinet at the left of her, causing her to race right. However, that proved almost fatal as all three of the bikers used their electro-telekinesis. They picked her up and she cried out in pain.

In the tower, Aelita rose to the second platform. Landing on, she walked to the center. An interface materialized before her. She placed her hand on it for a second and removed it.

**-Back to the room-**

Yumi desperately tried to hold on to her life.

**-Back to the tower-**

Aelita entered the Lyoko Code fast. “Tower deactivated.”

Suddenly, the bikers lost their XANA logo. They all staggered and passed out.

In the meantime, Ulrich reached the room where he heard her screams. _Please be okay. Please be okay…_ he thought in his head. He looked over inside the room beside the control room. He saw her, unconscious, and stopped. “Yumi! No!” He raced to her, picking her up by the shoulders. “Yumi, you okay?!” He panicked.

His words quickly got to her. “Bit shaken, but not stirred…” she whispered as she opened her eyes to him.

He put a hand up to her, as a way of saying “I need to talk to Jeremie, and then I’ll hug you in relief, okay?” Then he reached into his pocket and dug his phone out. Quickly, he dialed his friend’s number. “Jeremie? All’s well with Yumi. Cassidy and Kiwi good, too?” There was a tiny pause. “That’s great!” Then he frowned. “Passed out again from his flirtations again?” Another tiny pause. “What?! But Odd never used that nickname when he was around William.”

**-Back in the Lab-**

“No time to celebrate the separation, I’m afraid.” He winked. “Gotta move those bikers out before they wake up.”

Sometime later, Rocky and his friends woke up beside their bikes in front of the factory. As they got to their feet, they heard a growl from behind them. They turned to see a little gray dog foaming at the mouth. The Simon’s brother wannabe showed immediate concern. “What’s wrong with that dog? Has he got rabies or what?!”

Rocky backed away from the pooch. “I dunno, but it’s not worth taking any chances. Let’s roll!” They quickly got on their bikes and drove away.

The Lyoko warriors—Ulrich and Yumi carrying Cassidy—showed strong looks as they watched their problem of the day disappear. Odd knelt down to pet Kiwi, and to remove the foam.

The next morning, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, Jeremie, and Cassidy—holding a napkin for any sudden panic attacks—waited as Yumi walked up. Ulrich was leaning against the tree, Odd stood a few inches from him, Aelita and Jeremie stood side-by-side in front of them, and Cassidy sat on the ground in the middle. She looked as if hell had run her over with a steamroller.

Yumi, who recovered from the attack, walked up to them. “Hi everyone! Sleep well?”

Cassidy shook her head. “I couldn’t.”

Aelita looked at her black-clad friend. “It was a rough night. She read three books trying to get her mind off Mr. Hated’s trick, but it didn’t work. She was lucky that Jim had already patrolled our floor or she would’ve had to answer to him when she had a panic attack. I think I’ll have Yolanda bring up her grandmother’s tea recipe to Cassidy so she could get her mind off it.”

“And I didn’t sleep a wink at all!” Ulrich frowned. “Odd was so glad to see Kiwi they played all night long!” He put his hands on his hips.

“With Kiwi’s talent and my idea of having him foam at the mouth with toothpaste, you’ve gotta admit that we’re a great team! With the two of us on Lyoko, XANA won’t stand a chance!” Odd bragged, putting up a fighting stance.

Cassidy didn’t bother with the input. She trembled.

“I wouldn’t try that again!” Jeremie put in his two-cents.

Aelita had something on her mind. “By the way Odd, do you always carry toothpaste with you?”

“Yeah, you never know when you’re gonna run into a pretty girl!” Odd pulled out his tube of toothpaste, smiling.

“His feet smell awful enough without Cassidy’s remedy. Just imagine him with bad breath as well!” Ulrich quipped, waving his hand in front of his face.

Everyone but Cassidy laughed. Her eyes then filled in white as she said, “Sissi’s coming.”

Ulrich quickly slapped the back of her neck, snapping her out of it.

Sissi came up on cue. “Yumi! I know it’s because of you, William’s all messed up, and I’m gonna prove it.”

“Don’t bother, I know,” Yumi shrugged.

“AHA!”

“I just broke up with him this morning. Don’t be surprised if he stays messed up for a long time, he took it pretty hard!” Yumi put up her hands as she started to walk past Cassidy.

Sissi balled up her fists. “You kidding me?!” Then she blushed and scowled.

Cassidy followed Yumi. “I think some residual bits of Kiwi are in me.” She wasn’t over the shock, but it was a good first sentence.

Ulrich overheard. “What, you still got a tail?”

“No…his sense of smell… I think we’re having beef stew for lunch.” She fell back into her shock. “He shouldn’t have known my nickname.”

“We’ll find an answer to that, too, okay?” Yumi reassured.

She nodded. “Okay.”

Ulrich then smiled. “XANA does work in mysterious ways.”

**Who…let the dogs out?**

**You thought I’d forget to finish my sentence? Nope. Plus that question I’m surprised didn’t make the final cut in the script. Ah, well, I’m sure MoonScoop thought it would be too much to add. The next chapter, one of my friends will help me, so this will take longer than it should. Anyway, happy reading.**

*** I got inspired by Nickelback’s album “All the Right Reasons” and its song “Fight for all the Wrong Reasons.”**

**& — I pulled an old Nicktoons show up because it felt appropriate. It was great.**


	58. William's Clone has a Lack of GoodWill

**Cassidy: I cannot believe that YOU are putting me up to this challenge.**

**Miguel: And I can't believe I have to edit it, its resulted me in looking over 44 pages, over 9 months of editing…(continues rambling)**

**Me: You’ll love it.**

**Miguel & Cassidy: Fine.**

**Cassidy: But I’m not taking the limo!**

**Me: Um…we don’t have a limo. We have a pickup truck, a Buick, and my aunt’s car. We also don’t own Code Lyoko. Thank miguemely for the translation. :)**

**Miguel: You’re welcome, now stop editing my bad grammar! I should be doing that!**

**Me: LOL Sorry…**

Cassidy and Odd were sitting on his bed. She looked like she was scared. “You want me to do _what_?”

“For twenty-four hours non-stop.”

She growled. “You have to translate for me, and I’m thinking of joining Aelita and Ulrich on a new Replika tomorrow.”

“Deal. But how are you going to make this happen when I’m not going?”

Cassidy sighed. This wasn’t something she wanted to do, out of consideration, but Odd was driving a hard bargain. She knew that she wasn’t going to worm her way out of this. “Aelita needs to be notified. Ulrich doesn’t trust me like he used to.” She dropped to a whisper. “I think he is on to me.”

“Don’t worry about Ulrich, Cat-Girl. Anyway, tomorrow morning, you stick to the bet, even if we return in time. And no matter what your voice tone, angry, whispering, and so on.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine, but you stick to your end, as well. I’m going to do it differently around the teachers.”

Odd nodded. He knew she would break before the day after tomorrow. She couldn’t resist the thrill of a bet, having made a few of them to Ulrich. Strangely enough, she never made a bet with Yumi, Aelita, or Jeremie. It seemed that she would rather compete with Ulrich just to see how her powers played out. Three bets between the two ended up with Cassidy winning, and Ulrich doing something, either out of public humiliation—twice—or just out of fun. He held out a hand to her. “Shake on it?”

Cassidy nodded, grasping his hand with hers. “Shake on it.”

The two shook hands.

 

The next morning, Aelita and Odd sat at the cafeteria table. “It’s a question of reflexes. You gotta trust your instincts.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Odd, yo no creo que eso es una buen idea.”

“And why is that, Cassidy?” Odd asked.

“Porque tú sabe quién está allí,” Cassidy sighed.

“Is Cassidy okay, Odd?” Ulrich asked. “She seems to really like her second language she learned at her old school.”

“Mi escuela de anterior me enseñó bien, mucha gracias. Eh, Odd y yo tenemos una puesta pasando ahora,” Cassidy smiled wickedly.

“Her old school had taught her well, and we have a bet going on,” Odd translated.

Ulrich gulped. This was not going to end well.

“Acostúmbrate a eso rápido porque yo voy con Aelita y contigo al Replika.”

“Get used to it fast, because she is going with you and Aelita to the Replika,” Odd smiled.

“What caused this silly bet, anyway,” Aelita wondered.

“Odd quiere ver cuánto tiempo puede seguir con esto antes que pierde mi mente mañana. No voy a decir que ganara cada uno si el otro pierde. Tiene que verlo por ti mismo.” Cassidy smiled in satisfaction.

“This will be a while, won’t it,” Ulrich sighed.

“Lo adivinastes. Pero para veinticuatro horas.”

“For twenty-four hours, Ulrich,” Odd smiled.

Jeremie sighed. “Odd, you have a weird sense of humor.”

“Eso si es la verdad,” Cassidy nodded. “Estoy atascado durante tanto tiempo, incluso si Odd no está en la área conmigo. La única excepción es si yo estoy con un maestro o una maestra.”

“Anyway, Odd, anything you can do, I can do better,” Aelita grinned wickedly.

Odd leaned over the middle of the table. “You wanna bet?”

“You’re on,” Aelita sang.

Odd laid a fork on the table, prongs facing him. Then he placed a walnut on the handle. His hand formed a fist in midair. “Okay, watch and weep.”

“¿No es ‘Mira y aprende’ y ‘Leelo y llora?’” Cassidy tapped her foot to soothe her nerves. It was a nice sensation to feel.

Odd’s fist slammed down on the fork. The walnut flew through the air, only to be pocketed in his other hand. “Like I told you. My Odd-like Sixth Sense defies all limitation.”

Everyone at the table gave a laugh. Then Aelita broke out of her laughter to say, “Okay, Shaq, let me show you my _Aelita_ -like Sixth Sense.” She placed her fork down and placed an orange on the table.

“Eh…chicos, tu sabe que mi poderes son como un Sixth Sense, no?” Cassidy asked, feeling a bit insulted, but compliant to her cause.

Aelita slammed her fist down on her fork, and Yumi had to shift in the opposite direction to avoid getting hit by the flying orange. The orange didn’t stop until it landed into Sissi’s mashed potatoes. Sissi gave a few startled shrieks, getting covered with most of the goop. Hervé groaned, also covered with the glop.

“Who did that?” Sissi asked, confused.

Nicholas, seemingly unscathed, sniggered.

Yumi and every Lyoko Warrior started to laugh. Aelita looked a little confused.

“You win hands-down,” Odd admitted. “Even at the top of my form, I could never match that.”

Cassidy opened her mouth to say something in English, but held herself back. This wouldn’t be good for her if she let loose too early. No, she shook her head, she would not break this bet. Instead, she ate the mac and cheese cup she had bought from a gas station. At first, most of her friends thought it was weird, but later on, they started to accept it. Rosa allowed her to use the microwave after Cassidy poured water in the cup. Students rarely used the microwave, so Cassidy was a rarity.

“Dunbar!”

Jim’s voice made Cassidy jump. After taking a few breaths, she thanked God that the fork wasn’t in her mouth at the time.

He walked past her and her friends’ table. “Haven’t you heard that forks aren’t meant to play with, but to eat with? Ya hear me, Dunbar?!”

The William clone, a glass on the handle of his fork. He smiled.

Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, and Cassidy gasped. No words needed to be said, English or otherwise, but they thought in unison, _Is he mad?_ Clone William picked up his fist. Christophe, on the other end of “William’s” table was blissfully unaware due to his special headphones. Jeremie’s brows rose in fear.  

He slammed his fist onto the table, and the glass went flying. Jim watched it as it arced. His hand grabbed it before it could hit somebody or something. “The glass is empty,” he started to say in a sage-like way, placing the glass on the table, then his tone hardened into his real tone. “But that is the very last straw. You want to play being an idiot? Well, _two_ can play at that game!” Clone William stood up. “Follow me,” ordered Jim.

Cassidy shivered a little as she took another bite. The original William might be on Lyoko, but the Clone looked too much like him. She had begged Jeremie to at least give him a little acne or different clothing that William wouldn’t normally wear, but he told her no, because it would break how he normally was.

“You okay, Cassidy?” Yumi whispered in concern.

She shook her head. “Sr. Odiado a hecho mi vida un infierno después de que nos separamos. Él no va a parar, incluso en Lyoko. Así que, no, no estoy bien, Yumi.”

“Mr. Hated made her life a living hell after the breakup. He’s not going to stop, even on Lyoko. So no, she’s not okay, Yumi,” Odd shook his head, whispering.

Yumi held her hands up in a slightly defensive gesture. “Okay, cool it. I think I get the picture.”

Cassidy blinked. “Yo..Yo no sé qué hacer con él. Él ve a través de todo las defensas que yo intento cuando el empieza a coquetear conmigo en Lyoko. Soy tan afortunado que el padre de Aelita hizo un programa Contra-Desnudo/Contra-Violación por lo que no tiene ni siquiera una escalada a partir de ahí, pero todavía me da miedo.”

“Geez, Cassidy! You don’t have to go that far,” Ulrich whispered heatedly.

“Lo siento.”

Jeremie looked on. “Mr. Hated’s clone is not supposed to act like that.”

Odd’s shrill voice caught Jeremie’s attention. “Oh, it doesn’t matter if he gets punished. He’s not even human.”

“That’s just it. He’s a polymorphic specter driven by a basic, non-evolutionary behavior program.”

Cassidy tried to wrap her brain around what Jeremie said. “Inglés o español, ¿por favor?”

“Yeah, Einstein, could you say that in words?” Ulrich agreed.

Jeremie rubbed the side of his finger to his chin. “Mr. Hated’s clone shouldn’t be capable of taking any personal initiatives, like imitating Odd’s stupid stunts, for example.”

Yumi looked at Jeremie. “How do you explain it?”

“I can’t explain it. That’s why I’m worried.”

“Cassidy?”

Cassidy looked up at Yumi. “Yo tampoco.”

“Unless, uh…”

Aelita looked at Jeremie. “The what?”

“Well, yesterday, I installed an upgrade for his software, something to improve his artificial intelligence. Ya know, something that would make him appear less stupid,” Jeremie replied.

“Hm, you think that imitating Odd makes him ‘less stupid’?” Ulrich quipped, and the residents of the table, minus Jeremie, laughed again.

“Well, we’ll have to play it by ear. I may have to delete that upgrade.”

“Jeremie, mis poderes dicen que tu lo va a hacer.”

“All we need is for Mr. Hated, Jr., to start making waves.”

They walked out of the cafeteria after they had their meal. “Anyway, I did improve the Super Scan. Thanks to the data you collected during your last jaunt of the network, I was able to set things up so it could now find other Replikas.”

“You mean you think there are more of them out there?” Ulrich asked.

“Tanto como que se me ocurre, Ulrich. Puede haber otras Replikas de repetición.”

Jeremie turned to Ulrich. “For sure. In fact, I’ve already managed to localize a second one.”

Yumi looked at Jeremie with a serious look on her face. “A second one? How many Replikas do you think there _are_?”

Jeremie turned to her. “I have no idea. But I suppose that if we _destroy_ all the Replikas, we’ll finally be rid of XANA for good.”

“Fantastic. I like it when you talk like that. When do we start?”

“Comenzamos esta noche. Yo no tengo ni idea si nosotros ganaremos, Odd,” Cassidy shook her head.

“You hear me, Dunbar?!” Jim yelled from across the campus.

“I feel bad for Mr. Hated’s clone. It’s my fault that he’s in trouble with GI Jim,” Aelita said in despondence, looking at Jim and Mr. Delmas lecture William’s clone. She lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Jeremie turned to her. “No reason to feel bad, Aelita. It’s like Odd said: He’s totally artificial.”

“Like I was not all that long ago,” Aelita remembered.

“Y yo seguí diciendo que eras humana cada noche, Aelita.”

“And I thank you for that, Cassidy,” Aelita said. “It was really nice to have you do that for me, even if you didn’t have to.”

“Pero yo siento que es mi deber defender tu humanidad.”

Aelita smiled and nodded. If anyone could make her feel better when guilty, it was either her proxy-pie, Jeremie, or her roommate of almost a year, Cassidy.

“It’s still not the same, you two. An artificial clone has no feelings, Aelita,” Jeremie soothed.

Cassidy giggled. “Me recuerda los tiempos en que tú te reías y gritaban de espanto, también una vez que sollozaba en mis brazos cuando tú todavía estaban vinculados. Esos eran los tiempos en que yo sabía lo que pasaba sin haber desarrollando mis poderes.”

Everyone dispersed as Jeremie took a look over his shoulder. “At least, not for now.” He then walked to join his friends.

 

Unknown to Jeremie and the others, Milly and Tamiya looked over their shoulders, having overheard the whole thing. “An artificial clone?”

Tamiya kept her voice low. “So William isn’t really William. I don’t understand. And Cassidy is using Spanish more than she usually does. I wonder why.”

“It means we got a scoop or two.”

 

That night in the library, Clone William wrote the last line on his paper. “I don’t have any more paper.”

Jim looked over his _Blaze_ comic. “Alright, that’s enough for now, I guess. I sure hope you learned a lesson today. Next time you use your fork for eating, and not catapulting your glass into your neighbor’s mashed potatoes. What’s more, using a glass is not only dumb, it’s dangerous! A ball of bread is much more discreet. Take it from someone who knows.”

“A ball of bread? Good idea,” Clone William agreed.

“Uh, no. Forget that. Definitely not with a ball of bread. If you do, I’ll make you write ‘I must never play with food. I have to catapult it into my mouth with my glass.’” Jim then realized what he was saying, “Uh, into my mouth with my mashed potatoes or whatever. Anyway, you get the picture.”

William looked around the library. “Get the picture?” he said dumbly. “Where is it?”

Jim looked at him confused. “Huh?”

 

At the factory, Jeremie was typing away at the Supercomputer. “Ready to go? Okay, energize.”

On Lyoko, bright columns of light engulfed each occupant. Aelita entered the Skid’s cockpit. Yumi and Cassidy entered the double NavSkid. Odd and Ulrich ended up separate.

“Replika, here I come,” Odd celebrated. “Odd The Best, The Greatest, The Mean, Lean, XANA-Wrecking Machine!” He shadow-boxed in his NavSkid.

“‘Lean’ sounds right, I don’t know about the rest,” Ulrich deadpanned. “Don’t forget who saved you from the Digital Sea last time.”

“¡CALLATE!” Cassidy shouted. “No me gusta luchar.” She snorted. “¡Ay, ay, ay! ¿Por una vez, pueden los dos dejar a Aelita manejar en paz? Yo creo que a ella le va a gustar si le corta el ‘aire caliente.’ ”

“What’s gotten your tail in a knot, huh?” Ulrich asked.

“‘Mi cola en un nudo’, ¿en serio? ¿Qué ha pasado con  ‘mis poderes en un enredo’, eh? Y también, tú y Odd saben que yo odio las peleas entre ustedes.”

Odd looked in Cassidy’s general direction. “Fine, Cat Girl.”

Ulrich sighed. “Sorry, Cassidy.”

“Está bien, es que me alteran. ”

“Anyway, and who took out those two MegaTanks with talent and style? It was Odd, Odd the Magnificent. Hey, I like that—Odd the Magnificent.”

Cassidy sighed. “¿Voy a ganar?”

“I’m sure you will one day, Cassidy,” Aelita assured.

“Gracias, Aelita.”

“De nada.”

“I got _devirtualized_ thanks to Odd the Lame-O, and if it hadn’t been for me, you would…”

“Well, well,” Odd leaned in to try to look to the other side. “Aren’t we all being sensitive today? Listen, if you want to be a hero, I can give you lessons, but not everyone has the right stuff.”

Cassidy stiffened as he said that. Sometimes she had days where she wished Jeremie would say to her that she didn’t have the “right stuff.”

Yumi reached over and rubbed a hand on her shoulder. “You have the right stuff, Cassidy. Odd is just kidding around with Ulrich,” She said in a soft voice.

Cassidy whispered back, “Es difícil algunas veces, porque yo no sé si yo soy suficientemente bueno. Ya tú viste lo que Sr. Odiado me hizo un día en el Sector Forestal Réplica.”

“Cassidy, you _are_ good enough for this team,” Yumi reassured. “You’ve been a great friend and you never _once_ spilled our secret.”

“Eso es porque yo guardo secretos excepto si tienen intenciones malas.”

“The main thing is staying humble,” Odd held his head up high.

Yumi blinked. “That’s about everything all guys can talk about. ‘I can beat you at this; you can’t beat me at that.’”

“That’s because Ulrich isn’t humble enough to admit that he can’t even _hold a candle_ to me, even if he knows I’m better.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Odd, Aelita es mejor entre tú y Ulrich.”

“Haha, very funny. Okay, Odd The Magnificent. Let’s check the results at the end of the day,” Ulrich taunted.

“Hey! Cut the hot air and let me concentrate, okay, guys?” Aelita complained from the cockpit.

Cassidy sighed. “¿Ya ve?”

Aelita turned the Skid and went outside of Sector 5. “Stabilizers, online and checked. Primary access, clear. Laser generators, online. Here we go.”

The Skid dropped down, hovered over the sea, and dove in.

Jeremie punched a key. “Holoweb system, online. Aelita, I’m sending you the Replika’s coordinate.”

_“Gotcha, Jeremie.”_

In the digital sea, the Skid made its way to the Hub. “High speed acceleration in three seconds,” Aelita announced as she rotated the Skid from horizontal to vertical. “Three, two, one!” It dove into it.

 

Meanwhile, Milly and Tamiya were waiting next to William’s dorm room. Milly looked to the side and elbowed Tamiya. They had one of their targets in their sights. The other target was nowhere to be found, at least not yet. However, they would get her at a later time. Tamiya readied her camera.

Milly approached Clone William. “William, we’re doing a story on school punishment for the _Kadic News_. Do you think that Jim throws around his weight too much?”

Tamiya zoomed in on his face.

Clone William looked at her. “At least 240 pounds, which is too heavy for his height.”

She pulled the camera away from her face, a confused look crossing it. How would William possibly know that? “Huh?”

Milly was not at all confused. “That’s not what I meant. I meant that he can be…a real windbag sometimes. Do you get my drift now, William?”

Clone William waved his index finger in the air. “No. Sorry, but I can’t even feel a breeze.”

Tamiya looked over her camera again. “Huh, are you an idiot or something?”

“That’s a little hard to explain.”

 

The Skid made its way to the Replika’s entrance. Aelita looked at it. “Replika straight ahead.” She was impressed. “Jeremie, you found it within a micro bit.”

“Yo estoy impresionado también, Jeremie.”

_“Thank you, Cassidy. I’m sure you will get relief tomorrow. Anyway, great. The improvements on the Superscan seem to be effective.”_

Aelita then placed a hand on the pad. “Digital Key, operational.”

“La apuesta también abarca los ‘retornos al pasado.’ Si mis poderes son correctos y hacemos retorno, tengo que seguir hablando de esta manera hasta la mañana siguiente, sin hacer preguntas. ”

Yumi quietly scoffed. “It sounds like Odd has pulled out all the stops.”

“No me digas.”

A beam from the top of the Skid’s cockpit hit the bull’s eye on the entrance.

“Your localization program works like a charm,” Yumi commented.

“Por eso, estoy orgullosa de él.”

“At this rate, we’ll be able to wipe XANA out in no time.”

_“Oh, it’s no big deal. All I had to do was reconfigure the course of the alternate algorithm based on the data you recovered from the first Replika.”_

The door to the Replika opened.

Odd chimed in. “Sounds simple to you, but it’s Greek to me.”

“Y tú me diste esta apuesta, ¿por qué?”

He ignored her.

_“There’s only one sector. The Desert.”_

The Skid rose up out of the Desert Sector Replika’s Digital Sea. _“Tower at eleven o’clock.”_ It turned to its right and flew over a long, canyon-like structure.

Aelita smiled. “I see it.”

 _“Good. Dock the Skid while I activate the tower for our own use so we can carry out the Teleportation,”_ Jeremie commanded.

“It’s as good as done.”

The Skid wound around the tower once it got close.

Aelita lightly slapped her hand down on the pad. “Docking.” A pink beam of light hit the tower and several beams connected with it.

 

Meanwhile, Milly and Tamiya held a consultation. “We’re not going to get anything out of him. He’s been like a vegetable for months now. We’re better off interviewing Cassidy and asking why she’s speaking Spanish.”

The redhead was not going to be deterred. “Leave this to me. I’m going to bluff him out.” She walked up to him. “Wait a second, William,” she said stiltedly. “I wanted to tell you how much you hurt me by not answering my letter.”

Clone William looked at her with a confused stare.

Milly brought her hands up to her chest. “Well, I know that usually guys make the first move, and since I decided to tell you how I felt—”

“WHAT?” Tamiya leaned into her left side. “You wrote him a love letter without telling _me_ you did?!”

Milly lowered her voice and growled a little. “Tamiya! I told you I was going to bluff him!”

“I’m really sorry, Milly. It wasn’t me who got your letter. It must’ve been William,” Clone William smiled.

Milly smiled and Tamiya was a bit confused as they looked at each other and back to Clone William. Bingo! Their scoop was just a few questions away. Milly had bluffed him thoroughly.

 

On the Desert Sector Replika, Odd threw two pebbles. “Too bad Ulrich and Cassidy’s been teleported already. He won’t be able to admire the exploits of Odd The Magnificent and weep with jealousy while _she_ isn’t going to be able quit speaking Spanish.”

“Mm, yes, even though last time he did save your neck, didn’t he? And Cassidy helped you with your English assignment,” Yumi looked at Odd.

“Hey, come on. Don’t you start now.”

_“Calm down, you guys. Save your strength for XANA and his pals. I just spotted Aelita, Cassidy, and Ulrich. They’re in New Mexico, right now. A few hundred miles north east and Cassidy would be home in Illinois, or in her summer home of Nebraska.”_

 

In New Mexico, Cassidy looked at the federal-like structure. “Mi país de origen. Mi país de origen…” She raced around the rock that she and her two friends were hiding behind. She felt that she was home. “Estoy tan feliz de estar en casa!” She squealed in such glee that it was a wonder that Aelita, Jeremie, and Ulrich hadn’t lost their hearing.

“What did she say?” Ulrich whispered to Aelita.

Aelita smiled. “She’s just glad to be in her home country.”

“She’s super charged!” Ulrich growled a little.

Aelita whispered, suddenly heated, “She missed this country so much. Look at her. She may never feel this way again unless we find the way home for her.”

Ulrich stopped in his tracks. Sometimes when she was not having a XANA attack predicted, she would go up into her room and sulk for hours. He had forgotten about what the real William did to her after he brutally broke up with her on false charges. She was shattered beyond repair when she went into his room to retrieve her multiple tickets in broad daylight to find the ripped up gifts in his trashcan. She turned around, left the room, walked up to her room, trying to hide the tears, entered the room, seeing Aelita getting ready to pack, sat in the corner of her side of the room, and started to cry.

Aelita had asked her what was wrong. Cassidy, at first, could not speak. Her mind was clouded with the sadness she felt after going to Lyoko to retrieve her roommate’s memories. She couldn’t even write. Aelita didn’t know what to do on her own. She called up Jeremie, who had already packed his things in advanced. He came up to her and repeated Aelita’s question. “What happened, Cassidy?”

“Oh, Jeremie! I knew it was a better idea to entrust Ulrich with the tickets…!” She had keened.

“What about them?” Jeremie was confused.

“W-William r-r-ripped them up…”

That’s the moment where Aelita and Jeremie paled in unison. Here they were, about to get ready to go home with Cassidy for the summer, only to find that they had to go with their alternatives. Meanwhile, Cassidy had absolutely nowhere to go for the summer that time.

“TODAS…” she had keened again.

But now, Ulrich understood.

After Cassidy had calmed down, they looked up from the rock that they were hiding in. The three of them shared a look before Ulrich started racing across the sandy/rocky path. He scoped the place out. Then he peaked out. “Hm…looks something like a military base. With no-one here, it shouldn’t be too hard!”

“Ulrich, no debería ser demasiado difícil en absoluto.”

_“You’re right, Ulrich. It is a military base. And it’s obviously been abandoned. I located a plan of it on the internet so I can guide you.”_

 

Back in William’s room, Milly’s eyebrows shot through the roof. “‘XANA?’ Who is this ‘XANA?’”

The clone remained clueless. “I really don’t know. Do you know him?”

“But…it was you who just told us that XANA captured William. So, who are you then?” Milly asked.

“Me? William,” the clone said.

Milly kept sitting on the bed, confusion on her face. “Then, I guess there are _two_ Williams?”

“No…there’s just one, and that’s me. The other is a prisoner of XANA.”

“If the other William is a prisoner, we should call the police, huh?”

“Certainly not. Jeremie and the Lyoko Warriors are doing all they can to set him free.”

Tamiya looked at him. “Loko Warriors? Who are they?”

Milly looked from her partner, and then back to William. “Listen, uh…if I’m gonna forgive the other William about the letter, I’m going to need some proof that you’re not making all of this up.”

“Some proof? I don’t have any, but I can ask Jeremie to show you some in the computer lab at the factory.”

Milly looked back at Tamiya, a smile on her face. She finally rooted it out of him. They would get the proof and they could print it out on Page 1 of the _Kadic Herald_. They might even gain popularity.

 

On the Replika Earth Location, Aelita, Ulrich, and Cassidy—finally calmed down enough to focus on the mission—walked into the first part of the New Mexican facility.

_“I think I found it. In front of you, on your left.”_

Ulrich, Cassidy, and Aelita stopped. They looked in front of them.

_“At the foot of a hangar, there’s an elevator that’ll take you to the underground part of the base.”_

Ulrich looked around at it. “This is really weird. I bet we’re in Area 51.”

Aelita smiled and teased, “The base at Roswell? The one with all those aliens? No, it wasn’t the same at all.” She started to race over, Ulrich and Cassidy following suit.

“Wait a second, how do you know what Area 51 looks like?” Ulrich asked in surprise.

Aelita gave a slight chuckle. “I don’t. I was just kidding.”

 

On the Desert, Odd and Yumi noticed Hornets flying out of the chasm. “Here comes the welcoming committee,” Odd announced as he cocked his arm. “On your mark, ready?” Yumi unsheathed her fans.

The five Hornets fired their lasers at them, to which the two cartwheeled in separate directions several times to avoid. Yumi turned around and used her fans to absorb the blows. Just then, the Hornets flew over her head. “Hey, he didn’t say ‘go’ yet!” she protested.

Odd shook his tired paw and shot off an arrow, which went into the sky. “Wow! Not very polite little beasts. They didn’t even introduce themselves!” He looked to the sky. “Einstein, we could use a couple of taxis!”

 

In the lab, Jeremie typed. “Okay, right away.” Suddenly, a window popped up on his screen. It showed three rectangles and one of the rectangle’s bars started to fill in green. “What’s going on? How come I got an activated scanner? Did anyone just get devirtualized?” he asked in concern. He pressed the enter key.

 

The OverWing and OverBoard materialized in the Desert. Odd raced for his vehicle, dodging the lasers as he did so. “Wasn’t me. Why leave when it’s just getting interesting?!” he shot another arrow, this time combusting the bug.

Yumi flipped onto the tower. “It wasn’t me either.” She sprung off and threw her fans, slicing the wings off two of the monsters. They dropped like flies—or walks, as Cassidy would joke after playing a few rounds of The Impossible Quiz.

Odd zipped in on his OverBoard. “LASER ARROW!” The arrow went to one of the wingless Hornets.

Yumi jumped over the other one and threw her fan. The two monsters combusted. Then the geisha warrior caught her fan before it could go rogue. “If it wasn’t us, who was it?”

 

Cassidy lifted her head. “No fui yo. Todavía estoy aquí.”

 

“I have no idea, but it sure isn’t someone that we wanna meet,” Jeremie reported.

 

The doors to one of the scanners opened, and a familiar face stepped out, bearing the Eye of XANA.

 

In the Lab, Jeremie zoomed in on the face. The hair and jacket were familiar as the familiar face looked at the camera. The genius of the group gasped, flinching back into his seat. “William?!”

 

Yumi couldn’t believe her ears. “William?! Mr. Hated’s in the factory?!” She turned to Odd, who zoomed across her.

 

Cassidy looked back in sadness and shock. She had spent a week sleeping off the shock of him using her own nickname. She shook in her paws as she walked.

 

_“It sure looks like it! I’ll handle it.”_

Yumi threw her fan at the Hornets still there. One exploded from the impact. The other one still flew around with its multiple wings. She reached up and caught it.

“Were you expecting company?” Odd joked as he chased after the last one. “Did you stock up on potato chips, soda, magazines for him to read?”

_“He’s not coming up here. He’s going down to the Supercomputer. He must’ve come to destroy it.”_

Odd threw an arrow at the last Hornet. “Oh, no! Here comes trouble.”

 _  
_ Meanwhile, Ulrich opened a door and he, Aelita, and Cassidy stepped inside. They gawked at the machinery moving, picking up parts and assembling them on a conveyor belt somewhat different from their own. The three walked over to investigate.

“En primer lugar, el Sr. Odiado sabe mi seudónimo y ahora entra en la fábrica. Aelita, creo que nuestra próxima excursión en Lyoko - sin incluir Replikas - estará en el Sector de hielo, y no va a terminar bien.”

“Try to stay positive, Cassidy. We’ll be just fine if you set your mind to it,” Aelita reassured.

Cassidy’s eyes shifted to the floor. This would be tough, knowing that winter vacation would hit her in the face. Her parents, friends, and other relatives knew that her ex ripped up the tickets, essentially blocking off any attempt to go to her home country, and that angered them.

“What is this place?” Ulrich asked.

“Jeremie?” Aelita asked the air. “Jeremie?”

“Probablemente va a defender la supercalculador.”

 

Odd and Yumi rendezvoused at the tower. “We have to get back to the factory!” he had a voice of urgency. “Einstein! Are you there? Can you hear us?”

“There’s no need to yell, he’s probably trying to figure out a way to keep William busy. Besides, you and I are stuck here!” she informed him.

He looked at her as if she had lost it. “I tell you, we’ve gotta go!”

However, she had a reasonable response. “Odd, Jeremie hasn’t Teleported Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy, yet. We can’t do it for him from here. We can’t join them out there. We have to protect the Skid at all costs! So we wait.” She hated being right, but she knew that she was.

Odd, however, didn’t have the look of a happy camper. “I hate waiting! There must be something we can do!”

Yumi turned her head toward the chasm. “There is:  Defend our position. Look!” A trio of Tarantulas clunked onto the scene.

“Good! Thanks to our friends, at least we won’t be bored.”

 

In the Supercalculator room, the bigger, circular base rose in front of William. Smoke bellowed from the edges. It had been since Aelita fixed it from Mr. Rouiller’s sabotage attack since it had risen. The XANAfied minion had big plans for the Supercalculator.

A voice sounded from behind him. “I had no idea that you were into computers, William.”

William looked behind him to see Jeremie, who was holding a metal bar in one hand.

The genius tapped the floor with it, put his feet into a fighting stance, brought his arms back, holding the bar, and swung it forward. However, William quickly grabbed it. Jeremie gasped before he felt himself lift from the floor, the room starting to spin. He tried to hold on for dear life, but the centrifical force forced him to fly back-first into a wall. He landed like a bag of flour.

 

Meanwhile, Ulrich, Cassidy, and Aelita looked at the machinery. The only boy on the team smiled. “Whoa, check it out! It’s like a scene from _Executioner 2_ , and it smells like Odd’s feet in here!”

“OYE! Usted deja los pies de mi novio fuera de esto!”

Ulrich didn’t have to ask Aelita for a translation. “You and Odd are dating again?”

“Bueno, sí. Después del incidente de Kiwi y el Sr. de Lo Odié ahora sabiendo de mi apodo, Odd se convirtió de nuevo mi roca. Se podría pensar que es estúpido y que debería conseguir más de él por lo que hizo, pero mi corazón y mi mente simplemente no puede.”

Aelita nodded. “What worries me most is that we’ve lost contact with Jeremie. We have to find a way to get back to the Skid, and then return to the factory!”

Ulrich looked at the only English-speaking friend he had on this mission. “Abort the mission? Look around you, Aelita. XANA’s putting something really serious together.”

“I don’t like this any more than you do, but Jeremie must need our help. Something’s wrong…”

“Aelita tiene razón.”

“Well anyway, if we do decide to abort, there’s only one way for us to get back to the Skid!” Ulrich replied.

 

Back in the Supercalculator room, Jeremie tried to catch his breath when he felt someone grip his collar. He looked and saw William’s face. **“And now, you’re going to witness the total destruction of the Supercomputer, and the end of your little gang of friends!”**

Just then, the elevator opened, and an innocent voice said, “Hello, Jeremie. Uh, do you have any proof that you could lend me?”

The real William looked to see a doppelganger of himself, and then looked at Jeremie with a face of deadpanned “Seriously? You made a clone of me in my absence?”

The clone saw the real William man-handling Jeremie. “Get your hands off Jeremie!” He charged forward as the real one threw the genius to a wall. Then the clone pounced on the real William, sending him into the wall.

Jeremie pushed himself up. In a daze, he looked at the two reporters that the clone brought with him. “Hi girls, what are you doing here?”

The two clones struggled, now standing on top of the big base. They tried to put one of them down.

Tamiya tried to control her bladder. “Milly, I wanna go home!”

Milly turned her head at Jeremie. “Which one of them is the real William?”

The genius rose to his feet. “It’s very simple: the real one…is the bad guy.” He felt pain in his ankle, gave out a muted gasp, to Milly’s concern, and sank down again. “Listen, you two girls have to go back to the computer lab…and tell the others that they gotta get back here…and fast!”

“Did you say ‘the others?’” the redheaded reporter asked.

Tamiya ducked inside the elevator. “Alright, I’m outta here.” She went back up in the car, leaving Milly behind.

 

On the Desert Replika, the trio of Tarantulas clunked closer and closer. The leader stood on its hind legs and fired its lasers at Yumi and Odd. The two ducked. Yumi started to glow, putting a finger to her temple. He noticed his OverBoard starting to move without its driver.

“Oh, no! My OverBoard!” Odd bemoaned.

It flew to the lead Tarantula, flinging it into the Digital Sea. There, a blue column of light rose from where the monster landed. The vehicle soared in a wide arc before landing to rest at its master’s feet.

“Another one bites the dust!” Yumi cheered slightly.

Odd bent down at it. “Don’t ever do that without telling me! I hope you didn’t mess up the paint job…” He inspected it before realizing that the other two Tarantulas were still at large. He hopped onto the board, as Yumi hopped onto her OverWing, and zoomed away from the Tarantulas.

One of the monsters let out a confused growl, looking up at the sky.

The geisha warrior and the now-cat warrior trekked into the chasm, the duo of monsters following.

 

Back in the factory, both Williams flipped off of the base and exchanged punches and dodges. One of them pounced on the other and knocked him to the wall the Evil William threw Jeremie at earlier.

 

Up at the Lab, Tamiya raced to the cushy chair, sat in it, picked up the mic and said, “Hello? Anyone out there? Hello?”

 

In the Desert Replika, Odd looked up at the nasally voice, trying to avoid the lasers. “Huh? Einstein? What’s with that voice of yours, you catch a cold?” The lapse in concentration cost him. A laser connected to the OverBoard, dematerializing it instantly. He fell and landed on his paws.

_“Uh, no, uh, it’s…it’s Tamiya!”_

“Tamiya?!” Odd sounded shocked as he stood up. “Oh…” He looked at the other end of the chasm to see one of the two Tarantulas after him, the other one going after Yumi.

Yumi did her best to dodge the lasers, but one of them connected to her vehicle, throwing it off course. To avoid life point loss, she jumped off before it hit the ground. It exploded. She set off on foot. “Tamiya, what are you doing at the factory.”

Tamiya explained how they ended up at the factory.

“Well that’s one heck of a surprise! Where’s Jeremie?”

_“Jeremie told me to tell you to come back right away, uh…whoever you are!”_

“We’re on our way.” She soon raced out of the chasm and met up with Odd. “Fun’s over, we’re going home!”

He lowered his arm after firing an arrow. “It’s your lucky day, Tarantula.” He turned around and ran. “Hasta la vista…” he sang.

The two raced around the second Tarantula, much to its confusion. It turned and started to follow them, its brethren following suit.

 

Aelita looked at Ulrich. “Did you hear that? If Tamiya’s in the factory, we’ve got a big problem. Let’s go!”

“Okay.”

Aelita put herself into a stance, charging an energy field, as Cassidy held a stance, Ulrich pulled out both his katanas. “On three. One…two…,” Aelita whispered.

“Sea gentil, Ulrich,” Cassidy whispered as the blade slid across her neck.

 

In the NavSkids, Cassidy appeared in the double as Ulrich appeared in the single, unconscious. Aelita appeared in the cockpit, asleep.

Near the entrance of the chasm, Yumi and Odd raced over to the Skid.

“Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy might have been Teleported!”

Odd tried to shout to them. “Yoohoo, anybody home?”

Yumi suddenly felt a pain in her ankle. “AH!”

“Those Tarantulas stick to you like glue!” Odd quipped.

The Tarantulas shot their lasers. The now-cat warrior shot his arrows while the geisha warrior unsheathed her fans.

 

At the Supercalculator, one of the Williams threw the other, upside down and back-first, into the elevator. He then put a hand on the number pad. “That oughta hold you, William bad guy!”

Milly felt a sense of relief as the doors closed. “Good riddance.”

Jeremie cut to the negative. “No! Not at all! He’s going up to the lab, he can still mess with the programming and get rid of the others.” He turned to the clone and pointed upwards. “The trap door, go on, William, you have to stop him before he starts doing some real harm!”

Clone William smiled. “Yeah!” He then gave the genius a thumbs-up and a wink before jumping up from the base to the hatch above.

 

In the cockpit, Aelita slowly stirred and woke up.

 

In the lab, Tamiya looked as the elevators opened. There stood one of the Williams. “Huh? Oh, which one are you, the good guy or the bad guy?”

He stared her dead on with an evil expression, advancing. **“The good guy.”**

 

Aelita’s voice sounded through the Skid. _“Odd, we’re onboard the Skid. Ready to take off.”_

Odd stopped in his tracks, having defeated another monster of XANA’s creation. “YUMI, MAKE IT FAST!”

 _“Odd, no creo que Yumi hará en el NavSkid conmigo, pero usted puede compartir el doble conmigo, si quieres._ ” Cassidy still remembered Odd made a bet with her.

Yumi absorbed another blow with her fan. “Coming!” Suddenly, a laser connected to her stomach, dissolving her into pixilated dust.

Aelita typed on the mini-keyboard. “Embarking, Odd.”

Odd backed away from the last Tarantula. He’d revel in defeating it, if it weren’t for the fact that Mr. Hated was in the factory. Suddenly, he dissolved into the double with Cassidy.

“Okay,” Aelita said. “Everyone’s onboard.”

“A excepción de Yumi. Ella ha estado desvirtualizada.”

“Next stop, Lyoko.” Aelita grabbed the thruster on her left and it gave a pneumatic hiss.

 

Meanwhile, Tamiya watched as William typed. She had a bad feeling about this. Something just wasn’t right with William. He pulled up a window of the scanners and hit the enter key.

 

In the scanner room, Yumi’s scanner opened a little bit, but then stopped. She scowled. “Thanks for the welcome!” she said sarcastically. She then put her hands along the edges and started to pull, grunting with effort.

 

In the Lab, William pulled up a tower window, starting to activate it. That’s when Tamiya understood. This William lied to her. She backed away “I think you’re the bad guy, and if you think you’re going to wreck everything, you’ll have to deal with me.” She put up several fighting moves.

The Evil William stopped typing and turned around in the chair. He smirked and put his hand up. Electricity sprang from his hand onto her. She shrieked, the electricity flinging her back into a wall.

 **“I don’t have to deal with you, but I do have to wreck everything!”** He resumed his course.

 

Meanwhile, the Skid glided through the Digital Sea. Aelita then said, “There’s the hub.” She gently pushed the Skid to it. She then maneuvered it from horizontal to vertical. “Ready for high-speed acceleration?”

Ulrich spoke first. “Ready!”

“Estoy lista, Aelita.”

“Whenever you want, Princess,” Odd smiled, glad to know that Cassidy honored the bet.

The Skid quickly dove into the hub.

 

Meanwhile, back in the lab, the metal slab to the room squealed open. Up popped Clone William. The real William looked at him, anger-mixed horror written on his face, then looked back at the screen to type, a confident air about him. The clone raced up to pounce on him. However, the evil original pressed a button, and the only hope disintegrated. **“You’re nothing, just an insignificant bunch of digital dust!”** William gloated.

Tamiya trembled as he resumed typing. She couldn’t fight him. He would just zap her again until she became nothing.

 

Suddenly, in the Supercalculator room, Jeremie and Milly watched the big mainframe as steam bellowed from below. An alarm sounded. She looked at him. “Tell me that’s normal! That everything’s okay?!” she yelled, panicked. The clone and the original fighting was bad enough, but now the Supercalculator was issuing smoke.

“Not normal. The cooling chamber—it’s overheating and the Supercomputer is going to reach a highly combustible critical mass.” He looked at the panicking news reporter. “The double failed.” The girl let out a small shriek of terror. “You have to stop William.”

 

Back in the Digital Sea, the hub spat the Skid out of a spot on the side of it. The Lyoko Warriors had reached the regular Lyoko sea. However, the sea started to go from a brilliant beautiful blue to a crimson red.

“Do you see what we see?” Odd asked.

“Yeah, it’s too quiet,” Ulrich quipped.

“Ulrich, yo no tentar a la suerte si yo fuera usted-pero a todos nos han tentado la suerte en un momento o otro.”

Aelita then said, “Retro brakes.” The Skid came to a gentle stop. Already a shark-like monster passed by the submarine-like vehicle. She groaned, annoyed and slightly tired. “I really didn’t feel like fishing” She pulled down on two levers. “Bombs away!”

Odd and Cassidy’s double and Ulrich’s single NavSkids released and sped off into the action. Two Sharks swam toward the two. One of them opened its mouth and a laser fired from it.

Ulrich saw the laser’s path and swerved to avoid it. However, he nearly grazed Odd and Cassidy. The now-cat warrior angrily and somewhat playfully yelled, “Hey! Keep to your right, Sunday driver!”

Cassidy whacked Odd in the back of the head with her paw. “Él estaba evitando los láseres de la boca del tiburón … bueno, eso no sonó bien que sale de mi boca, incluso en español. Ahora estoy seguro de que soy oficialmente raro.”

“You’re not weird at all, Cat Girl,” Odd reassured, holding on to the thruster.

The two tinier vehicles took separate ways. However, the Sharks were slightly smarter than the Kongres. They both took a path that one of the NavSkids took. The first one fired at Odd and Cassidy. “We’ve got one stuck to us. That’s worse than forgetting a candy bar in your jeans during a _heatwave_!”

“Just another groupie crazy about Odd the Magnificent and Cassidy the Spanish-Speaking Psychic!” Ulrich chuckled.

“OYE! Ulrich, usted está desgarrando mi último nervio! En primer lugar, te burlas de los pies de su compañero de cuarto, a pesar de saber que le di un poco de loción perfumada para que él no tuviera que provocarte náuseas por la noche con una solución nauseabundo de Yolanda. Y ahora estás insultando a mi orgullo?! ¿Qué te pasa, hombre?”

“Sorry, Cassidy, I was just…in the moment.”

“Next time, Ulrich, think when you are in the moment. You don’t want to insult her again,” Aelita gently chastised.

Ulrich arced the NavSkid and charged at his enemy. He pressed a button on his thruster. “Torpedo!” Two torpedoes came out and hit the Shark. It then imploded. “Odd, Cassidy, higher up! I can get him.”

“Only because it’s you,” Odd quipped.

“Y todavía estoy enojado con usted por haber insultado a mi orgullo!”

“Can’t you let me save your life and Odd’s without you getting all hot under the collar?” Ulrich grumbled. Odd and Cassidy dodged two lasers from the Shark. Then, they revved the NavSkid back up. They blasted past Ulrich, who then glared at it. “Over here, cutie pie.” He rallied it up and fired another torpedo just as it turned around. “NOW!” The torpedoes hit the other Shark. After it was gone, Ulrich said, “Well that takes care of that!” To Odd and Cassidy, he quipped, “Aren’t you tired of me saving you all the time?”

“¿Y dónde estabas tú cuando yo me caí en el mar digital? Oh, es cierto, en su propia forma de caballo. ¿Dónde estabas cuando XANA había conseguido un asimiento de Aelita cuando el Schyphozoa la atacó y me cerró la puerta de la habitación? Oh, sí … Estabas desvirtualizada. Estoy bastante seguro de que me falta ‘estar cansado de que me ahorra todo el tiempo.’”

“Everyone into the Skid ASAP, we’ve already lost a lot of time!” Aelita ordered.

The NavSkids made their way back to the Skid as the sea turned blue.

 

Back in the Scanner Room, Yumi pushed the scanner doors open. She quickly emerged and fell over, exhaustion overwhelming her, panting. She used a lot of her strength. _I hope the others get back here in time,_ she thought.

 

Meanwhile, the Skid emerged from the Digital Sea. “Jeremie, we’re on Lyoko.” She steered it to the garage. “We’re starting the docking procedure.” She lowered it into the supports. The supports locked it from moving away as the four Lyoko Warriors de-energized from the Skid. Aelita then turned to Odd, Ulrich, and Cassidy, raising her hands to the air. “Jeremie’s still not answering.”

“Well, there aren’t a whole lot of ways to devirtualize ourselves,” Odd said, cocking his arm at Aelita.

Ulrich unsheathed his katanas. “Again? Oh, no,” he silently deadpanned.

 

William watched from the lab, seeing the cooling chamber’s temperature rising. **“The cavalry’s finally here! Only too late, as usual!”**

A new voice sounded from the elevator. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!” William turned to see Milly.

Tamiya still hugged her knees to her chest. “Be careful, Milly! He disintegrated the other William just by pushing a button!”

He smiled, somewhat unbothered by Tamiya ratting him out.

 

Yumi sat on her feet and then stood, looking up as Aelita, Ulrich, and Cassidy came out. Then Odd came out. “What did you do to my scanner?!” the wildcard demanded as the geisha warrior stood by the samurai.

“No time for small talk,” Ulrich told him.

Aelita looked to the ceiling. “Jeremie, are you okay? We’re all in the Scanner Room, now.”

“Aelita, creo que Jeremie puede estar abajo en la sala de la supercalculador.”

 

Milly felt a surge of bravery. “It’s nine against one so just give up!”

William then typed on a program, stood up from the chair, gave a chuckle and said, “Boo!” to the smaller girl, causing her to flinch back.

The elevator opened, revealing Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, and Cassidy.

William smirked, pushed the other four back, and kissed Cassidy. She gasped in between his lips, trying to get the others to help. When he finished, he raced to the hatch and leaped down it. Tamiya quivered, and flinched when she saw William. But then she smiled in glee. “A Loko Warrior…” She pointed.

Milly chased to the edge of the hatch. “Go on, run away, go back to where you came from!”

Cassidy staggered around in the lab, completely struck. William never did that in front of _everybody_. She fell unconscious in one corner.

Aelita focused on a different problem. “William set up a delayed virtualization. He’s going back to the network. What’s more, he managed to cut the cooling system.” She typed on the program. Slowly, the redness of the cooling system went blue. “But I managed to stop the process in time.”

 

Later, Jeremie had been carried to his chair. He sat with a smile on his face. Tamiya had her camera rolling. “How long have you been fighting against XANA?” Milly asked.

“We began about two years ago, although Cassidy thinks that we’ve been fighting for four years.”

“Eso es porque mis visiones me dijeron que sí. No estoy mintiendo.” Cassidy then shuddered. “Yo voy a estar pensando de ese beso durante mucha semanas.”

“Easy, Cat Girl…” Odd soothed. “I’m sure we could make a date.”

“And does this happen a lot?” Tamiya asked.

Odd then smiled, losing his smoothness. “Are you kidding?” The reporter holding the camera pointed it to him. “It happens all the time! We fight XANA almost every day!”

“Y a veces algunos ataques no ocurren. No sé lo que es.”

Milly scribbled all the responses on her notepad. “Wow! This has gotta be the best scoop we’ve ever had!”

Tamiya refocused the camera on Jeremie as he said, “Hold on a sec, let me tell you one last secret!”

Everyone but Cassidy smiled.

Milly smiled. This was excellent. “Oh great, let’s hear it!”

Jeremie had the biggest smile of all. “The reason you’re not gonna remember any of this is…Return to the Past, NOW!” He pressed a button, going out of focus of the camera. A white bubble gently engulfed the world.

 

“I know what you’re thinking. But even though it is really tempting, I won’t do it again,” Odd smiled as he ate his orange.

“Sí, por favor, no lo hagas.”

“A wise decision, Odd. Especially since Mr. Hated’s clone is into imitating your stunts,” Jeremie said. “We sure don’t wanna draw any attention to him. And in the meantime, I’ll try to create a new upgrading program.”

Aelita looked at him. “Are you sure you wanna erase the old one? The replica did fight for you against the real Mr. Hated.”

“Deseaba que no se borran ante que…” Cassidy shuddered. “Incluso yo no estaba preparada para ese movimiento. Él no lo ha hecho la última vez que atacó de esa manera, ni siquiera a Yumi, y yo ni siquiera sé lo que significa eso exactamente.”

Odd looked at her. “You’ve been getting those types of vibes a lot.”

“Yes, I know, but…um…actually, when I created it, I used some pre-existing programs that were already in the Supercomputer. They’ve been created by Franz Hopper. I did it to speed things up, but—I think they might have been some of the same ones that developed the personality of…” He tapped his potatoes with the back of his fork, “…XANA.”

Odd’s tone was berating. “Oh, nice one, Frank-Einstein. ’Better find Mr. Hated ASAP or we’ll have a XANAstein, Jr., on our hands.”

Yumi’s tone was soft. “Or much worse, a human being.”

Jeremie smirked. “That could never happen. Without that upgrade, Mr. Hated’s clone will never be more than a program.”

Clone William sat at the table, seemingly about to launch his glass in the air. Jeremie gasped. Could it be…? The clone couldn’t have just imitated the stunt without Odd’s help, could he?

However, the clone looked back and smiled, giving Jeremie the hint that it was just a joke. He wasn’t going to do it. It was to get the genius all riled up.

 

The next morning, Odd called Cassidy on her cell phone. “Cassidy, you won the bet. You can speak English now.”

Cassidy stretched as she talked. “That’s good, Odd—ugh—I wasn’t sure if I was going to last.”

“You get to choose the movie for our date tomorrow.”

“Cool.”

**A/N: And there we have it. We will all breathe easily now that the chapter is over. As a treat, this episode and Distant Memory is going to be a double gift. Two episodes in one sitting. I hope everyone has the patience.**

**A/N’s Translator: WHY!!!!! I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN. NEVER! MY HANDS ARE HURTING AND MY BRAIN IS HURTING FROM ALL THE TRANSLATIONS!**

**A/N: Just relax. What I have planned next, and I’ll ask after doing Hard Luck, is going to be easy compared to this. There is going to be little to no Spanish, and you can think easily. *pats miguemely’s head***

**A/N’s Translator: ‘Little to no Spanish’….yeah huh…**

**A/N: Like one or two phrases, but nothing massive like what we did here. It’s going to be different. Trust in me.**

**A/N’s Translator: Sure…Oh and heads up. If you don’t know Spanish, Google Translate the phrases. I am NOT providing a translation key. *walks out the front door***

**A/N: Okay, fine.**


	59. It's all a Distant Memory to me

**Well, whatever happened is all distant to me.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko.**

**I do own Cassidy.**

**-In Aelita’s dream/memory-**

“Did you see, Mommy?” Aelita, at the age of five, called over her shoulder.

“Don’t go too far, sweetheart,” Antea cautioned. It was Aelita making her first snowman.

She kept rolling the first snowball.

“Well done, my angel,” Franz complimented, eliciting a laugh from his daughter.

Husband and wife were smiling, happy to be together and happy to be a family.

But then something went horribly wrong.

A low howl blared from the woods around Aelita, and she saw a wolf pad out from the trees. “Mommy! Daddy!”

She backed away from it, turned around, and saw two men in black suits. Her eyes widened. “NO!”

“Aelita! Aelita!” Antea cried as she was taken away.

The chase was on. Aelita ran after the black van carrying her mother off to parts unknown. All the while, they kept calling for each other desperately.

Tears befell Aelita’s eyes as she tried to keep up. She kept running until she tripped and fell in the snow.

By then, the van was long gone, and the wolf vanished into the shadows…

**-In reality-**

Aelita, now about thirteen to fourteen years old, wiped her teary eyes on her blanket in her Kadic dormitory as she woke up, turning over in the covers.

Cassidy gasped and woke up, as well, the thirty-seventh nightmare having reared its ugly head once again.

“Aw, man!” She growled and smacked her iPod. “Even soothing music didn’t have any effect. I played Lullaby all night!”

“These nightmares you have are very annoying,” Aelita, now recovered from her nightmare, said.

She sighed. “I know.”

**-Near Kadic’s gates-**

“What? You two are still having nightmares?” Yumi asked.

“Well, yeah. Cassidy’s is still trying to clear. For me, they keep coming back every now and then. What’s more, they’re always the same. But don’t worry, Jeremie, I’m used to mine,” Aelita explained.

“No, Aelita. It’s not you two’s nightmares I’m worried about.” He looked off to the side.

“I keep telling you, Jeremie. I’ll be able to defend Aelita on Lyoko, plus Yumi’s not too far away…” Cassidy said.

“So there’s no need to worry,” Aelita finished.

“I don’t care about Lyoko and XANA. I just don’t like leaving you two here all alone! I’m going to tell my dad I’m staying here,” Jeremie had a suitcase in his hand.

“You are not!” Cassidy was the first to say something.

“You should spend time with your families,” Aelita folded her arms across her chest.

“And thanks to the round-trip tickets getting torn up, I have no way to return home,” the psychic shook her head. “I’m stuck here at Kadic.”

“For me, it’s—it’s not the same thing,” the pink-haired girl sighed.

Yumi shifted her eyes to look at the unfortunate girls.

“At holiday time, my father gets even more stressed-out than ever, which makes my mom hysterical. I think I’d rather stay here,” Ulrich sighed.

Odd had the same thought. “Yeah, me too. My sisters drive me nuts. Last year they locked me in the bathroom all night just because they thought it was funny.”

Yumi looked to him. “They did? But—that’s even worse than my kid brother. I thought that they were older than you, Odd.”

“They are, and a lot bigger than me, too. That’s my problem.” He sighed.  _Here goes another lock-up Christmas._

“You know, Odd, I think I may have a trick in mind.” A spark flitted across the psychic’s eyes.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Lock-up surprise!” she chuckled.

“What does that mean?”

“Your bathroom, does it have a window, by any chance?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Simple: jump out the window, go around to the front door, and freak them out. I may be the oldest in my family but nothing warms my heart than helping you, Odd.”

Odd finally got the idea. “Oh…” He smiled mischievously.  _They’ll be so surprised._

“That they will,” she winked at her friend.

The gang had a little laugh until Aelita said, “Hey, Ulrich, isn’t that your dad’s car over there?”

They looked off and saw a strict-looking man with dark brown hair, dark eyes, still wearing the same yellow business suit over a white shirt with a dark red tie.

Inside the car was a brunette woman with kind eyes waving. She was wearing a yellow button-down blouse with a burgundy coat over it.

“Well the show must go on. See you soon, everybody,” Ulrich looked back at his friends.

“May the force be with you,” Odd patted his friends shoulder.

Ulrich patted Jeremie’s shoulder next. “See ya,” the latter smiled.

“Good luck, Ulrich,” Cassidy showed her friend a look of sympathy.

“It can’t be all that long,” Yumi said.

“Try and have some fun,” Aelita encouraged.

A yellow car drove up.

“There’s my father.” Jeremie looked back at Aelita. “Aelita, are you sure that you two…”

“Go on, now. Hurry up. I won’t be alone for the holidays. I’ve got Kiwi and Cassidy for company.” Aelita put on a sunny smile.

“Okay, good-bye for now,” he walked away from them.

“Oh, and speaking of Kiwi, you two, don’t feed him any cheese at all. It gives him gas. And that’s more powerful than your energy fields, Aelita,” Odd gave his little tidbit.

Aelita and Cassidy chuckled. “Thanks for the tip.”

Soon Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich parted from the three girls.

Jeremie saw his father and said, “Hi, Dad!”

Odd walked to the airport. “So long.”

As soon as he was in the car, Ulrich’s dad got in and pulled out of the drive, taking a right turn.

**-With Ulrich and his father-**

“I see you’re still hanging around with that gang of…good-for-nothings,” Mr. Stern scolded after a long silence.

Ulrich put his sarcasm forward. “And I see you forgot your happy pill again.”

Mrs. Stern looked in the backseat. “Ulrich…”

**-With Jeremie and his father-**

“Your friends seem very nice, Jeremie,” Mr. Belpois smiled warmly.

“Um…yeah, I like them a lot. They’re my good buddies.”

“That girl with the pink hair, is that Aelita, the one you’re always talking about? She’s very pretty. And I get the impression she likes you. That other girl with the brown hair, is that Cassidy, the one with the glasses? She’s also pretty, but she looks lonely this year.”

Jeremie blushed at the Aelita part.

**-Back to Aelita, Yumi, and Cassidy-**

“Well, I better go. I promised my mom I help her clean up,” Yumi went out of Kadic’s gates.

“Okay, yeah, see you, Yumi,” the pink-haired girl smiled.

“Aelita, Cassidy, are you two sure you don’t want to spend the holidays with us? I’ll call my parents and tell them…”

“No, we’ll just be in the way. Anyway, I need a little time alone,” Aelita sighed.

Yumi pulled out her phone and showed the number pad. “If any of you need anything, you know my number.”

“Okay. Have a nice holiday,” Aelita smiled.

“We’ll fight XANA more next year,” Cassidy gave her signature.

Yumi parted to go home.

The two frowned, downcast and turned to go to their dorm. Their walk was silent as they approached the door. Aelita opened it and motioned for her roommate to go in, but she shook her head. “You go in, Aelita. I can wait to go in.”

Aelita went in first, and Cassidy followed.

They went up to their dorm. Kiwi was sleeping on Aelita’s bed. The two smiled as the two took turns rubbing the doggie’s stomach (Cassidy insisted Aelita go first). Kiwi’s leg twitched as if happy. Cassidy giggled at the sight. “Kiwi you remind me of my dog back home. Too bad, he’s bigger than you are. You are so cute.”

_Thank you, Cassidy._

Cassidy’s eyes sparked.

“Kiwi told you something,” Aelita knew the story.

“Just a thank you was all.”

As soon as Cassidy was knitting a textured afghan, Aelita picked up Mister Pück and rubbed his cheek.

**-Flashback-**

_"Oh, he's so cute! What should I call him?" Aelita asked her mom and dad. She was in a beautiful red Christmas dress._

_"What about Mister Pück? It means goblin," Franz told her._

_"Do you like him?" Antea (who also had pink hair) asked._

_She hugged her mother. "Thank you, Mommy."_

**-Back to Reality-**

Aelita squeezed her eyes tightly, rubbing Mister Pück’s cheek. That was the last happy memory of her and her family, before the Men in Black turned things dark. It wasn’t fair! All her friends had families to go to for the holidays. Cassidy was required to stay in Kadic because William tore up the double round-trip tickets.

She sighed forlornly and lowered her hands, keeping her sleeping buddy in her fingers.

Cassidy purled two stitches and sighed. William tore up more than the tickets. Her heart was trying to recover.

**-Flashback-**

_“William, why did you kiss me in Sector 5?” she asked._

_William looked around the Ice Sector. “Because I— **GAH!”**_

_“WILLIAM!” Cassidy’s eyes flashed in fearfulness._

**_“Cassidy,_ ** _get out **of here,”**  William’s voice was interchanging with voices that sounded of the Legion and his regular tone._

_“William, answer me! Why did you kiss me? Do it quickly!” She really wanted the answer so much her tail was shaking._

**_“RUN!”_ **

_“No,” she squeaked. She nearly had his answer. She was so dang close._

_He kicked her in the stomach…_

**-End first Flashback; begin second flashback-**

_Kissidy (Cassidy with Kiwi infused inside her) aimed William’s zabanto at his neck. According to Kiwi, this was the last time that he would do this to her._

_William grasped at a tube in Cassidy’s sash and worked it into a gun. The color of the tube turned black, and one side showed a red XANA sign._

_“It’s your choice,” he whispered as XANA allowed his voice to go normal._

_Kissidy growled. “What…did you…say?”_

_“It’s your choice,” he purred._

_The point of his zabanto was dangerously close to stabbing his neck._

_“It’s your choice or mine, **Cat Girl**. **”**_

_It was as if the bigger sword reversed the blade as it fell backward._

_Kissidy stared at him with wide eyes. No one taught William that._

**-End second flashback-**

Cassidy gave a sharp nose sigh.

“Thinking of the day you didn’t get an answer from William?” Aelita rubbed her friend’s arm.

“Yeah. I nearly had the answer!” Cassidy tossed her knitting aside, poking the needles in the yarn ball first. “Just a few seconds more, but XANA  _of all people_ —or should I say viruses—just _had_  to ruin it!”

Aelita didn’t know what to say.

“Of course, I’m not angry at you, Aelita. I just don’t like it that XANA ruined a perfectly good moment. I also hate that XANA knows my nickname, too.”

“We’ll make William pay someday.”

**‑With Jeremie and his father‑**

Jeremie’s father started to whistle a ditty when he noticed his son wasn’t joining in. “You’re very quiet, son. Is anything wrong?”

Jeremie hid part of his teeth. “Uh, no. It’s nothing. I was just thinking of something else.”

“Ah…hmm…” Mr. Belpois smiled.

**-With Ulrich and his father-**

"You disappointed me as usual again Ulrich. I thought after the talk we had last month, you would try at least to make some kind of effort. But instead, there's been no improvement at all. Plus all of those unexcused absences,” Mr. Stern growled. Ulrich watched a little girl in the next car making faces, and laughed.  
"And you find that amusing?" he cocked his brow. Ulrich regretted laughing at the wrong time.   
- **Back at School-**

Aelita read her Viking Myths and Legends book and Cassidy was knitting again, when the computer turned on and a soft and mellifluous melody played on the speakers. It was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Aelita put down her book and Cassidy knitted the final two stitches.

They looked at the screen.

Aelita flashed back to when her father played it. It was beautiful.

The two exchanged confused looks when a chat room popped on the screen.

Aelita pressed a key and the music turned off.

The top picture showed her father when he was on earth.

Franz: Aelita.

“Daddy? Where are you?” Aelita asked as she typed it out.

The response came up.

“‘Expecting you two here on Lyoko’? You’re not on the network?” She kept typing.

Suddenly the screen went purple and started to fizz.

“Rats! It bugged up.” She turned and snapped her fingers.

Cassidy looked to her roommate. “If it says two, I think it means I should come, too.”

Aelita nodded as they walked out of the room.

**-To Yumi’s place-**

“Yumi, could you please give me a hand in here?” Yumi’s mom asked her.

“As soon as I’m finished calling my friends,” she pressed a couple buttons.

Cho came in with a broom. “Your phone calls can wait! I need you to help me right now. If not, I’ll never finish the housework in time!”

“But, Mom, you’ve got a whole week to do it!”

“Yes, and as usual, your father’s not going to lift a finger so a week may not be enough.”

Takeo looked over his newspaper. “Huh, what did I do this time?”

Yumi groaned and walked in her mom’s direction.

**-At the Factory-**

Aelita and Cassidy made it into the lab. The pink-haired girl sat in the hot seat.

“‘There isn’t much time,’” Aelita read, then typed, “Not much time for what?” She got an answer. “‘Here are the coordinates. See you in a minute, honey’?” Her voice trailed off.

**-Flashback-**

_Aelita and Franz were in the scanner room. "See you in a minute, honey."_

_"See you in a minute, Daddy!" Aelita said._

_The scanner doors closed._

**-End Flashback-**

Aelita sighed and started up a delayed virtualization for both her and Cassidy.

The two climbed down the ladder to beat the time limit and got into the scanners.

The doors closed.

As Cassidy’s scanner doors closed, the girl had a burning, twisting feeling in her gut. “Calm the heck down, gut!”

Soon, the two were sent to Lyoko’s Ice Sector.

The girls took a little look around until they spotted something. It looked like a light-yellowish dome in the middle of the darkish sector.

“What’s that thing?” Aelita whispered. “A simulation bubble?”

“I think so.”

Aelita and Cassidy raced for the bubble and slowed down near what they thought was the entrance. All the while, the latter girl’s virtual gut twisted even more.

When they entered, they dropped into…

 _Snow?_  Cassidy’s thoughts were hazy.

Aelita looked around. It was her first earth home. Even the chimneystack was billowing smoke.

“How can this be?” she whispered.

“And how can I see what you are,” Cassidy whispered to her roommate and friend.

“I don’t know.”

The psychic looked on her pink shirt where the sash was. “I tell you guys that I don’t knit on Lyoko.” She pulled out two knitting needles from what would have been the first weapon hold and a skein of yarn from the other.

The two walked to the entrance. Inside the same song played again. The living room was just as Aelita remembered. Small wood logs stayed near the fireplace. The tops of the drawers each had books, pictures, or plants on them. Pictures hung on the walls.

The music stopped and a gray-haired man with heavy round glasses and a greenish sweater looked at the two.

Aelita recognized him immediately. “Daddy?”

Franz held her when she flew into his arms. “Aelita, we have so much catching up to do, and so little time.”

Tears fell down Aelita’s face. “I thought you were lost on the network.”

“Lost, no, dear. When XANA destroyed Lyoko, I managed to escape. I have information to give you and your friend. But first, I wanted so much to hold you in my arms.”

She pulled away from him. “But how did you…?”

“I had to create the simulation bubble so I could finally…”

Cassidy’s ribs burned with eerie suspicion. Something wasn’t right.

“This is fantastic. Everything is just the same!” Aelita smiled, tears gone.

“Yes, though it will allow us to do many things, my dear.”

Cassidy wasn’t sure.  _OK, something’s not right near the unforgettable Alamo. Why include me into this?_

“Like spending an evening together at last.”

“If you don’t need me, I could leave, Mr. Hopper,” the psychic played the shy card.

“No, no. I just wanted Aelita to bring you along with her. I had a feeling you would be alone this year.”

Suspicions constitutionally confirmed Cassidy nodded.  _There is no way Franz would know that I would be alone. I have a bad feeling about this._

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi walked into her room with her phone to her ear. “Aelita, come on! Pick up, will you?” Getting no response, she tried Cassidy’s number. “Come on, Cassidy! Pick up, will you?”

Suddenly Hiroki jumped out from behind the dresser with a porcelain doll on top, scaring Yumi for a second.

“Hey! What are you doing in here? Get out!” She covered her phone with both her hands.

“Calling Ulrich or Cassidy?” He teased.

“Mind your own business! Do I ask you about Milly Solovieff or Johnny?”

Hiroki blushed and charged out of the room with a growl, shutting the door behind him.

Satisfied, Yumi typed in a third number. “Hello Jeremie?”

**-With Jeremie and his father-**

“For how long of a time?” Jeremie asked as his father stopped at a red light. “Their phone batteries might be dead, that’s all. Think you could go over there and check it out? Keep me posted, okay?” He hung up and turned to his father. “Uh…Dad, I…um…forgot my laptop back at the dorm and I um…”

His father didn’t need anything else as he did a legal U-Turn. “I get the idea, Jeremie. Your laptop wouldn’t have pink hair by any chance, would it? Or brown hair, either?”

“Huh?”

“You know, I can understand that. I was in love once and had friends, too.”

“You were in love? With who?” Jeremie couldn’t help be curious.

“Who else? With your mother.”

**-With Ulrich and familia-**

“Oh, this traffic’s horrible!” Mr. Stern honked his horn at the traffic jam.

“Getting all tense won’t make us go any faster, dear.” Mrs. Stern flipped through her magazine.

Ulrich’s phone rang. “That you, Jeremie.” There was a small pause. “You sure? You’re right. Something must be up. Okay, I’ll let them know and we’ll meet you-know-where. Anything is more fun than this!”

He shouldered his bag, unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and got out.

“ULRICH! Where are you going?” Mr. Stern asked.

“To get a little air, to stretch my legs. Besides, I’ll get there much faster if I walk, see ya.” He shut the door, edged out of the cars and raced when he was on the sidewalk. He got on the phone. “Odd, Cassidy and Aelita aren’t answering their phones. Meet us at the factory.”

**-With Odd-**

“Okay. Be right there, as soon as I tell my parents.” He hung up with Ulrich.

“Well, are you flying today or not?” said the head of security.

Odd got on the phone again. “Just a second.” When he got an answer he said, “Hello, Adele? It’s Odd. Huh…? Oh, sorry, Pauline. Hey, listen. Do you think you can ask Elizabeth to tell Marie to say to Louise that she should let Mom and Dad know I missed my flight?” There was a pause and then… “Huh? What do you mean tell them myself? Hello?”

He groaned when he had no answer, and then grabbed his bag. “Okay, change of plan. Nothing like sibling loyalty.”

He walked away from the airport line.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi knocked on the door, and opened it to find Kiwi still snoozing on Aelita’s bed.

“Aelita? Cassidy?”

She shut the door and looked at the computer screen, still fizzing.

“‘Expecting you two here on Lyoko?’” That didn’t sit right with Yumi as she left the room.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

“No, as long as XANA hasn’t been defeated, I can’t materialize myself. But you, however, should be able to free your young friend. What’s his name again?” Franz looked to Aelita and Cassidy.

“William,” Aelita said.

“Yes, of course. I’m going to send a program to Jeremie via the supercomputer. By the way, how’s the battle against XANA progressing?”

“Tracking him down in the digital sea,” Cassidy started.

“Thanks to our new vehicle the Skidbladnir.” Aelita did a circular motion with one of her fingers.

Franz took a moment to remember, deepening the increasing, eerie suspicion in Cassidy’s heart.

“Skidbladnir?” He chuckled. “What a strange name.”

“But you know that name. It’s in the book of Viking Legends that you used to read to me before I went to sleep,” Aelita reminded.

Finally, a memory seemed to click in Franz’s mind. “Yes, of course, the Skidbladnir. How could I forget?”

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie’s dad pulled up to a stop next to Kadic. Jeremie jumped out of the front seat. “Thanks Dad.”

As he raced through Kadic’s gates, he saw Yumi run across the campus. “Yumi!”

Confused, she turned around. “Hurry, Jeremie. Cassidy and Aelita virtualized themselves onto Lyoko.”

“What? But why did they do that?” he didn’t understand.

“Aelita’s father asked them to.”

Suspicion crossed his features.

**-Back to Cassidy and Aelita-**

Suspicion clicked with Aelita.

“Is something wrong, my precious?” Franz asked.

 _I think we overstayed our welcome, XANA!_  Then Cassidy’s thoughts made her heart give a jolt. _It’s XANA? Jeepers, my powers must be on the fritz._

“Why did you ask us to go to Lyoko, Daddy?” Aelita looked to her father.

“Because I wanted to see you. It’s been a long time.”

She turned her head to look at him. “It’s dangerous. XANA could attack us at any time.”

“Not as long as I’m with you.”

Something struck Aelita’s fancy. “You know, when I said everything here was the same as I remembered it, I meant it.”

A sense of urgency called Cassidy to attention. “Um…” she whispered to Aelita. “…n-not trying to be a raincloud on your parade but uh…I think it’s time to go.”

“I’m glad you like it. I wanted it to feel like it was your home,  _our_  home.”

“It’s true. Everything’s here. Nothing’s missing, except for one little thing.”

“Oh, really? What’s that?”

Aelita smiled. “My mother.”

“Her mother,” Cassidy said at the same time.

Franz looked to them for a moment. “But…”

Aelita knew that she was right.

“You remember, dear. Your mother disappeared.”

“Yes, and I want to see her again more than anything else in the world, and you know that. You’ve always known. And since you are a perfectionist, you would’ve recreated her here in the simulation bubble. That is, unless you weren’t really my father!” Aelita made the click really fast.

“Aelita, Cassidy!”

“Stay away from me, XANA!” Aelita dragged Cassidy away and put a hand up as if to ward him away.

He started to fizz as the two opened a door. A moment later, the two were held up by their wrists.

“William?”  _Okay, powers_ definitely _need a tune-up,_  Cassidy thought.

**“Hello, Cassidy and Aelita.”**

**-At the lab-**

The elevator opened and Jeremie walked to his seat. “Something’s fishy.”

“What if it  _was_  Hopper who contacted Aelita and Cassidy?”

“XANA’s pulled this on us before. I don’t think Hopper would risk this with his own daughter. Plus, I doubt that he even knows Cassidy.” He typed on the keys to find his friends. “Aelita and Cassidy are somewhere in the Ice Sector.” He stopped suddenly. “Huh? In a simulation bubble?”

“They’re in what?”

“A copy of the real world. A sort of ghost channel. Aelita and Cassidy have fallen into a trap. Get ready, you are going in right now!”

Yumi pressed the button and the doors closed.

**-Meanwhile-**

Aelita and Cassidy struggled in William’s grip.  **“Better give up, ladies. You can’t beat me!”**

“That’s what you think,” Aelita pulled her hand out of his hand.

Cassidy smirked as she hit William in the place where it should never be kicked, freeing her immediately.

The two girls ran off.

William growled and looked to XANA-Franz.  **“What are you waiting for? Go after them!”**

**-With Yumi-**

_“Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Yumi. Virtualization.”_

Yumi was sent to the Ice Sector as planned.

“Jeremie. I didn’t land inside the bubble.”

_“I know. I can’t virtualize you directly inside of it. You’ll have to find your own way in.”_

“Any idea how?” Yumi started racing to the bubble.

_“Not really, but if you ask me, XANA’s probably screening his guests.”_

Laser fire took hold and she took out her fans. “For sure. He left a couple of bouncers at the door.”

Yumi defended herself until she hid behind an ice floe.

**-Back to Aelita and Cassidy-**

Aelita and Cassidy raced away from the man who was not Franz Hopper.

Then the specter began to morph into two wolves.

William kept at the chase.

**-With Yumi outside-**

Yumi hid behind an ice floe. The lasers were never a bother with her. She ran to the other side and threw her fans at the Tarantulas. But one ducked and resumed firing. She caught her fans but got hit in the stomach.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

“Be careful, Yumi. That’s twenty life points you just lost.” Jeremie turned his head to the sound of the elevator.

Ulrich and Odd were there with their luggage.

“Perfect timing you two, head straight for the scanner room. Yumi, Cassidy, and Aelita are in big trouble.”

Ulrich folded his arms across his chest. “Sure, but how about a little rundown.”

“I’ll fill you in later. Now, get going,” Jeremie ordered.

The samurai boy was confused. That wasn’t the type of answer he was expecting. “Huh?”

Odd smiled and pressed the button. He was raring for a little last Lyoko adventure before Christmas and the New Year.

**-With Yumi-**

Yumi hid behind the glacier.

**-With Aelita, Cassidy, the two wolves, and William-**

Aelita and Cassidy kept running when the two wolves jumped over them and stopped them.

Aelita’s eyes widened at them. It reminded her of that dreadful day.

William walked forward toward them.  **“Impossible to escape. This bubble is you girls’ prison.”**

Aelita and Cassidy backed up. Suddenly, the girl had an idea. Using her knitting supplies and a barrage of knit and purl stitches, she knitted something and fitted it on him, thanking God that Lyoko multiplied her knitting speed.

William looked down and saw that he was in a tutu—a  _pink_  tutu.

He tried to rip it off but the psychic girl had a hold on a long line of yarn.

**-The boys are here-**

_“Virtualization,”_  Jeremie said.

Ulrich and Odd landed onto the ice. Odd started up his arrows while Ulrich deflected lasers.

Suddenly the former boy ran around to the other side of the glacier.

Ulrich took the hint. “Super Sprint.” He ran to meet up with Odd and Yumi.

“Good to see you again. How’s your vacation?” Yumi asked.

“Short.” Ulrich put away his two katanas in his four-katana backpack. “Good to be back, though.”

“Where are the girls?” Odd asked.

“Somewhere inside that bubble thing.” She pointed to the bubble.

“They always got to be different, don’t they?” Odd sighed, and then ran around the ice. “LASER ARROW!” He got one in the nose.

**-Back to the girls and the tutu-wearing William-**

William smiled, but was a bit uncomfortable wearing the tutu.  **“Give up, girls.”**

Suddenly Aelita and Cassidy’s backs hit an invisible wall.

“Alright,” Aelita smiled. “You win, William.” She kneeled in front of the “wall” and sang her best note.

The environment exploded.

**“NO!”**

The bubble broke apart and Aelita and Cassidy looked around the ice floe. The former looked at William. He was still wearing the tutu. She looked to Cassidy. She was still holding the line.

Something sparked in Aelita’s eyes—an idea of sorts. Setting her power on photo, she looked at William and blinked.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie was typing on the programs when he saw a small bar come across his screen. “Huh? What’s all this?”

The bar expanded to become a window.

A smile spread across the genius’s face and he laughed. “That is hilarious.”

William in his tutu.

**-Back to the action-**

William scratched at the tutu.  **“Bloks, get rid of this.”**

With two shots, the Bloks got rid of the embarrassing garment.

Then everything resumed.

 **“It doesn’t matter. You always lose no matter what, Aelita and Cassidy.”**  William drew his zabanto.

“Not yet.” Aelita charged an energy field.

The other girl suddenly saw it. “Oh, no! Aelita!”

**-Back to Ulrich-**

Ulrich super sprinted across the ice. “Impact!” He stabbed the last Tarantula and jumped off.

**-Back to Jeremie-**

Something happened with the screen Jeremie was using. “Huh?”

**-Back to the fighting three-**

_“The simulation bubble’s disappeared. Go and help Aelita and Cassidy. Step on it!”_

“Okay, Einstein, could you send us some taxis?” Odd asked.

_“Coming up.”_

All three vehicles arrived in a cinch. Odd and Ulrich hopped on the OverBoard and OverBike respectfully. Yumi raced for her vehicle but something devirtualized her.

“A Blok!” Ulrich noticed.

**-Into the Scanner Room-**

Yumi’s scanner opened. “What was it, Jeremie?”

_“A Blok.”_

She groaned. That wasn’t very good.

**-Back to the action-**

The Blok kept firing at the two boys.

“Guess we better unblock the situation!” Odd said.

Ulrich kept riding his OverBike. “The first priority is getting Aelita and Cassidy back.”

“Here we go.”

Aelita and Cassidy, meanwhile, watched the cavalry arrive. William did too.

 **“Manta!”**  he ordered.

The black creature came up from under the ice. Its master pointed to where the cavalry. **“Attack!”**

It glided over to Odd and Ulrich and attacked.

Ulrich looked up. “Flying Manta, watch out!” He warned Odd as they flew in serpentine to avoid the laser fire.

Aelita and Cassidy were stuck until the latter realized. “My weapons.”

She took her tubes out of her sash and almost thought them to be guns when the lasers went through the holes.

“AHH! Hot! HOT! HOT!” She threw her white-hot weapons to the left.

The tubes rolled until they were teetering over the edge of the digital sea.

Cassidy was about to go over and retrieve them when—KICK—one of the Bloks kicked them over the edge.

“Darn it! The second tube took Jeremie twelve hours on Wednesday,” Cassidy shrieked. She whispered to Aelita. “Aelita, U and A, fast!”

“What?” She looked at Cassidy as though she just said the fastest way to a man’s heart was to be herself and poke a slug one hundred times in one year.

“Up and Away, Aelita, NOW!”

The two flicked a hand over their pendants and started to fly. Aelita and Cassidy were shot down.

 **“You want to leave?”**  William asked.  **“Be my guest.”**

“William, please, don’t do this! Don’t do this, please.” Cassidy choked out. “I did nothing wrong. Please, William, don’t do this!”

The words did not sink in with William.

“William, no.”

The smoke restraints surrounded both girls. The two cried out for help as the two were levitated over the edge.

Yards away, Ulrich zipped by on his OverBike and Odd flew by on his OverBoard, trying to avoid the lasers.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie squeezed his eyes shut. “Aelita, Cassidy, NO!”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Ulrich looked to his right. “They’re too far away, Jeremie. Better bring them in.”

**-Back to Jeremie-**

“I don’t believe it!” Jeremie growled as he typed on the keys.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

William threw his hand down and let his power diminish. Cassidy and Aelita were thrown downward into the digital sea. They made a small splash.

Ulrich stopped his OverBike to see two columns of light shoot up towards the sky. “No!” He revved up his engine and zoomed off.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie paused in his typing. “Oh, no! This can’t be happening! Not Aelita and Cassidy!”

The elevator opened.

“Yumi, Aelita and Cassidy are gone,” Jeremie gave the terrible news.

She paused when that happened and her heart froze.  _This can’t be…not my heroine/friend._

**-With Ulrich and man, is he ever this angry-**

Ulrich unsheathed his sword and drove to William, angered. Odd cocked his arm in fury. “Okay, Two-Timer-Romeo, this is really going to cost you!” They were on a one-way trip to cracking William’s head open like an egg.

Ulrich hopped off his vehicle and threw his sword at him. William deflected the weapon.  **“Super Smoke.”**  He dissolved into the ice. The OverBike went over his smoke and into the digital sea.

The samurai warrior landed and caught his katana as it flew in a boomerang-like pattern back to him.

William emerged from the ice and walked over to the edge of the digital sea with his two Bloks.

“What’s he doing now?” Ulrich sheathed his weapon. “Looks like he’s waiting for something.”

 _“I don’t know. Without Aelita or Cassidy, it’s all over,”_  Jeremie’s despondent voice did not echo across the region.

**-With Jeremie-**

Jeremie finished rubbing his forehead when he saw something on the screen and readjusted his communications device.

**-On the ice region-**

William stood there, motionless.

Odd slowed his speed on the OverBoard. “Einstein, something weird is happening.” He looked at William.

_“Yeah, hang on; I think I get the picture.”_

Suddenly, something emerged from the digital sea. It wasn’t human, per se, but it was something blue and purplish pink. The sphere hovered over the surface of the digital sea.

Ulrich jogged over to the edge to see it.

William raised his hands to the sky.  **“Victory!”**

The sphere rose up slowly.

**-With Jeremie and Yumi-**

Yumi wiped her tears away. “Who—Who is that thing?”

“It’s what I thought. I was right.”

**-With Lyoko-**

The sphere rose higher and higher until it was over William’s head. The two Bloks charged their lasers.

 **“Fire!”**  William ordered and the monsters obeyed.

Ulrich noticed that with each hit, the sphere went farther and farther away from the attackers. “Jeremie, XANA’s trying to destroy a kind of brightly lit bubble. What do we do?”

_“Protect it! That bubble is…Franz Hopper.”_

Franz Hopper came to rest near the next icy plateau.

Ulrich unsheathed two of his katanas and looked up to Odd. “I’ll handle William.”

Odd did a punching move. “Okay. Then I’m going to do a number on that Blok.” He glided on his board and shot at one. It combusted.

William looked behind him and saw Ulrich.

 **“Super Smoke.”**  He went under the samurai and, reemerging, attempted to slice him, but Ulrich dodged.

Forming his swords into an X formation, Ulrich held off William’s next move.

Meanwhile the Blok was trying to get rid of Franz. The bubble looked two times its size, as if holding extra weight. While trying to escape, the orb gently placed two girls onto the ground.

**-Back to the lab-**

“It looks like he dropped some things off,” Yumi wiped her eyes.

Jeremie smiled. “You’re right. He did. They were Aelita and Cassidy!”

She looked to Jeremie, unsure.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Confusion took hold of the Blok but it shot at the orb. Franz was weakening.

Aelita and Cassidy simultaneously started waking up. A hand rubbed the former’s forehead. “Daddy?”

The latter stood up and looked to the one who saved them. “Franz?”

Laser fire kept at the orb. The Dark Manta flew above the orb to prevent any aerial escapes.

Aelita stood up and was about to rush over and help when…

“LASER ARROW!” Odd yelled and hit the Manta.

“Ninja Cat Boy!” Cassidy exclaimed, satisfied to see her friend.

He looked to his two friends. “It’s great to see you again, Princess and Cat Girl.” He took off to try and take care of the Blok.

The orb suddenly ground against the ice.

**-Back to Jeremie and Yumi-**

“Hopper’s losing energy! Take out that Blok. And make it snappy, too!” Jeremie hit the arm of his chair with his fist.

**-Back to Lyoko-**

“We’re doing all we can, Einstein,” Odd distracted the block with his air show.

Ulrich on the other hand, jumped over another slash. Then William caught him across the stomach, devirtualizing him. He looked to see Odd and his OverBoard, gliding and trying to get rid of the Blok. Angered, William threw an energy wave at him.

“ODD!” Cassidy screamed, and then focused her angers on her XANAfied ex and the Blok. “Yo, blockhead!”

It looked to her. A slight squirming sensation took hold of the girl, but she shook it off. “Ven a por ella porque te voy a dar la MUERTE.” She growled heavily. “I’m not kidding you.”

“Energy field,” Aelita fired at the Blok, but missed. It spun around and squirted blue gel at Aelita’s left leg. She pounded at the ice.

Meanwhile, William shouted,  **“Super Smoke.”**

**-Back at the Lab-**

Jeremie saw the lowering bar. “It’s all over.”

**-Back to Lyoko-**

Cassidy growled, not paying attention, when she felt something freeze her right leg about seven feet away from Aelita. “Aw, come on!” She took out her tubes when she paused. “I’m so glad your father saved my weapons.” Then she thought,  _Turn into ice chippers._

As soon as a pick-axe was formed, she tried her work on the ice but saw that it wasn’t working.

William made it to the other side of the chasm. He was ready to strike at Hopper, who slowed down considerably.

“Daddy, you have to get away! Hurry!” Aelita shot an energy field at William, forcing him to the ground.

Franz took the hint and escaped into the digital sea. Cassidy then hit William with a bullet.

But he didn’t disappear. Instead he walked off, making an acute triangle. He contemplated.

Meanwhile, Aelita and Cassidy looked to each other. “What’s going to happen, Cassidy?”

“I don’t know. In my visions book, William just devirtualizes you and that is it. I don’t know what’ll happen here.” She thrashed to get her leg free. “And, I’ve never noticed how strong the ice power of the Blok is.”

Suddenly, William turned. Both girls were worried. Then an energy wave hit the two, devirtualizing them.

William struck the ice with his sword.  **“NO!”**

**-Back in the scanner room-**

Aelita rubbed her eyes and looked up. “Hi.”

“Saying you gave us a scare is an understatement, Princess,” Odd leaned on one side of the scanner, smiling.

“I know someone who’s going to be really happy to see you,” Ulrich turned around. “Let’s go.”

“I hope that this time Einstein gives us the rundown he promised us because I don’t know what’s going on.”

Aelita grabbed their hands and stood up.

Then Cassidy looked up at them. “The digital sea was bad enough the first time.”

“Saying you aided and abetted with Aelita and then gave us a real scare is an understatement, Cat Girl.”

“Yumi’s going to be really glad to see you,” Ulrich smiled then helped Cassidy up.

**-Into the dorms-**

“It’s pretty obvious,” Jeremie explained.

Odd leaned against Kiwi. “There he goes again.”

“You see, when Lyoko was destroyed, Hopper wasn’t spread over the network,” Jeremie addressed the group.

“He managed to escape,” Cassidy murmured as she tried to concentrate on her knitting. “Ugh, I can’t believe I quoted what I said to William when he broke up with me.”

Yumi rubbed her shoulders. “He disappeared on purpose, is that it?”

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “That’s right, to get away from XANA, which is why he’s constantly trying to throw Aelita into the digital sea all the time. He knows that it’s the only way to get Hopper to come out of hiding.”

“I almost felt XANA’s grip on me when I was thrown into the sea. I think he wants to use me in the evilest ways,” Cassidy shivered. “I guess it was luck that Franz rescued me, too.”

“In order to destroy him,” Ulrich understood the situation.

Aelita had downcast eyes. “As long as he’s alive, he’s always going to be a big threat to XANA.”

“And our friend—”

“ _My enemy,_ ” Cassidy used a low growly tone.

“—XANA knows it.”

Odd put Kiwi off to another spot on Aelita’s bed as he sat up. “Well, before we blow XANA away for good, why don’t we give each other our presents, huh?”

Ulrich almost shook his head at the thought. “We said we’d wait until after vacation.”

“Yeah, I know.” He handed Jeremie a magenta-paper wrapped box. “Here, Einstein, this one’s for you. Since XANA made us come back earlier than expected, why wait, right?” He handed Yumi a blue paper wrapped box and Ulrich a red paper wrapped one.

Jeremie squeezed a rubber duck. “That’s cool, Odd. Thanks a lot. But, uh, what am I supposed to do with it.”

Aelita received a fork-spoon combo.

“Nothing at all, that’s what makes it fun, don’t you think?” He ripped open his box, then eyed Ulrich and Yumi. “You’re not opening your presents?”

“No, in Japan, you never open the present in front of the person that gave it to you,” Ulrich shifted his eyes back to Yumi and blushed.

Yumi smiled.

Cassidy gave her round of presents. Everyone received different colored scarves. Then Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich gave their round, until…

“Thank you, Jeremie,” Aelita enjoyed her soft pink scarf and mittens.

Cassidy enjoyed a stuffed horse toy. “Yes, Jeremie, thank you.”

“And that isn’t all, you two. Tonight, you two are coming home with me,” Jeremie announced. “My parents want you two to stay for the holidays.”

Cassidy gasped a little. “Are you sure?”

“But I don’t want to bother them,” Aelita said.

“It’s no bother at all. They’re the ones that insisted. I’ll give you two my room and I’ll sleep in the living room. We have a really comfortable couch,” Jeremie smiled.

“What about XANA?”

“You know, I’m sure XANA could use a vacation, too.” He laughed. Everyone agreed.

Cassidy turned away to pack up.

“What are you thinking about?” He noticed Aelita’s distant look.

“About my father. When he saved us, even in his virtual form, I could feel his presence, like he was holding me in his arms.” She closed her eyes as she remembered.

“I felt that same presence, too, Aelita,” Cassidy grabbed her big black suitcase. “He was telling me that I wasn’t alone.”

The light from the window shone brightly.


	60. Our Luck's Weird

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. Moving on! I hope this will be lucky. And yes, I stole a slight element from “Chaos at Kadic,” an episode that is way into the future.**

**-In Kadic’s Dormitory building-**

Aelita, finally finished with taking her shower, walked to her room. Opening the door, her eyes widened at the mess that befell her half of her quarters. In the midst of the nest of papers, Cassidy sat, briefly flicking through her vision notes. “Which day is this today?” She moaned, abruptly shutting one and placing it on her bed haphazardly, quickly picking another. “I hope Kiwi didn’t chew a page out… I need to make sure I’m up-to-date today.” She smiled and chuckled semi-maniacally. “YES! I’ve got the right journal.”

Aelita smiled briefly at her roommate’s, albeit crazy, joy, and then said, “Well, I hope you don’t mind the mess you’ve made of our room.”

She looked up from stuffing the journal into her pack. “Oops. Sorry, Aelita. I had a vision journal mix-up. I looked at a journal and that freaked me out. I called Jeremie about it, and he said that I already saved Yumi from the Digital Sea. I looked again and saw that we were already past that date.” She then started to pick up her stuff, shuddering a little at the memory that rose up from the ashes. Slowly, the room began to look better. “Now, where did I put _mis zapatos_?”

Aelita pointed at the pink and blue shoes. “There they are.” She smiled. “You seem wound up. Are you afraid Mr. Hated is going to flirt with you today?"

She flipped through her book. “No. Yumi’s going to _take care_ of him today. I’m not going to the location of the Supercomputer today.”

“Is that what your visions are telling you today?” Aelita smiled, slightly in tune to one of her roommate’s favorite songs. She still didn’t know who Pinkie Pie was, but since her computer had bugged when XANA tricked the two of them, she didn’t have internet. Jeremie, who fixed some of the problems, assured that he would return later to restore it and the connection to the Supercomputer.

Cassidy nodded. “Plus I don’t have telekinesis like Yumi does. I’ve checked between missions, but I can’t lift even a pencil with my mind, let alone a speck of dust. And even Jeremie can see I can’t do anything about that. So, no. No telekinesis, even though it could be welcome. I’m just psychic with different fluky powers that come and go between Lyoko and Earth.”

Aelita couldn’t help but giggle.

Cassidy packed her books and pencils. “Curious thing happened to me this morning.” She creased a brow, confused.

“Yes?”

“I fell asleep in my bed last night, and this morning, I woke up just outside our dorm room. I wonder if anyone caught me.” She looked at the door. “Unless Sissi, or XANA of all people, tried and failed to kidnap me last night, I’m not sure what happened.” She shouldered her backpack. The bag hit a mirror with a navy blue handle. The mirror fell off the table, and the glass shattered.

Her eyes widened as she looked at it. “Oh, now I wonder what in the hay I did last night.”

“Isn’t that Ulrich’s mirror?” Aelita asked.

“It is, but…what happened last night? His mirror wasn’t in my room when I went to bed. And—oh, Celestia!”

“Who?”

“I mean…oh, God! I broke a mirror. That’s seven years bad luck. Quick! To my emergency good luck charms!”

“Calm down, Cassidy. I’m sure that everything will be okay.”

Aelita’s words fell on deaf ears. Cassidy whipped out a box with a few charms inside. She stuffed a rococo blue teddy bear into her pocket, put on a feather charm necklace, and then put a small horseshoe in her other pocket. “I’ve got to be prepared. Oh, but Jim might give me four hours of detention.”

“I’m sure he won’t. The only detention you received was a wrongly-received one.”

She headed to the door, sighing. “I hope you’re right, Aelita.” She shakily took the door handle. “Here I go.” Her heart was racing in anticipation as she slowly turned the handle. She opened it and her eyes widened. “J-Jim… It’s a pleasure t-to see you on this fine day. D-did I do anything wrong? Y-you don’t normally v-visit dorms unless there is s-suspicious—” A rough, calloused hand flew to her lips.

“No. No, you and Stones did nothing wrong. Don’t overdo it, McGuire,” Jim said, slightly annoyed by her babbles. “Anyway, the school has received a strange shipment of teddy bears. We checked the postal service, but there is no return address. Would you and Stones like one? We might as well deposit them to anyone who wants one.”

Cassidy nodded, eyes wide from the stench of sweat.

Jim smiled, removed his hand, then picked up a pink bear for Aelita, and a pink and purple bear for Cassidy. After handing them off, he pushed the cart to the next room.

She shut the door to her dorm. “Okay, _that_ —was weird. I thought for sure that I was going to receive detention today.”

“Maybe what you expect for bad luck is turning into good luck.”

“Yeah, and Sissi is going to win an Oscar in 2023,” Cassidy scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”

Her roommate shrugged. “It’s just a suggestion.”

“I think breakfast will be horrible news for me.”

When Cassidy got there, Rosa looked at her. “Sorry, Cassidy.”

She smiled with an air of sympathy around her. “It’s okay. I know we’re out of croissants. I’ll just take the toast.”

Rosa scoffed. “A girl like you?” She then stacked some chocolate chip pancakes on one side of her tray. “Here you go.”

Her eyes widened again. “Rosa, are you sure?”

She smiled. “For a girl as scrawny as Odd Della Robbia, it’s bound to add a few pounds.”

Cassidy gave a slight nose growl, a corner of her mouth in a wince. “I’m not scrawny, soy esbelta.”

“Sorry, Cassidy, but you’ve dropped some weight since Aelita came to Kadic. It seems that your ex-boyfriend over there caused some of the loss. I know that you’ve been eating, but you appeared to have dropped pounds. I had to ask Mr. Delmas for a milkshake machine. In fact,” she added, placing another stack of pancakes on her tray, “you need more to eat.”

She looked down at her tiny tummy. “Well, pity my own back seat.”

“Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Here.” She put a cup of hot chocolate on her tray. “I added some whipped cream and some extra chocolate drizzle.”

“I thought the machine was on the blink.”

“I premade it before it went on the blink. It’s never happened before in all my years working here.”

She joined her friends at the table. Odd started drooling. “Now how did you get so many pancakes?”

Cassidy shrugged. “Apparently, I’ve been losing weight ever since Aelita was materialized for the first time in ten years. And I thought I was just looking at myself weird.”

No one shared a laugh.

“What? Don’t tell me that you’ve been thinking that I’ve been getting more and more weightless since that day,” Cassidy frowned.

Ulrich spoke up, “No, Cassidy; you’re fine. We’re just a bit concerned. You are eating three meals, not asking for any other portion, but you seem to be wearing yourself thin.”

She looked to Odd, wanting to get off the horrid subject with Ulrich. “Are you on the date with Azra today?”

He smiled. “Nope. Remember? I’m helping you get over Mr. Hated.”

“I thought you wanted to learn Turkish.”

“I do, but I’m loyal to you right now.”

She looked up to the ceiling. “Has the world gone and filled itself with tartar sauce and goat cheese today or what?”

“Now that we’ve got the problem out of the way, here’s the plan.” Jeremie wanted to get the plan to his buddies. “You’ve got to return to the military base and destroy XANA’s Supercomputer once and for all. I don’t think it should be too complicated, that is, as long as XANA doesn’t have anything new up his sleeve.”

Cassidy hurriedly started in on her pancakes, seeing Rosa about to pass by. She couldn’t insult the cafeteria worker she saw on a daily basis.

“Slow down, Cassidy!” Yumi exclaimed. “You’re going to choke if you don’t.”

She looked up at her friends. Jeremie and Ulrich dropped their jaws; Aelita had dropped her bite that she was going to eat, and Odd just stared with wide eyes of concern.

“Oops… I just didn’t want to insult Rosa. She did so much today.” She hung her head.

“Just ease up a bit, Cat Girl. Plus you’re not savoring what she gave you,” Odd reminded. “She wants you to enjoy it.”

She took a deep breath and started to slow down. “Sorry…”

On the Desert Sector Replika later that afternoon, Ulrich said, “Walking under a ladder is like asking for bad luck.”

“In Japan, people avoid anything to do with the number 4 because it sounds just like the word for ‘death.’”

Cassidy nodded beside her. “I respect that. That’s why I used more than five colors in your scarf, Yumi.”

“Did you know that the word ‘rabbit’ is bad luck for sailors? So is spilling salt when you’re on a ship,” Aelita smiled.

Odd sighed in annoyance. “And I tell you that the only thing that’ll bring you bad luck is talking to Odd about dumb superstition because all you’ll get is being laughed at!”

“You’re not the one who broke a mirror, Odd,” Cassidy deadpanned.

“You think you’re smart, Odd, but I’ll bet by the end of the day you’ll be crossing streets to avoid black cats,” Ulrich cracked.

 _“Okay, Odd, Cassidy, and Yumi, you guys ready for teleportation?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Ready,” Odd said first.

“Ready,” Yumi said next.

“Estoy lista,” Cassidy smiled.

_“Then here we go. Energize, Yumi. Energize, Odd. Energize, Cassidy.”_

Yumi fizzled and disappeared. Odd and Cassidy waited to flicker and fade but opened their eyes when they didn’t.

“Well, go on!” Odd protested.

In New Mexico, Yumi materialized. She looked around, seeing that Odd and Cassidy were not standing with her. She hid behind a rock formation. “Hey, Jeremie, we’ve got a slight problem. Where are Odd and Cassidy?”

_“They’re still in his NavSkid.”_

Odd looked up to the “roof” of his NavSkid. “I don’t get it. What did we do wrong?”

_“I don’t get it either. The Teleportation failed for the first time.”_

Ulrich turned his head as if he was looking at Odd and Cassidy. “I guess it’s bad luck.”

“Cut the crap, Ulrich. It’s a bug that XANA thought of while we were sleeping,” Cassidy sighed.

“Ulrich! Save your dumb jokes, or you’ll have the bad luck of being forced to eat ten pounds of dry toast.” Odd hit his palm with his fist.

“What do we do now, Jeremie?” Aelita asked. “Do you want me to go?”

_“No. You’ve got plenty to do, dealing with the Replika. The Super-Scan has just picked up an **activated tower**. I’ll send Ulrich.”_

“Just say when,” Ulrich told Jeremie.

_“Energize, Ulrich.”_

Ulrich flickered and vanished from his NavSkid. He landed in New Mexico. He didn’t have time to look around when Yumi called, “Hey, Ulrich!” He looked to his left and came over to her. “Where are Odd and Cassidy?”

“Stuck on Lyoko. Disappointed?”

She thought on it. “For Cassidy, a little bit, but not on Odd. One of the two has really weird luck today. Ready?”

Ulrich looked at the military base. “Ready.”

The two raced off toward the gate.

_“Watch your step. If a tower’s been activated, you can be sure that XANA’s planning to counterattack.”_

In the cockpit, Aelita looked up. “How about giving us the coordinates so that we can deactivate it.”

_“Due west from your present position.”_

Odd pumped a finger in the air. “Let’s go!”

“Yeah!” Cassidy agreed. She knew that today, William was going to get his just desserts. She was not going to get flirted with today! She knew it.

Back in New Mexico, Ulrich and Yumi made it to the gate. “It’s as deserted as ever, huh?”

Yumi rested her foot on a rock. “That’s good news.”

Back on the Replika…

“Here we go,” Aelita said, pressing the keys.

Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita exited the Skid.

_“Here come your vehicles.”_

The OverBoard, the OverWing, and the OverBike materialized. Odd noticed the separation of vehicles. “Jeremie, isn’t Cassidy or Aelita coming on the OverBoard with me?”

“Uh…you know, Odd, seeing how Cassidy’s day has been going up to now, I’d rather you guys travel separately.”

“Oh, you come off it,” Cassidy growled. “My day has been strangely lucky up until now! Don’t think a broken mirror has anything to do with it.”

“You all are such _lameos_. I tell you everything’s cool!” Odd screeched.

Just then, Cassidy and Odd started to fizz and lock up. They gave a pained groan. Aelita lost her “told you so” attitude from earlier to gasp in concern. She turned around to look at them and then pointed. “Did you see that, Jeremie? What’s going on?”

The fizz and freeze stopped as fast as it came. Cassidy’s eyes widened. “I knew it. I knew my good luck was just a fluke.”

Odd crossed his arms over his chest, huffing. This was going to suck.

_“I have no idea. I’ll check it out. You guys get going!”_

Odd hopped on his OverBoard, Aelita took the OverBike,and Cassidy took the OverWing. They made their way passed the outcropped rocky pillars and turned over to the west.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, Yumi and Ulrich walked into the military base. “Freight elevator over there. It will take us downstairs.” Ulrich pointed to the elevator. The boyfriend/girlfriend duo raced towards it, unaware that a camera was beeping and tracking their every movement. Just as Yumi pressed the button, Ulrich said, “By the way, Yumi, I never asked you this. Which monsters do you like fighting least of all?”

“The Kankrelats. I don’t like fighting against big bugs. Bleaugh!” Yumi smiled, glad that her boyfriend had an interesting question to ask.

Ulrich smiled. “Yeah, right. What I hate most are Megatanks. How about the—”

She saw something materialize in front of her eyes. “A Kankrelat.”

Ulrich looked at his girlfriend. “I know, you just said that already.”

She pointed with her fan. “No, I mean, over there! Kankrelats.”

Several roach-like monsters materialized on the spot. Ulrich’s jaw dropped as Yumi unsheathed her fans, poised to strike. One charged up its laser and fired, but she absorbed the blow with her fan, throwing the other to destroy it. The other two advanced onto the two Lyoko Warriors. Yumi caught her fan as the elevator behind them opened. The Kankrelats fired at them, causing Yumi to scream, “HURRY UP!” as they packed themselves into the car. Ulrich elbowed the button, and the door descended, separating the two battling parties.

Yumi panted in relief, rubbing her head. “I wish XANA had sent us a few Krabes.”

Ulrich scowled. “I’d have preferred Hornets.” Then he put his finger in his ear (although he didn’t really have to). “Jeremie, do you read us?”

_“Loud and clear, Ulrich. Anything wrong?”_

“Yeah. We just found out why XANA activated a tower. He’s teleporting Kankrelats our way.”

_“I’m on it. Aelita, Yumi and Ulrich have some visitors at the base. You have to deactivate the tower fast.”_

Aelita nodded. “We’re on it!” She then pointed. “I can see a canyon in the distance.”

“You have good 20/20 vision, Aelita,” Cassidy giggled and then began to freeze and fizz again. She gave a strangled cry of pain.

“Cassidy, are you okay?”

She came out of it. “I think this is getting worse. I have a feeling something is happening somewhere.”

“Is it a vision, Cat Girl?” Odd asked.

“I-I don’t know, but I do know that it’ll start soon. I just don’t know what it is.”

“Let’s just focus on the mission at hand right now. Then we can look into what you are going through, okay, Cassidy?” Aelita soothed.

She nodded.

_“Gotcha, I’ll check the area and see if the tower is there.”_

“It is, Jeremie. I just know it,” Cassidy said. “I checked my vision book before our mission. The tower is there.”

_“See, I told you keeping a vision journal for your powers was beneficial to you. In any case, the tower is in the center of the canyon. Hurry up!”_

“Haste makes waste, you know that, right, Einst—?” she fizzled and faded from her vehicle. She tried to grab the undersides, but she fell to the ground.

“Cassidy?!” Aelita panicked.

She gave a pained groan. “Oh…”

The OverWing glided to rest near the rider.

She shook herself off, then got back on the vehicle. “I-I’m alright—I think.” Cassidy drove off, joining Odd, who had watched in shocked silence.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Cat Girl? You did take a nasty fall.”

“I’m okay. It’s about the same as my legs falling asleep in Mrs. Mayer’s class that one day.”

“Okay.” He then turned to Aelita. “Ya see that? Everything’s cool! Superstition is for lame-os. That’s why it’s called—” He cried out when a laser connected to his shoulder.

“I would have warned you earlier if I didn’t fizz off of the OverWing,” Cassidy sighed.

Aelita gasped and looked behind her. Right away, she saw three Hornets soaring from the sky.

Cassidy smiled. “Hey, it’s our winged walks! I haven’t seen y’all in a long time. I thought that XANA had retired you.”

_“Cut the jokes, Cassidy!”_

Cassidy scowled. “So Odd gets to crack jokes and I don’t? Is it because—OW!” She felt a laser connect to her backside.

“Uh, you were saying?” Aelita cracked at Odd.

He scowled. “I’m okay! Watch this!” He maneuvered his board away from his girl and distracted the Hornets from the ladies. However, Cassidy looked behind her, hearing a sound. “Hm?” She looked back at the Skid, docked to the tower. “I’m going to head back. I hear something and the sound isn’t from a Tarantula or my XANAfied ex-boyfriend. I fear the Skid is in danger.”

“Okay, just be careful,” Odd told her.

She turned to go back to the tower. “Now why would XANA send in a monster when the timing is off? It didn’t sound like a clunk or slight crunches from the sand.” She dismounted Yumi’s vehicle and looked around. “Hm…” She heard it again, a rolling metallic sound—a bowling ball rolling down a lane sound. Eyes wide, Cassidy realized what it was. “A MegaTank, but it wasn’t in my vision books.” She looked and saw it, one of her adversaries. She got out her tubes and turned them into a gun. “XANA, you are stupid at times.”

It opened its shell. Just as it unleashed its massive laser, Cassidy shot a bullet. She devirtualized immediately, and the MegaTank fell apart and combusted.

_“Aelita, Odd, Cassidy just got devirtualized.”_

“She defended the Skid with honor,” Odd smiled.

In the scanner room, Cassidy passed out onto the floor. She hadn’t been devirtualized in such a long time after the fiasco that befell her and Aelita. In her mind, she did what she had to do.

Back on Lyoko, Odd steered his vehicle upward. The Hornets dodged him when… “LASER ARROW!” One arrow hit one of them from behind, disintegrating it. The giant purple cat warrior flew in between the gap, speeding up just enough to be in front again. He met up with Aelita. “Piece of cake!”

Back in New Mexico, the door ascended for Ulrich and Yumi. The two had their weapons drawn, ready for any other surprises that XANA had yet to unleash. “The coast is clear in front of us,” he noted, keeping his katanas drawn.

Suddenly a Kankrelat materialized from behind them. Yumi and Ulrich looked behind them with a gasp. “But not in back of us. Look!”

It charged up its laser and started to advance. Another materialized behind it.

Yumi jumped out of the laser’s way and threw her fan, but the Kankrelat shot it out of the way. Ulrich saw his chance as he jumped, caught the fan, and threw it. It hit the monster and it disappeared. She turned her head to him. “Nice one, Ulrich.” 

Like a hydra, two more Kankrelats materialized in place of their fallen brethren.

The two backed away. “Let’s try to buy some time.”

“Good idea!” Ulrich agreed. Then they raced away and to the right. “Jeremie.”

_“What is it?”_

“Any news? It’s getting rough here!”

_“Hang in there. Aelita and Odd are almost at the tower.”_

Cassidy walked sloppily into the lab, collapsed, crawled to one corner of the area, and fell asleep. She had never experienced such exhaustion before.

Jeremie looked on for a little bit, then went back to his work.

Back on Lyoko, Aelita had an idea. “Let’s do our thing.” She and Odd split ways.

“Here we go,” Odd said.

The Hornets split off, determined to off one of them. Aelita found that the vehicle Cassidy was riding had followed her. She hopped aboard and soared upward. Swooping from side to side, Aelita avoided the Hornet’s laser fire. She then turned behind her and charged up one pink circular… “ENERGY FIELD!” Upon firing, the Hornet surged upward and avoided it. She kept moving forward.

Odd, in the meantime, also had to swerve to avoid his opponent’s laser. He then turned and hovered in midair. He had an idea. He waited until the Hornet was close, then jumped off his vehicle, making it flip upside down. “LASER ARROW!” he cried, letting one loose and grabbing the tail end of his OverBoard.

The arrow hit its mark, causing the monster to combust.

He then got on top of his board again, smiling as he slalomed back and forth. “Who said Cassidy and I were jinxed?” Suddenly he started to fizz and freeze at attention, unable to say anything. Without its rider’s control, the board soared upward in an arch, causing the poor cat-boy to fall onto the hard sand.

Aelita swooped into the scene. “Odd! Odd, are you okay?!”

The Hornet saw its chance and turned to face Odd.

_“Odd, what’s happening? You lost half your life points just now.”_

“It’s that _stupid_ bug again, Jeremie!” Aelita retorted.

Cassidy’s eyes shot open as if someone said something surprising to her. Her lips pursed into a tight grimace, then ripped apart to allow her vocal chords to let out a pained scream. Not like an anguished squeal of grief that befell many a person, but a cry of pain. Her back was in pain.

Jeremie gasped. “Did something happen, Cassidy? HEY!”

“M-My _back_ … I-It’s happening a-again…!” she panted and whimpered, screaming when the pain intensified.

Odd lay motionless on the sector Replika’s sands. The Hornet flew over to him. Aelita banked and swooped around on the OverWing, determined to help her friend.

Suddenly, he began to move his hands to push up, hearing laser fire. “Ooh…what’s going on?” He looked up as it shot at him, making him disappear in a cluster of pixilated dust.

Aelita banged her fist on the air. “No,” she whispered. Then she charged up another “ENERGY FIELD!” and hit her target. “That’ll teach you to zap my friend down.” She looked up to the sky. “Jeremie, I’m heading for the activated tower.” With the vehicle, she zoomed away.

_“Okay, Aelita. Make it fast. Yumi and Ulrich have got a huge, huge bug problem.”_

“And what about the program bug? Do you know what’s causing it?”

_“No, not yet. It might be a virus or some made-in-XANA thing. Whatever it is, we’re not having any luck with it.”_

Odd came out of the scanner and banged his fist on the metal. “There’s no such thing as luck, ya got that?!”

_“Odd! Get up to the lab right now! Cassidy’s having an attack and I can’t stop it.”_

Back in the military base in New Mexico, the three Kankrelats split up to search for the blasted kids. Two took to the corridor to the right while one took the one to the left. Yumi and Ulrich hid in a room where the one that took the left passed by. He watched as it moved into a hallway and pointed to her. She pressed a button and the door closed. “What kind of place is this?”

“That’s exactly what I said the first time I came here, and Cassidy couldn’t speak English so I had no idea what she had to say.” They walked down the stairs.

“It looks like some sort of factory assembly line.”

“Yeah, but what do they assemble here?”

Yumi walked up to an interface and typed on the keys. “We might find that out in here. It looks like a control terminal.”

_“Check it out, Yumi. Any info on XANA’s tactics could come in handy.”_

Ulrich put his finger in his ear again. “What’s going on with the tower, Jeremie?”

_“Aelita should be deactivating any minute now.”_

Back on the Replika, Aelita zoomed into the canyon. Once the tower was deactivated, the Kankrelats would disappear from New Mexico and the bug that plagued Odd and Cassidy would be obliterated. She managed around the pillars with ease. A year of OverWing training had paid off immensely. However, two Hornets were on her trail. She let out a breath and maneuvered her way from left to right, making one crash into the rocky formation. She kept swiveling her vehicle through the difficult region.

Meanwhile, the lone Hornet soared above the rocks and shot its laser. The pink haired girl ducked and looked up. _This Hornet doesn’t know when to quit._ She swooped high and low, left and right. Then, Aelita had an idea. “You’re not going to get off that easily, my friend.” She raised a hand, but then started to fizz. Looking at it in surprise cost her. The vehicle hit a pillar and ground onto the hard sand. Aelita had come off fine, but the OverWing exploded.

Aelita lifted her head, easily shaking the fog of disorientation out of her mind. “Guess I gotta go the rest of the way on foot,” she said in a subdued tone.

She then turned her body to see that her opponent was catching up to her. Avoiding the Hornet’s laser, she rose to her feet quickly and ran to the tower. “Jeremie!”

_“Yes, Aelita, I saw it. The bug seems to be having an effect on you, too. Better deactivate the tower fast before you disappear.”_

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Aelita panted.

_“Ulrich!”_

Ulrich pressed a finger to his ear. “Yeah, I read you.”

_“Aelita can’t deactivate the tower just yet. She’s been affected by Cassarobbia’s bug, too.”_

“HEY! It’s not our bug, okay?!” Odd retorted, holding Cassidy. Her back pain had increased.

Jeremie turned to look at him. “Just my name for it until we find out exactly what’s going on. And I hope Cassidy will be okay, too.”

“It better be, because we’ve got nothing to do with this mess, ya hear? It’s just a question of chance!”

Ulrich smiled on the other end. “Did you say chance? What do you know? You’re not becoming superstitious, are you?” He had a sly edge to his voice.

“I figured it out,” Yumi announced.

He came back to her. “Well?”

“I think it’s an assembly line for motherboards and electronic implants.”

“Electronic implants, but for what?”

“To control those spiders for example.”

Ulrich’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Do you mean those cybernetic creatures in the cyber lab?”

“Exactly what I mean.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Hm…makes sense, but the big question is what XANA is planning to do with all of them.”

“I wish I knew the answer.”

All of a sudden, the screen flashed a white eye of XANA, and the assembly line’s conveyor belt started to move. A Kankrelat trotted from the shadows and another materialized from the top of the stairs. Yumi and Ulrich unsheathed their weapons, tense and ready to fight. One fired lasers in front of Yumi while a third came up on top of the interface, surprising Ulrich. He stabbed it in the eye. “IMPACT!” It vanished. “’guess you’re just like Odd. Not your lucky day.”

Another Kankrelat launched itself at him, but he tucked and rolled out of the way. It jumped onto the conveyor belt, riding on it.

Yumi flipped and threw her fan, making it disappear. Suddenly, a laser connected with her shoulder. Caught off-guard, she fell to the ground on her back, holding the fizzing body part. She looked up at the Kankrelat coming closer when a katana hit it. She rose to her feet and retrieved her boyfriend’s weapon. “Thank you, _anata_.” She threw it to him as he came closer.

He caught it, smiling. If he were more human on Earth, he’d be blushing. He jumped off the conveyor belt as Yumi looked away, smiling. “Anytime.”

_“Ulrich, Yumi, I just located the Supercalculator. Head for the southernmost end of the room.”_

The duo looked behind them to see a doorway. “Okay, we’re on our way,” Ulrich smiled. They jumped over the conveyor and raced for the door. “What about your end? What’s the latest?”

_“Pretty bad news. Mr. Hated just showed up on the Replika.”_

On the Desert Replika, William stomped down on the hard sand, holding his zabanto over his shoulder. He looked up at the Skid, intending to destroy it so Jeremie and his friends wouldn’t visit another Replika again.

_“And if you ask me, it isn’t going to be a friendly visit.”_

Back in New Mexico, Ulrich and Yumi walked down the hall. “Jeremie, we’re coming to the Supercalculator room.” He looked down the lobby. “Down there!” he whispered, and they raced down the next corridor.

_“The Supercalculator will have to wait. First, we’ve gotta solve the Mr. Hated Problem.”_

Ulrich scoffed dryly, “I’d _love_ to. Got any suggestions?”

_“We haven’t any choice. One of you has to be teleported back to keep him from deactivating the Skid tower.”_

“Okay. What do we do, Yumi? Do you want me to go or you?” He hated to say those words, but he knew that Mr. Hated must be stopped.

Yumi thought it over, then smiled. “We can always play for it.”

Ulrich slanted a brow and then turned to show his girlfriend his fist. “Paper, scissors, rock,” they chorused simultaneously. Yumi had paper, Ulrich had scissors.

“Scissors cut paper, don’t they?” Ulrich asked softly.

She let out a soft gasp of disappointment, but then slanted her brows in determination. “Get ready, Mr. Hated!” She put a finger to her ear. “We’re good, Jeremie. _I’m_ the one who’s going.”

_“De-energize, Yumi!”_

Yumi started to fizz and disappear. “Good luck.”

He smiled softly. “You, too.”

Back on the Replika, Yumi reappeared in the double NavSkid, unconscious. _“Yumi, wake up! Mr. Hated’s coming!”_ She jerked awake and looked around.

William walked up to the Skid, determined to deactivate the tower. He held his zabanto on his shoulder.

Yumi de-energized from her NavSkid, ready to fight him.

William walked up to the pillars and saw Yumi.

Since Jeremie gave her a photo of William in his tutu, she scowled but smarted, “Yeah, I know, Pink-Tutu Ex-y, I’m glad to see you, too!” She unleashed her fans and held them at her sides. She noted the growl he unleashed. He wasn’t going to talk to her like the last time. She threw them at him, and he deflected one and dodged another.

At New Mexico, Ulrich opened a door to find the room filled with seven Kankrelats. He shut the door when they started to shoot at him. _So much for thinking this is an easy mission._ “Jeremie, the Supercalculator is infested with Kankrelats over here. What’s holding Aelita up?!” he demanded.

_“She’s just about ready to enter the tower.”_

In the canyon, the Hornet flew past a pillar Aelita hid behind. She lifted her arm, a pink electric orb materializing in her hand and fired her energy field. It hit the beast dead center and she was free. She started to sprint. “Jeremie, I finally got here.”

_“Great! Don’t waste any time.”_

Aelita started to fizz again as she raced to the tower. She looked as her arm disappeared into pixilated dust. “Ah! Jeremie…” She barely got a yard to it when she disappeared entirely from Lyoko.

 _“I don’t_ believe _this! Ulrich, Aelita just got devirtualized. It looks like you’re on your own with the Kankrelats.”_

Ulrich scowled. “Look, I know I’m good, but there are seven of these creeps. I could go down on this, and that’ll blow the whole mission.”

Inside, the Kankrelats trotted to each other.

_“Try to hold out until Yumi finishes her combat.”_

In the lab, Cassidy’s pain just stopped. She looked at Odd weakly. “Odd…”

“Sh…It’s over now, Cat-Girl. Just get some rest,” Odd consoled.

“If she beats Mr. Hated, she can come back and give you some help.”

_“Roger.”_

There was a muted metallic scrape and a hand popped out. Aelita came up from the scanner room. She knew the elevator worked but decided to take the ladder instead.

Back on the Replika, William held his zabanto with both hands and looked around himself. Yumi had hidden somewhere. He then let one hand let go and sauntered into the pillared area, unaware of her a few pillars away. Frustrated after a few feet of walking, he shook his fist in front, growling, and jumped atop one of them, trying to get a vantage point and see her. Cassidy had been gone, so he had to content himself with Yumi. It was a thankless task nowadays, but he knew he was the only one to do it, seeing that he was human.

However, even at the top, he couldn’t pinpoint where she was.

Meanwhile, Yumi hopped up on top of her own pillar. Drawing a fan and throwing it, she was determined to force him off and get rid of him.

He looked, but it was too late. Her fan hit him in the stomach. He looked to see Yumi smiling, and jumped to be on her level, making her gasp. Jumping from pillar to post, he tried to determine which would be his perfect spot to hit her.

However, Yumi was quicker. She unfurled another fan, watching him jump around, and hit him in the stomach mid-jump. He fell to the ground, his zabanto separating from him, landing on his back. Slowly, William rose to a sitting position, then realized, to his horror, that the pillar in front of him was going to crush him. He tried to crawl to his zabanto and run, but it was too late. The support made him into a black and red smoke.

In the lab, Cassidy’s energy shot up. “YOU GO, YUMI!”

Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie flinched. The attack left her weak. There was no way her energy was up that high already.

Yumi turned off her telekinesis, feeling it tire her out from the sheer mass of the pillar.

 _“T-that was great, Yumi…”_ Jeremie said shakily.

“You okay, Jeremie?” Yumi looked up into the sky.

 _“Cassidy had one of her surprise moments. Nothing serious,”_ Odd sounded.

“Ah.”

 _“Get ready for another Teleportation. Ulrich needs your help,”_ Jeremie found his strength.

“Okay,” Yumi said. She was about to jump off the pillar and find her way to the Skid when she looked down. “Ah. No, hold on.” She started to fizz. “I’m all bugged up.” Her body disappeared into a thousand pixels from her feet upward. Before the deletion reached her head, she groaned, “Oh, too late!” and she was gone.

 _“Can’t believe how_ jinxed _we are today.”_

Yumi came out of the scanner. “What _is_ this dumb bug anyhow?”

“That’s exactly what I’m about to find out.” Jeremie kept typing, seeing a window where Odd’s virtual head flashed red. “It’s a mandelbug.”

“A what?!” Odd asked, finally standing beside his friend.

“A bug in the virtualization software and the causes are so complex that its behavior seems totally chaotic. And with no way to tell if the behavior is really chaotic or just seems to be, it’s impossible to differentiate from a bohrbug or a heisenbug.”

Aelita cocked a brow. “Huh?!”

Odd smiled. “Couldn’t be any more clear.”

Jeremie’s voice squeaked. “You mean it?”

He frowned. “No!”

“It’s an extremely unusual problem, and Jeremie doesn’t know how to fix it yet,” she explained.

Cassidy waited for Yumi. She couldn’t wait to give her the greatest hug ever.

“Huh. Why didn’t you say so?” Odd expressed in a subdued voice.

Jeremie saw a red dot on his screen. “Oh, great. That’s all we needed now.”

Back on the Replika, a couple of Tarantulas clunked onto the scene. They rested on their “hind legs” and fired at the Skid from their arms.

In New Mexico, Ulrich sat on the metallic ground holding his knee to his chest.

 _“Ulrich, I bet you want some good news…”_ Jeremie sang.

“Yeah!”

_“Uh sorry, don’t have any. To make a long story short, you’re still on your own, the tower’s still activated, and you’re probably gonna get the bug I can’t fix.”_

“Is that all?” Ulrich asked dryly.

_“No. Uh…you gotta work fast because XANA also sent in some Tarantulas to blow up the Skid.”_

He looked at the door, ticked off. “Great…” He pressed the button and the door opened. “Ready to rumble, guys? Here we go…” All the Kankrelats in the room turned to him. He started running in just as the doors began to close.

The gang watched the action. “Hey, did you see that? Ulrich just knocked out three of them!” Odd said jubilantly.

Jeremie smiled in surprise. “But how did he do that? He’s only got four sabers!”

Aelita trembled in excitement, bringing her hands together. “Incredible! There goes another one!”

Yumi smiled and thought, _That’s my boyfriend._ “He’s on a lucky streak today!”

Odd frowned and cocked a brow as Jeremie looked at him, and then they turned their attention back to the screen. Cassidy giggled as she watched. He was getting those Kankrelats good.

Ulrich swooped into action, slashing at one of them and swiping at the other two, avoiding the lasers. “That’s that!”

_“Nice going! Now get rid of the Supercomputer.”_

Suddenly, his legs wiggled as they stood.

_“Better hurry! You’re fading fast!”_

Ulrich stabbed the Supercomputer with two of his katanas, and then fell to his knees. Pain erupted where his legs disappeared. His whole body fizzed and vanished from New Mexico. The DJ-booth-like complex exploded.

Jeremie observed the screens. “The Replika’s disappearing, too.”

“What about the Skid?” Aelita worried.

Cassidy smiled. “Jeremie has a remote control feature on the Skid. He can make it come home for us.”

Just as she said that Jeremie typed on his keys. “And I can use it for emergencies just like this one.”

The Tarantulas suddenly stopped firing, seeing the Skid detach itself from the tower and moving on its own. Sand by sand and pillar by pillar, the Replika vanished until there was nothing left. The Tarantulas fell into the Digital Sea. The vehicle shot out of the sphere that held the location in and sped away unharmed and unarmed. The sphere itself cracked and light flew from it until it exploded.

Jeremie took off his communicator. “Another Replika bites the dust. Fantastic.”

The elevator opened to reveal Ulrich. “Who’s the man today, guys, huh?”

“Well, there is Jack Black playing Dewey Finn from _School of Rock_ , but—GAH!” Cassidy felt Odd smack her in the back of the neck.

He walked over to his friends, placing a hand on his roommate’s shoulder. “Well, what do you think?”

Odd gave a sly smile. “Luck, buddy. That’s what I think?”

Ulrich smiled. “I knew you would say that.”

Yumi, Aelita, Jeremie, and Cassidy exchanged a happy look. Jeremie almost face-palmed and Aelita laughed.

At dinner, Cassidy looked at Odd in shock. “You didn’t trip over yourself, spilling your tray?”

“Nope. What’s the deal today, Cassidy? The bug that happened on Lyoko not enough bad luck for you?” Odd asked slyly.

“It’s just weird. I feel that I’ve been jinxed in such a strange way ever since I broke that mirror.”

Aelita smiled gently at her roommate. “Relax, Cassidy. Jinxes don’t exist here. Luck does, but it changes.” She was aware that Cassidy still loved to read the _Harry Potter_ series. Saying “Jinxes don’t exist” without the “here” would make her roommate go stir crazy.

“Yeah, the only question is when. And I did notice that I was missing a mirror this morning,” Ulrich said. “I wondered what had happened to it.”

“It’s a weird chain of events starting with me waking up outside of our dorm room,” Cassidy sighed. “I think that XANA failed to kidnap me last night.”

Azra got up, but there was no pink phone in the chair.

“Jim must’ve found his phone while we were on the Replika,” Cassidy noted under her breath. “Which means that Odd won’t have the embarrassment of finding out that it belongs to him.”

“Hey! What are you mumbling about?” Jeremie asked.

“Just that today has been weird. First off, Odd, did you get caught with four hours of detention?”

Odd smiled and shook his head. “No.”

“Then there were no more croissants, but then I got pancakes instead of toast and hot chocolate with extra drizzle instead of tea. I wouldn’t have minded that, really. And Odd would have been scolded by Nicholas and Hervé for implicating them in the cream-cheese-in-Jim’s-shoes prank that was already _Odd’s_ idea. And Azra would’ve called him a numbskull in Turkish because he would’ve been pining to learn the language. Then the mandelbug struck, and I was glad that my good luck stopped at Earth. For a minute I thought this would go all good and no bad.

“And now Odd had been adept on his sweet feet and won’t have the embarrassment of having to find Jim’s pink phone.”

Odd almost spat his drink on Sissi’s daisy dukes. “Jim has a pink phone?”

“Yeah, but he’d rather not talk about it.”

“I think you are blowing things out of proportion,” Aelita reassured. “Don’t worry about it, Cassidy.”

She scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”


	61. XANA Should Quit Guiding Missiles

**_Code Lyoko_ is not, nor will it ever be, mine. And keep in mind that while the story is progressing, I am dreading every word. This episode gives me the willies. Here I go, playing Star again. There I go. Turn the page.**

Mail call came to Kadic once a month. Students who boarded at the Academy waited with bated breath to see if they had received anything from their relatives and former friends from other schools. Jim often walked around with a box in his arms. He dug around to find a letter. “Cassidy McGuire!”

Cassidy, who had already received a package from her relatives, raised her hand. “Estoy aquí, Sr. Jim.”

“Are you under a bet with someone, McGuire?” he asked as he handed off the blue envelope.

She scoffed. “No. I’m bet free so far, Jim. Neither Odd nor Ulrich put me into the betting pool today.”

“Well, as long as they don’t make a bet that ends up with any of you streaking through a park and skinny dip, I won’t give them any hours of detention.”

She shook her head, mentally noting a song. “They have brains enough, Jim.”

He walked off, digging up another letter for another student.

“That’s the second thing for you today,” Odd whined. “That’s not fair. I haven’t gotten _any_.”

“Odd, what have I told you about counting your blessings?” Cassidy sighed to her boyfriend.

Aelita then cut in. “Be patient, Odd. Mail call’s not over. There’s still hope.” She smiled. “And I haven’t gotten anything either.”

Odd scowled across the table. “Yeah, but you don’t know anyone else besides us.”

The pink-haired Lyoko Warrior sighed and frowned, setting her hand down. That was true. She only knew her gang, the teachers, some of her classmates, her mother, and father. A weight crashed into her heart. Why didn’t she have the simplest of lives?

Odd then realized what he just said. “Uh, sorry, Aelita. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Cassidy smiled just a little. “Jim’s coming back.”

“Aelita Stones!”

Ulrich breathed a “She’s like clockwork.”

“There’s a postcard for you.” Jim handed Aelita a Canadian postcard.

Her roommate opened her mouth to say something but fought hard against it. She figured someone would kill her if she let loose.

Aelita looked at it. “That’s weird.” Especially if I don’t know anyone else except at Kadic like Odd said.

Cassidy sighed contentedly.

“What’s wrong, Cassidy?” Ulrich asked with a sneer. “You don’t feel like spoiling such an occasion with your visions?”

She shook her head. “Besides, Aelita deserves this moment.”

He sighed and stopped just short of banging the table with a hand. “Tell us who it’s from.”

“I have no idea,” Aelita and Cassidy chorused, the psychic girl having a sly edge.

Jeremie smiled. “I bet it’s from XANA. He must be on vacation. We’ve had no sign from him.”

Cassidy giggled. “I bet he is sipping on a glass with a XANA-signed tiny umbrella.”

That sent the table laughing. After the laughter had lifted, Aelita went back to her card. “‘Hi, Aelita. Thinking of you in Montreal. Warmest regards.’ There is no signature.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting something, signed or not.”

“Jim’s returning!” Cassidy announced.

Jim walked to the table with a package in hand. “And finally this is for Odd Della Robbia. Last, of course, like he is in everything.” After dropping it off, he then looked at Cassidy. “By the way, thank you for announcing my presence.” He left before she could respond.

Odd smiled, investigating the package. “Well, it’s about time. I was wondering how long my parents would forget their favorite son…”

“Odd…you are their only son. You are a gender-flipped version of the Weasley’s minus one,” Cassidy smiled.

“…and I’ll bet it’s packed with lots of goodies.” He set the box down and opened the flaps. “But don’t worry, I’m very generous by nature.” There were a couple cans, plus… “Hey! It’s Derpy Hooves. How did my parents know that I loved her?”

Cassidy sighed happily. “I found a way. Plus you have been clamoring for her for a while.”

“Looks like one of us is a brony,” Ulrich cut. No one laughed.

The psychic opened her package. Inside were presents. “These were from Christmas.” She teared up.

“Well you can open them now, right?” Odd asked.

She opened the present from her parents. “‘Hi, Cassidy, sorry we can’t pool our resources for replacement tickets, but we combined enough to send you your Christmas presents. Merry belated Christmas. Love, Mom, Dad, Braxton, and Rhiannon. P.S. we are thinking of getting a cat.’“ She smiled ash she looked inside the box. “Twix bars! Daddy, I love you!”

“Just a second! Your dad’s idea of a Christmas gift is candy?” Odd’s mouth watered.

“Hey, I don’t complain. It’s a present nonetheless. And Mom—OOH…She sent the rest of my _Maximum Ride_ series. I only brought Books 1-3 here. She found two more books I missed.”

“You are going to be one hyperactive bookworm,” Ulrich teased. “Call me when you started to grow feathers.”

“And Grandma and Grandpa in North Platte—socks and T-Shirts. I love them. Grandma and Grandpa in Watertown—ooh! A horse figurine.”

“You have so many relatives,” Aelita noted.

“Extended family—twice. I’d rather not talk about how my life ended up that way,” she frowned, then looked at the letter. “Uh…did I get your mail, Einstein? It says that someone won first prize in a contest from _Cosmos: Future and Formula_ magazine.”

He looked at the letter. Then smiled. “Nope. It says Cassidy McGuire, not Jeremie Belpois.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ulrich asked. “What’s your prize, Cassidy?”

“An aerial invitation in a jet fighter with a live-fixed target air-to-ground strike missile exercise,” Cassidy recited, eyes widening in fear. She came to France by sea. “And it’s for today, as well.”

Ulrich couldn’t contain his glee. “That’s cool!”

“Yeah, but the problem is I don’t remember adding myself into the contest. You think XANA’s still on vacation, Jeremie?” Cassidy turned to him.

“You’re looking in the wrong direction, Cat-Lover-Girl. XANA’s got nothing to do with it. It was yours truly,” Odd announced.

A thunderclap of shock entered Cassidy’s system. She took out a vision journal and flipped through the pages. Her vision journals were often multi-subject, so they were thick. Her eyes widened more and more. “Odd, you didn’t…”

“Actually, to increase my chances of winning, I sent in entry forms in all your names. And it looked like it worked because Cassidy’s name was drawn.”

“Are you loco, Odd? Wait. I shouldn’t ask that because I already know the answer. Anyway, the prize is nontransferable. I am the only one who can go.”

Odd grabbed the letter from her hands. “No. You’re kidding, novia.” He looked at the information. “Oh, what do you know? I never thought of that.”

Cassidy held her arms. “I don’t want to go. I’d rather learn quantum physics or face my XANAfied ex-boyfriend than go on a dangerous jet. Tango Contingencies and what have you.”

“Hey, listen. You’ve gotta go. This is the chance of a lifetime, Sweetheart.”

Aelita smiled at Cassidy. “And like Jeremie said, XANA’s been very quiet lately, and you even thought he could be drinking out of a martini glass with Mr. Hated as his servant. There isn’t much risk. We can keep eyes on the super scan.”

“Hey, I never mentioned Mr. Hated being—”

“Admit it!” Odd pointed across the table. “You’re freaking out. Tienes mucho miedo!”

Cassidy sat pin straight at her boyfriend’s correct Spanish usage. “I am so. I came here by boat, remember? I was trembling over what had happened in America so the best option was to go by boat.”

“What happened in America?” Aelita and Jeremie chorused.

“A national tragedy. This was way before XANA. You two can check it out.” Cassidy then took the letter. “I’ll only go because it’s you, Odd.”

The bell rang, signaling the end of mail call. Odd gathered his box and Cassidy’s. “Anyway, we gotta go to class now. I really envy you, Cat-Lover-Girl. You’re going to get the ride of your life, Sweetie.”

Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich followed their wildcard friend out of the cafeteria, leaving the psychic alone.

She squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered. “How did I miss this day? XANA’s going to kill me.”

In math class, Mrs. Mayer wrote equations on the board. “Alright now, let’s concentrate on this exercise. In a” Something “figure OIJ, on given points ABC, we first set up the points on a diagram. Then we calculate the lengths AB, AC, and BC. Then on the diagram, we place point D so that the vector AB equals vector EC.”

Meanwhile, Aelita looked at her notes. _Who would have sent the postcard?_ She knew she wasn’t originally from Canada. She looked off Jeremie’s notes. Nope. His writing was slightly messy, but usually well-kept. Cassidy’s writing varied by the day but was usually a mix of print and cursive. Her K’s looked upper-cased no matter which case it was unless she used cursive.

Suddenly, Jeremie realized someone was breathing down his neck. He looked to see Aelita leaning over him. He looked, but she tensed and looked over to Odd and Ulrich.

“I missed the beginning. Do you mind if I look over your paper?” she asked Odd.

“But why?” Odd hissed. “It’s on the blackboard.”

“I know, but it makes my eyes tired.” She grabbed Odd’s notes.

Cassidy, who was unfortunate enough to sit by Sissi of all people, winced. She wanted to tell her but feared both interrupting the class and someone’s wrath if she spoiled. However, knowing that Aelita would find out herself kept her emotions in check. She handed back her notes to her roommate, no hints abound. If Aelita needed to know on her own, then Cassidy had to keep her hints to herself this time. Sissi elbowed Cassidy to pay attention—a rare feat. She bit her tongue to keep from crying out.

Ulrich and Odd looked to each other in confusion. Aelita wasn’t like this. Usually, she would be able to take notes all the way without asking for help. Even Cassidy knew.

Jeremie had enough. He turned his head and whispered, “Hey, what are you up to, huh, Aelita?”

“Nothing,” she whispered back. “I wanna know who wrote the card.”

He smiled. “You think it was us who sent it? Come on, Aelita. Wake up. Look at the postmark. It’s Canada, not Kadic Academy.”

“You’re right. It’s a real mystery,” Aelita said aloud.

Mrs. Mayer turned around. “I don’t see anything mysterious about it, Miss Stones. You simply have to concentrate.”

Aelita shrank. “Uh…yes, ma’am.”

After class, Cassidy was driven to the airfield. The air commander had outfitted her with a light pink shirt under a dull brown-green air jacket with bluish gray military jeans. _If only Daddy could see me now,_ she thought bitterly. _He’d think I looked like him._

As Cassidy walked, the commander listed what would happen. “After your flight, we’ll have a quick photo session of you and the plane for our next issue of _Cosmos: Future and Formula_.” The photographer—who called himself Hayden—wore a blue shirt with light purple Hawaiian-like patterns.

They stopped in front of the jet they would use. “Cassidy, I’d like you to meet Greg, your pilot.”

She looked up at a man about 6’4 with spiky brown hair. “Well, hi there, kid. Are you ready to get your thrills?”

Cassidy tried to hide a gulp. “I-I guess so…” She jumped as Hayden took photos with the flash.

“Well now… Our flight will begin with a low-altitude take-off, after which we’ll gain altitude with some vertical and oblique climbs. Then I’ll do some barrel rolls, banking, diving, and loops before a live fire-striker sides on a ground target. In brief, we are really going to rock n roll.” Greg grinned a pearly smile.

Cassidy’s stomach ached just thinking about that.

“How’s that for a flight plan?” the air commander asked her.

“Um…n-not bad…I’d j-just rather you left something out…” She invisibly trembled.

Greg cocked a brow, frowning. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“T-The flight…”

That shocked everybody around her.

She blushed. “I really don’t like flying, but I don’t want to be made fun of at school. So all you have to do is shoot a few pictures of me in the cockpit. That way your readers will keep on reading, your magazine will save some money, and my friends and boyfriend will think I actually did it! It’s the perfect plan…I think.” She zipped up the jacket, which felt heavy.

The commander slanted a brow. “Hm…yeah, well why not?”

With Odd and Ulrich, Kiwi barked and raced around their room, stopping in front of his owner. Odd held the dog food in front of him, his Derpy plush sitting beside him. He opened the jar, wincing at the smell. “That stinks! No normal dog would ever eat this stuff!”

Ulrich read his Blaze comic book. “Who ever said your dog was normal, Odd?”

Outside, Jim heard barking. He knew that dogs weren’t allowed at Kadic. He pounded on the door where he heard the barking. “Stern and Della Robbia! What’s going on in there?”

Odd answered the door, only to be met with, “Did I hear a dog barking in this room?”

He smiled nervously. “Well, kind of. It was me.”

Jim walked in. “I said I heard a dog!” He turned around to face him, ignoring his star athlete. He put his fists akimbo.

“It was me, Jim. I swear!”

He bent to his student’s level. “Hey! You trying to make fun of me, Della Robbia?”

“No, it really was me. Whenever I eat this…homemade pâté my mother makes, that’s what happens—” He held up the jar and barked like a dog.

Jim sniffed the pot. “One thing’s for sure, it smells good.”

Odd lifted the jar a little higher than he was. “Well, here. Take it as a present, Jim.”

Jim put a hand to his mouth, touched. “Well, I couldn’t do that, Della Robbia. Your mom made it for you!”

He closed his eyes, smiling. “That’s okay. My mom always taught me to share things. Besides, there’s plenty where that—”

Jim took the jar and walked out of the room. “Thanks, Della Robbia! Pâté’s my pet’s…uh, my favorite food! Heh! Guess I lucked out on that one!”

Odd leaned against the door with a sigh and a laugh of confidence. Ulrich looked at him with a smile.

At the military airport, Cassidy sat in the cockpit with a smile plastered on her face. With a little help, her long brown hair was slightly unkempt and her glasses out of place.  Her helmet obscured some of her hair, but all the same, she had her thumb up.

Hayden smiled. “That’s perfect! Don’t move. Give me a smile now.”

Cassidy posed with Greg. _Who knew faking was going to be so much fun?_ And the best thing was that it was going to be between her, Greg, the commander, and Hayden. She was not going to let Aelita know.

“That’s it.”

In the Ice Sector, a white tower turned red.

Back at the cockpit, the commander checked the time on his watch while Hayden took pictures, unaware that the lights had turned red.

At the library, Aelita looked over her notes from math class. She couldn’t believe she let herself get distracted over one little postcard. It could’ve been from an old pen-pal for all she knew. Then, there was a beeping from her new laptop from Jeremie’s parents. She opened the case. A pop-up window showed the super-scan. Right away one tower was picked up.

“Oh, no! **Activated tower!** ” 

Back at the airport, Hayden took the last photo—a shot of Cassidy “riding” with the pilot. “There we go! That’s a wrap.”

Cassidy sighed in relief. “Thank Celestia, I am not going to take to the real skies.”

Suddenly, the cockpit door descended and closed on her and the pilot. The fuselage and engines began to fire up, blowing Hayden and the commander away. “Hey!” cried Greg. “What’s gotten into her?”

“M-Mr. Greg? What’s going on? I thought we were grounded.”

“I know that, but I’m not the one in control.”

Cassidy tensed her legs as the jet moved. _Yep._ She gulped. _XANA’s going to kill me._ The wing barely missed Hayden and the commander.

The wheels on the landing gear ascended. Cassidy shrieked as it soared into the sky. _Why me? Why now?_

In the hall connecting to the infirmary, Aelita took out her cell phone and typed in a number. “Hello, Odd. We’ve got a problem.”

Odd, on the other end, held his plush as well as the phone. “Where?” There was a pause as Aelita answered him. “Did you say the Ice Sector?” He stood up and placed Derpy down. “Okay, we’ll go tell Yumi. See you at the factory.” He walked to the door.

Ulrich shut his book—he was on the editor’s letters anyway—and followed him.

Cassidy, meanwhile, was pinned back against the seat. She gave a stressed groan _. I bet Jeremie’d be glad that I am taking his place._ She whimpered, gritting her teeth, eyes closed.

“Tower, this is Charlie Foxtrot 41. Do you copy?”

_“Loud and clear, Charlie Foxtrot. What’s going on?”_

“My onboard computer is no longer responding. It’s gone to automatic. The plane’s controlling itself as if there’s some sort of virus taking over.”

Cassidy’s eyes widened as she whispered to herself, “XANA…”

“I tried to activate the software, but nothing’s working. There must be a bug. I’m going to try to launch in the procedure for rebooting the system.”

“No, that won’t work!”

“Nothing to worry about, honey. We’ll be landing soon and everything’ll be back to normal!” Greg tried to reassure. He had a daughter at home who was almost like his passenger.

“You don’t understand! XANA will never permit you to work the onboard computer!” Cassidy said.

“XANA? What’s that, a name? Listen, Sweetie, this isn’t some kind of science fiction show, it’s the real thing! Which is going—” His hands went for the buttons, but purple electricity sprang from the controls, hitting the man and causing him to cry out and go unconscious.

“G-Greg?! Are you—oh, no!” She whimpered. Cassidy would have put herself into a fetal position, but because of the way the seat belt was, she had been wired to her seat.

_“Charlie Foxtrot 41, this is control. Come in, please.”_

Cassidy put the communicator to her mouth. “H-Here w-we are…”

_“Charlie Foxtrot 41, this is control. Come in, please. I repeat. Control to Charlie Foxtrot 41. Over!”_

“Uh…Control, this is Charlie F-Foxtrot 41. T-The pilot’s unconscious. B-But I d-don’t want you to worry about a thing. I-I think I can handle this p-predicament…”

_“Charlie Foxtrot 41, would you kindly identify yourself.”_

“Cassidy M-McGuire, 9th grader at K-Kadic Academy. So-sorry, I gotta get off. B-But I repeat, don’t worry, please…”

A male voice came on the line. “ _Charlie Foxtrot 41, wait!”_

At the laboratory, Yumi rushed out of the elevator. “I got here as soon as I could!”

Ulrich smiled at his girlfriend. “Great, you’re right on time. Now Jeremie can send all of us to Lyoko!”

Jeremie was typing on the keys.

Odd looked at her. “You should’ve brought a sweater along because we are heading straight for the Ice Sector.”

All of a sudden, as a phone icon appeared on the screen, a heart-stopping, blood-curdling scream cracked through the speakers and rang out loud and clear throughout the factory. Aelita nearly fell over before Yumi caught her, trembling. “What the heck was that?”

“It sounded like Cassidy,” Jeremie whispered, almost swearing he was deaf. Cassidy screamed like a banshee.

“It can’t be,” Odd cracked, trying to stuff his ears with a handkerchief. “If she’s in that plane, so is her voice.”

Jeremie cleared his throat. _“Cassidy, we read you loud and clear—some more than others. We’re all at the factory.”_

“If you are all over at the OK Corral, that means activated tower,” Cassidy deduced.

 _“Try to calm yourself if you can. We’re on it,”_ Aelita assured—recovered from the scream.

“Um…I think you should know that XANA’s taken control of the fighter jet I-I am in…”

“Huh?!” Ulrich asked. “What are you going to do?”

 _“The jet is armed. XANA’s target, I fear, is the factory or the supercomputer.”_ She whimpered.

“Listen. Give us your bearing and your position, okay? Jeremie will check out your trajectory.”

“Good idea, Aelita,” Jeremie complimented.

_“I’m not very good, but here they are. North 47, 43, 13, East 01, 34, 45 heading north-northeast bearing 042!”_

Jeremie typed in the coordinates. “Nothing yet.” Then a popup window opened on the screen. There, the jet and the location was revealed. “Oh, no! The fighter jet’s target—it is the factory and the supercomputer.”

_“Jeremie, here is some advice. Virtualize Aelita and the others, then get the hell out of the factory, ya hear? Don’t wait to type in vehicles or give out radar. Virtualize and get the heck on out of Dodge.”_

“But…”

“Einstein, I think Cassidy has a point,” Ulrich said. “We can handle the situation on Lyoko. Meanwhile, you can go back to Kadic and monitor the jet from there.”

“Plus you trained us to use the supercomputer,” Odd smiled.

Jeremie scowled but sighed. “Okay.” He got up and went to the elevator. “Keep me in the loop, got it?” The doors closed on him.

Aelita took the hot seat. “According to Jeremie’s calculations, the factory will be in firing range in fifteen minutes.”

_“I’m scared, Aelita. This is worse than being with William, and I’m not saying this lightly. That’s all the time you have to deactivate the tower.”_

“Just keep calm as best as you can.” She looked at Ulrich, then at Yumi and Odd. “Hurry down to the scanner room, while I start up the virtualization process.”

Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd went down to the scanner room. _“Are you guys ready?”_ The three went into the scanners. _“Here we go. Transfer Ulrich, Transfer Odd, Transfer Yumi. Scanner Ulrich, Scanner Odd, Scanner Yumi. Virtualization.”_

Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi landed expertly onto the virtual snow. Odd shadow-boxed. “No one here to greet us?! Bummer! I was hoping for a little warm up.”

Back at the jet, Cassidy was trying so hard not to cry. “Cassidy, I should have listened to you and Jeremie. You two were right about XANA attacking this afternoon.”

“D-Don’t—don’t blame yourself, Aelita. I should have looked at my vision journal a little more carefully and transferred my prize to Odd. That’s what Jeremie would have done…after going through all this. Good l-luck, Aelita. William will be there and, by my visions, five Krabes. Two, and then three.”

“Thank you, Cassidy. Good luck. The delayed self-transfer process is running. I’m going down to the scanner room now.”

“I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise you anything. Good luck, everybody.”

The jet soared through the sky.

On Lyoko, Aelita landed in front of Yumi. She rose to a standing position. “Hurry. The tower should be that way.” She pointed.

“We gotta walk there?” Odd asked, slightly incredulous.

“Sorry, but Cassidy didn’t give Jeremie or me permission to call up the vehicles.”

Yumi held a frown. “She is worried about our safety.”

Ulrich smiled. “Well, you wanted a warm up, Odd. Now you’ve got one.” He rushed passed him, then Yumi came next.

Odd turned and raced with them.

Back with Cassidy, Greg opened an eye. He groaned. “What’s—what’s happening?”

“You were out cold for a bit, Gr-Greg.”

“Charlie Foxtrot 41, come in, please. Do you copy? I repeat. Do you copy?”

Greg rubbed the ridge of his nose. “This is Charlie Foxtrot 41. I—I blacked out, but I’m okay now.”

“Listen. We have now gone into Red Alert phase. We have no choice but to execute Tango Contingency. Do you copy?”

“Control, are you—are you aware that we have a civilian onboard?”

“Charlie Foxtrot 41, do you copy?”

“Affirmative. Ready for Tango Contingency.”

“Uh…” Cassidy felt her insides tremble. “W-what’s T-Tango Contingency?”

“In order to avoid a total disaster, they’re gonna shoot us out of the air.”

“WHAT?!” Cassidy yelled. Just when I thought, it couldn’t get any worse… Aelita, better deactivate the tower and stat! I don’t care if you have to have a scalpel, needle, and thread to get it done.

From the military airport, another jet flew from the tarmac, in pursuit of the jet.

Back at the Ice Sector, Aelita led the Lyoko Warriors to the tower. “There’s the tower. It looks pretty quiet to me. A bit too quiet, even.”

“You’re right, Aelita! Without Danger Psychic or Einstein and their radar, it’s not going to be as easy as usual!” Ulrich agreed.

“Cassidy did give me some stats along the way. She said there will be five Krabes and William. Two Krabes first, then three,” Aelita said.

“Yeah. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a psychic to know bad guys are lurking around here…somewhere,” Odd said, ignorant of the stats.

Up ahead, two Krabes made their entrance. The wildcard took up the lead as the samurai, geisha, and elven warriors hung back, observing their battleground, silently strategizing. Odd stopped just feet ahead. “Ya see? What did I tell you?” He then cracked, “What’s up, crab cakes?”

They retreated around the ice floes. Ulrich shouted, “Super Sprint!” and raced around, katana drawn, jumped up from under one of the Krabes and slashed the underbelly. He landed and tumbled before racing off. Soon, the monster combusted. He met up with Yumi on the other side. She raced off to the fray. Unsheathing her fan, she let it fly. It hit the Krabe on the head near the lasers. She caught her fan. The monster stumbled before combusting.

They rejoined Odd and Aelita. “You got rid of one and there are three to take its place.”

Like a hydra, Odd, Cassidy’s words echoed in his head.

The boys and girls split off in two directions. From the three new Krabes’ perspective, the girls went to the right while the boys went to the left. Behind the ice floes, Yumi looked to Odd, who was pressed up against his.

“XANA’s trying to delay us, guys,” Aelita deduced.

Yumi waved a hand. “Ulrich, Odd, all three of us at once. We have to force our way through!”

“Good idea, Yumi. You sure know how to talk to men.”

With their weapons unsheathed, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd peeled away from their hiding spot and raced into the fight. Each of them led the enemy away from the tower.

Aelita watched from the floe. Suddenly, a black smoke came up from behind her. She became aware that someone was touching her shoulder. _But they can’t be done already._ She looked behind her and gasped. His forehead bore the eye of XANA. It was William.

**“I’ve been expecting you!”**

Back at the jet, Cassidy trembled. “Tell me it’s not true, Greg! They-they can’t just shoot us down like this! I mean…we are inside…”

Greg frowned. The poor girl was a bundle of nerves. He knew that his daughter would get along with her. “That’s the safety procedure, Sweetie. But don’t worry about it, we’ll eject first.”

The jet soared over the river Seine. She trembled. “W-what made you think I was worried? I-I’m not…”

“No reason to be! Everything will go just fine as long as you do exactly what I tell you to do. First of all, put your oxygen mask on.” Cassidy attached it, heart going a thousand miles an hour.

“In front of you there’s a dark red handle, do you see it?”

She grabbed it. “I got it.”

“I’ll start counting, and on three we’ll hit it together, our seats will be expelled and we’ll eject. Once we’re clear, the parachutes will open automatically. Are you ready?” Greg asked.

She had her eyes tightly closed. “Y-yes…”

“1, 2, 3! GO!” He commanded.

She pulled back on the lever at the same time he did. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Her heart raced. _Aelita, please hurry. I may have bought Jeremie some time, but I am afraid my time might be run out._

_“Charlie Foxtrot 41 to Control! Unable to eject!”_

“XANA is not done with me yet,” Cassidy whispered to herself.

Back on Lyoko, Aelita took a hit in the shoulder and fell off the edge. In the moment of panic, her star-shaped pendant flashed and her wings unfurled, saving her.

William conjured up his smoke and dove off to her.

She looked up and gasped. _Dodge him, Aelita!_ She didn’t have any time. He grabbed her legs. _He’s going to drag me down._ She fought one of her legs free and started to kick his head. That did nothing. “Okay, enough fooling around!” She charged up two energy fields and let them loose.

Aelita felt herself spring upward into the sky. First she looked down to see William free falling into the Digital Sea. Satisfied, she flew back to the land.

 **“SUPER SMOKE!”** William dissolved into smoke and soared upward.

She looked down again, then hurried to land. Soaring above the ice, she became involved in the chase. Checking up on her enemy, she tried to get to the tower first. Cassidy needed her.

Unfortunately, she saw William speed ahead of her. Without a sound, the two passed Odd, who looked behind himself in time to see him emerge from the smoke in front of the tower. The XANAfied minion charged up his own energy field and shot Aelita down.

Odd raced across the virtual snow. “I don’t think Aelita wants to dance with you.” He cartwheeled. “LASER ARROW!” He shot it out.

William, however, raised his arm. The arrow hit the metal gauntlet and, due to the trajectory, shot Odd in the chest. He disappeared in a cloud of pixilated dust.

The scanner doors opened and Odd held his head. “I got a bang out of that.”

William glided Aelita’s unconscious form along past Yumi and Ulrich, both fighting the Krabes. Yumi looked behind her, then ducked as another laser threatened to devirtualize her. She threw her fan. It went under the Krabe she was battling, then curved around to hit it. The crustacean monster combusted, freeing Yumi up.

She then turned her attention to William. Aiming, she let a fan soar through the air and hit him in the arm. He looked and growled at her. He had forgotten about her. Yumi cartwheeled, grabbing her fan in the process.

William conjured up his sword. She was a thorn in XANA’s side, and he wanted to make her pay. She threw her fan again. He deflected and charged. He smashed his zabanto. She moved out of the way. William raised his sword, bringing it down. However, she was quicker. She flipped her way behind him and kicked his back. She threw her fan straight after, but he deflected again.

Now without fans, she could only gape. She backed up as William brought his zabanto down. What she didn’t know was that she backed up into an ice wall. Without any time for Yumi to run, he slashed at her, getting rid of her.

Two down. Ulrich looked. “No!” he moaned, turning his attention to the last Krabe. “Super Sprint!” He raced around, jumped off an ice floe and stabbed it in the eye, getting off just in time as the beast exploded.

He raced off to battle his foe.

In the scanner room, Odd walked to Yumi’s scanner. “Welcome to the club,” he said in a weak voice.

Meanwhile, Ulrich held his own against William. He was going to pay for what he did to Cassidy so many times. He blocked or dodged every attempt for him to smash him. William brought his zabanto down. Ulrich brought his katanas together in an X formation. There was no way he was going to let him devirtualize him. After a few more tries, Ulrich dropped down and hooked his legs, sweeping his opponent off his feet. He tried to stab him, but William back-flipped.

William tried again, but Ulrich crossed his katanas, keeping him from doing so. However his feet slid across the ice and virtual snow. He flipped, finally regaining his footing. The enemy brought his sword down, but he backed away.

A few feet away from the battleground, Aelita floated, unconscious.

At the lab, the elevator opened, letting Yumi and Odd race for the computer. “Oh, NO!” she yelled, seeing what was happening on the screen.

The jet was almost close. And another jet was closing in on it.

Back with Cassidy, she heard a noise. She looked behind her the best she could, and saw the second jet. She clenched the arm rest. “P-please, Greg. Tell them to wait, just a few minutes…before they fire us down.”

“Sorry, Honey, but five minutes is not going to make a big difference.”

The two jets soared through the sky.

“It might. I can’t tell you how or why, but trust me. I’ve got friends who can turn this disaster into a miracle.” _Minus Jeremie. I know I probably shouldn’t have made him go back to Kadic, but I had no choice._

He thought on it, then said, “Control?”

_“We read you, Charlie Foxtrot 41.”_

“Don’t forget that we’ve got a civilian on board, a child with a nervous disposition. Only, I repeat, only execute procedure as a last resort! Over and out!”

The jet following the other fell back, causing Cassidy’s hand to relax. “Th-they’re leaving…”

“No, he’s just pulling behind us to get a better line of fire to shoot us down.”

She gulped. _Hello, Movie Stop, I’d like to sell my copy of_ The Incredibles _, please?_ She didn’t have a watch, but knew her time was coming to an end. Hearing another beep, she got worried.

“What’s going on now? Another problem?” Greg saw something on the screen. “Oh, no! The missile’s just armed itself. It’s all set to be launched.”

“What?!”

The second jet still followed the first.

_“Delta Bravo 89, this is Control. Target will be entering a populated zone in less than thirty seconds. Your orders are to shoot it down immediately.”_

The pilot of Delta Bravo 89 moved the joystick to his jet. “Roger.”

Cassidy put her oxygen mask back on. Her lungs were desperate for some air. “W-what’s happening?”

“Our missile is going to fire.”

A missile on the left wing of the jet detached and started its journey. Cassidy looked at the coordinates. “Oh, God! The factory!” _Aelita, grab those—wait. Oh, no. I should’ve given her some advice on how to beat him. That’s it! If there is a return trip, I’m giving her a hug and apologizing._

_“Delta Bravo 89, forget the aircraft and direct your fire at the missile.”_

“Roger!” He pushed a red lever forward and passed over the jet he was following.

Cassidy looked up. “Uh?”

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich charged and tried to slash at William. He blocked using his zabanto. Then the enemy slashed the air. The good guy ducked. He kicked. William used Super Smoke to avoid it.

This was it. Ulrich aimed his katana and threw. William rose from his power too late. The weapon pierced his chest, and he disappeared into a cloud of red and black smoke. Ulrich’s katana pierced the ice and virtual snow.

He smirked. “That’s my remedy for a swelled head.”

The power that held Aelita vanished, dropping her gracelessly to the ground. She let out a gasp, waking up and rubbing her head for just a second.

“Aelita, the tower, hurry!” Ulrich commanded.

She got up and raced for the tower.

_“Control tower, this is Delta Bravo 89! The missile’s going too fast, I can’t lock it in!”_

Aelita made it into the tower, racing to the center of the platform, rising to the second.

“There’s no response at all.”

Cassidy whispered to herself, “Well, XANA, you always wanted to kill me.”

Electricity flew to the engines, causing them to lose their fire. The jet started to free fall. Cassidy screamed, scared of what might happen.

At the lab, Ulrich (who devirtualized himself), Yumi, and Odd watched the screen, helpless.

Aelita rose to the second platform and walked to the center.

The missile sped toward the factory.

The jet dove for the city. Cassidy let out some tears.

Aelita soon typed the Lyoko Code. “Tower deactivated.”

Yumi pressed the enter key. “Return to the past now!”

The white bubble engulfed the jet and the missile. Greg cried out with Cassidy. Soon it gently covered all of Kadic.

At the dorms, Aelita walked to Jeremie’s dorm. “Jeremie? Cassidy’s alive. She made it—” She found the dorm to be empty. Walking around, she saw a letter on his desk. She smirked and compared the writing samples.

Jeremie walked in, frowning.

“Well, well. So _you’re_ the mysterious postcard writer, huh?” Aelita put a hand on her hip, smiling.

“Uh, yeah. The hardest part was changing my handwriting, but it was worth it, wasn’t it?”

Aelita walked toward him. “It sure was. It reminded me that I’m not alone in the world. That someone cares about me.” She then frowned. “I wonder why Cassidy didn’t say anything.”

“I never threatened her at all. I told her that if she wanted to rat me out, then she could. Anyway, you said something about her making it?”

“Yeah. She’s okay. She just couldn’t stop apologizing to me with William.”

Jim walked in. “Belpois! I’ve been looking for Della Robbia for hours now, have you seen him?!”

Jeremie was shocked. “Uh, no. What has he done?”

“Nothing at all. I was just wondering if he had any more of that homemade pâté left!” He held up an empty jar. “It was really delicious.”

Aelita laughed in both relief and at the expense.

“Sorry about that Jim, but Odd took off. He had to watch someone catch a plane.”

Greg sat in the cockpit. “This is your lucky day, you know? Um…”

“Cassidy McGuire, Greg,” Cassidy answered. “My boyfriend’s just going to watch. The letter did say I could bring a guest to watch the spectacle.” For once she was relieved that she could just try out the jet again without the fear of XANA looming over her.

“You’re really going to love this, Cassidy—and I have the feeling my daughter will love to see you later. It’s an incredible experience.”

“You have a daughter, Greg?”

“Yes I do.”

“Wow. So, would it be okay if you took off gently. That way things will be easier?”

“Sure.”

Within minutes, the jet took off as Odd watched in awe.

**A/N: Sweet ground! I am glad to be off this chapter.**


	62. Kadic goes through a Bombshell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went through a revision process.

**I don’t own _Code Lyoko_. On with the show.**

**By the way, the new episode of MLP ROCKS! (“Crusaders of the Lost Mark”)**

In class, Mrs. Kensington stood behind her desk. “And at the end of the play, Juliet drinks a potion which makes her appear to be dead. Romeo, thinking he has lost his young bride, poisons himself. And when Juliet wakes up and sees the lifeless Romeo, she drives a dagger through her heart.”

Sissi, who for once put down the _Pony Passion_ magazine, had tears rushing down her face. Cassidy, who wasn’t sitting by her, also sobbed. “That is so beautiful!”

Odd smiled cockily. “That is so idiotic.”

However, before anyone moved to scold him, the bell rang. The students rushed out, eager to enjoy their weekend. Mrs. Kensington said, “Don’t forget to review the balcony scene for next week. See you on Monday.”

Aelita walked out with the group, asking the wildcard behind her. “What didn’t you like about it, Odd? It’s a wonderful love story, isn’t it?”

The purple-wearing boy frowned but then smiled. “That’s just it, Aelita. It’s a _story_. Killing yourself for love—that’s dumb!”

Cassidy, who had finished wiping her eyes, shook her head. “Somehow, I have to disagree with that, Odd.”

He blinked at her. “And why is that?”

“Odd, we go to Lyoko every day.”

“So?”

“So, some of us feel the pain when our loved ones are devirtualized. I know how Ulrich feels when he sees Yumi get killed off on our beloved virtual realm.”

Ulrich’s cheeks turned bright red. “Hey!”

“Anyway, Odd, the reason why you think killing yourself off for love is stupid is because you haven’t met a girl who loves you enough to die for you.” Jeremie looked back at Odd with a wry grin.

“He met me, Jeremie,” Cassidy smirked.

“No, you just used your powers to find out that Odd was coming. I think your logic is invalid,” Ulrich scoffed.

“Listen, if you ask me, nobody would die for love.” Odd waved a dismissive hand, trying to get the equivalent of Nicholas and Hervé to stop fighting. “Would you be ready to die for Yumi, Ulrich?”

Ulrich nodded, eyes closed. “Better believe it.” Then he flinched. Even though he knew Odd knew that he and Yumi were dating, and he was proud, he tried to keep some of the activities hidden. He blushed. “Well, um, that is…”

A mature voice rang out, “Hi, what are you guys talking about?”

Cassidy smiled, fighting the urge to laugh at his expense.

“Oh, about tragedy and true love. And _Ulrich_ was _just saying_ …”

“That it’s totally idiotic!” Ulrich cut in, vowing to both kill Odd and Cassidy in their sleep and tell Yumi about what he truly said later.

Cassidy’s chest heaved as she walked around a post and let out unbridled laughter. It was better than her laughing hysterically at the fact that she dodged a bullet with William. She walked out, deep calm set in. “I’m calm.”

Jeremie smiled at his sweetheart. “Hey, Aelita, I think I found a way for improving source logarithms and I could use your help.”

Aelita adjusted the strap on her bag. “That sounds great, but first, let’s have lunch.” The two geniuses of the group chased after each other for the lunchroom, the pink-haired elven warrior giggling. Cassidy sighed happily. The Einstein and Princess, as Odd called them, were so in love with each other. It lit a fire in her heart every time she saw them interact in some way.

“Do you think Aelita and Jeremie would be ready to die for each other?” Ulrich frowned at his fellow three.

Cassidy shook her head at his obliviousness. “Ulrich, dude, of course, they would.”

“For love, I don’t know. They might die of boredom, though,” Odd cracked.

Yumi looked to her left, hearing a commotion. “Hey, look! What’s that all about?”

The psychic’s eyes widened. _Oh, no. Not today!_ Cassidy grabbed for her visions notebook and flipped frantically through the pages. _It can’t be!_ She kept going until she saw the drawing and the date. _That’s right now? Oh, no!_ She looked up and saw a blond head in a sea of boys and girls alike. _How does this even add up?_

“Hey, hey, what’s your name?” Nicholas asked.

“How long ya here for?” Julien Xao asked.

Bastien had his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Do you speak English?”

The newcomer had soft blond hair that met her butt and sea green eyes. She wore a black short-sleeved shirt with two thick horizontal orange stripes across the chest of her shirt, a dark artichoke green skirt with ivory lining across the top and bottom hems. Her feet had donned beaver brown boots, and two earrings hung in each ear—one pinkish purple and the other silver. She had a faint blush on her cheeks. On her left wrist, she wore an emerald on a leather bracelet.

The boys of Kadic Academy swarmed around her as the four Lyoko Warriors walked up to the crowd. Yumi turned to Milly and Tamiya. “Wow! Give me a break. Who is she?”

Cassidy rustled through her papers as her eyes sparkled. “Something tells me that she is Sissi’s overseas pen-pal, Yumi.”

Milly nodded, noting the spark in her eyes. _Something tells me that this will be a super scoop later._ “She’s visiting for four days. Her name is Brynja Err-odd…uh…Erid—well, whatever.”

Tamiya looked over her friend’s head. “Brynja Heringsdötir, and she’s from Iceland.”

“And Sissi’s just eating it up. Thanks to Brynja, she’s getting lots of attention.”

Cassidy’s stomach growled. “Speaking of eating it up, _tengo hambre_.”

Yumi scoffed. “You are growing to be more like Odd every day, Cassidy.”

“If it weren’t for my ex kissing me in the _forest_ ,” Cassidy winked, “then my stomach wouldn’t be the size of a bowling ball.”

Sissi smiled as the crowd stood surrounding her pen-pal.

“Yeah, Milly, only this time, the boys are more interested in her.”

The raven-haired girl picked up the suitcase and waved to the sea of never-ending boys. “Okay, the show’s over. I’ll take Brynja to her room.” She walked off, her pen-pal following her.

Cassidy rambled to herself, “If I majored in the psychic factor of ten and multiplied the source...then...oh, no! Then I would have to pull Kiwi into this endeavor. Dang it!”

Yumi looked at the squatting psychic pouring over her notes like Jeremie on an awful day. “Are you okay, Cassidy? You’re acting as if Jeremie got to you.”

“I’m trying to figure out how I could have missed this arrival when she did. Somehow, she’s like an off-switch.” Her eyes went rapid-fire around her notes. “Let’s see, I added in the factor of the factory and managed a degree point of 45. No, then I would have to throw in wings and...”

She squeezed her friend’s shoulder to get her attention. “Cassidy...please...don’t treat this as a math problem. Brynja arrived. It’s nothing to get upset about.”

“But I’m never late, Yumi!”

“Relax... You’re overworking yourself to the point of insanity. The answer will come to you in time, you’ll see.”

The boys, minus Odd and Ulrich, Milly, and Tamiya dispersed as if nothing happened. Cassidy started to pick up and reorganize her vision journals. She could not believe her mind had played her like this. It was pandemonium now.

Yumi looked at the two boys standing like idiots. Sighing, she clapped her hands. “Time to wake up, you two!”

Odd blinked alive. “I’m awake.”

Ulrich looked back at the door, his broad grin gone. “What did ya say?”

Inside the lunchroom, Aelita looked at Jeremie with rapt attention. “Are you saying, then, that your program let you modify gamma waves?”

He ate a Brussels sprout. “Yeah, that’s right, which means we’ll have a faster virtualization and more...” He stopped in his tracks. “Wow!”

Yumi looked over her shoulder as Ulrich shouted, “What?”

Odd looked behind himself. “Hm?”

Brynja picked up her tray, smiling, and she walked away from the lunch line. Sissi picked up her tray with a confident smile.

Aelita watched as the students parted for Brynja and closed the gap against Sissi. “Hey! Let me through, huh?” protested the snob, who creased her brows and scoffed as her pen-pal walked to a chair, already pulled out by Mathias Durel, and sitting down as though she was royalty. Then Emmanuel Maillard handed her food tray.

The Lyoko Warriors watched as the bespectacled boy filled her glass to the brim with water.

“Thank you,” said Brynja, in a French-English accented voice.

Mathias turned around to leave the beauty to herself. His voice picked in excitement. “Oh, she said ‘thank you’ to me!”

Yumi turned back to her friends. “I wonder what the boys see in that string bean.”

Aelita pointed behind her female friend. “Look at the girls. They’re all chasing after her to find out her beauty secrets.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Not me. I don’t need secrets to feel beautiful. I—I don’t think I am, but I know I am fine just the way I appear.”

The geisha warrior patted her friend on the back above the rock scar. “That’s great.”

Cassidy put her tray away and then slammed her notes onto the lunch table. She knew something had to add up. And she creased a brow in determination as she dug a pen out of her bag. “No…I can’t add in the multiple of 36. It would throw everything into danger. Ugh…why can’t I add in this day correctly? I mean, my vision books warned me about this day coming, but now, I’m short of a fuse. I need to throw in the factors of nine and a half and seven and three-quarters with the factory… AGH! Mr. Hated is going to…no, I can’t think of that.”

Jeremie cocked a brow at Yumi. Where was she getting these figures again? It was obvious from the way that Odd and Ulrich were acting, that she might have the answers.

Yumi caught the look and whispered in a low tone, “Cassidy’s having a bad day with her powers.”

He smiled slyly and looked at his psychic friend. “Maybe you should add in the factor of Pi.”

Cassidy spluttered, reminding him of the time before he went into Limbo. “I already tried that, but then I got screwed up.”

He flinched back a bit. She already went two steps ahead of him.

Sissi, meanwhile, walked over to the sea of girls, who had flocked her pen-pal. “I would like to sit down if you don’t mind. Let me through, will ya?”

The girls didn’t budge. She stormed off to another table. Hervé pushed the chair into the table and rested his arm on it protectively. “Sorry, Sissi, but this seat is taken. I’m holding onto it because Brynja promised she would sit with me during dessert.”

Sissi’s voice raised an octave. “HUH?!”

After lunch, Odd walked out of the mess hall. “Ah! This weekend, after I give Cassidy some lessons in self-confidence, is R and R for me. Rest and recuperation. Yes, sir!”

Yumi followed him, cocking a brow. “You’re not going to the pool tomorrow with Miss Iceland? ’Seems like everyone’s going.”

Odd closed his eyes and then turned around to walk backward, putting his hands behind his head. “No, I’ve got better things to do like teaching Cassidy and getting hours and hours of sleep.” He then bumped into someone. He looked to see who it was. “Oh, sorry.”

Sissi threw her fists down and yelled, “Watch where you’re going, huh, Creep-o?!”

“Sissi, one of these days, someone is gonna…” Odd turned around and noticed the golden-blond haired girl. She smiled at him good-naturedly. He started to grin, under her spell, chuckling nervously through gritted teeth.

“Oh, it’s alright,” Brynja reassured.

Ulrich and Jeremie looked at each other worriedly. Sissi, meanwhile, cocked a brow. She thought that she would shoo him away for his poor fashion sense.

Later in the recreation room, Odd played foosball against Ulrich. “I tell ya, she’s something else. She’s gorgeous and slim. And her hair is like gold. Hey, did you see those deep clear green eyes? Absolutely incredible. Wow! And did you get a look at that beautiful, soft skin she has? Maybe it’s not just beautiful—beautiful is not the word. She’s…I don’t know. She’s well… She’s…”

“You mean ugly?” Aelita cracked.

Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and even the pinkette started laughing. Cassidy, however, threw her notes up in the air, frustrated. The poor girl used the table to figure out what caused her visions to skip a beat. Unfortunately, none of her math made sense and her threads of sanity stretched themselves to their limits. It was bad enough that she had nightmares, not as worse as Emily’s or Aelita’s, but now her “Spidey sense” stopped dead when Brynja entered the room.

Odd, meanwhile, looked around at his friends. Couldn’t they see that he might have found his first true love?

“You talk about her as if she’s the Eighth Wonder of the World,” Yumi smiled.

Odd flipped his lever, and the ball soared into the goal. Ulrich groaned. “That’s right! _Those are_ the words I was looking for. Brynja is the Eighth Wonder of the World!”

Ulrich stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Odd, are you sure you don’t have a problem with…”

“…a slightly overheated brain?” Jeremie finished.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

Odd pushed the final green ring to the others. “It’s not my fault I caught Brynja’s eye and you didn’t.” He crossed his arms on the foosball rim.

Ulrich leaned on the table. “She really has fried your brain. Can’t you see that she comes on strong to everyone?”

“You know something? You’re just jealous, good buddy!”

Cassidy raised a pencil-holding hand, her pen having run out of ink. “No tengo celos, Odd.”

The door opened and a blond head came in. “Oh, there you are, Odd! Are those your friends? I would like to meet them.”

Cassidy looked behind her shoulder and her eyes widened. _What the hell?!_ She turned back and picked up her vision journal, rapidly flipping through the notes. _Usually, I’m on time with who’s arriving and who’s departing._

“Why, sure, Brynja!” Odd walked around the table, gesturing to his friends. “Aelita, Yumi…”

Yumi closed her eyes, head down. “Hello…”

Aelita did the same, holding a frown. “Brynja…”

“Over on the couch, Cassidy…”

Cassidy waved, still looking through her book. “Hi, there. Excuse me.” _Come on! Why am I delayed? I’m usually right on time with arrivals and departures._

Odd then pointed to, “Ulrich, and Jeremie.”

Brynja smiled. “Are you the one whose name is Einstein? You look very intelligent.”

Jeremie looked over the top of his glasses. “Yeah…” He sounded very much in love, just like the days he talked about materializing Aelita.

The newcomer then switched her focus to Ulrich. “And, Ulrich, you’re the one who likes to do Martial Arts. Perhaps you can give me a demonstration.”

“I’d be—I’d be—ah! Okay!” Ulrich stuttered, giving a slight chuckle.

Cassidy grimaced at her friends’ change in demeanors. This wasn’t them. She put away some of her notes and then set right back to work. Her pencil softly scratched the paper.

Brynja looked at her. “And you’re the one who likes to knit. Perhaps you could show me your projects?”

The girl jumped out of her skin. “Um…sure…” _Since when is she into women?_

Brynja smiled at the politeness. “It’s really nice to know all of you.” She then took Odd’s hand. “Shall we go for a walk, Odd, elskan?”

Odd smiled. “Elskan… That means sweetheart!” He raced out with his Icelandic princess, happily giggling.

Cassidy shook her head vigorously and went straight back to her notes. “Okay, _divide_ Lyoko a little, _and then_ add in the factor of Mr. Hated. Work in a pool with the equation with the square root of sixteen…UGH! This isn’t going to _work_! Not unless I settle in the factor of the night and the offset of ninety…”

Aelita walked over to her. Since when did a single day or two count as a math problem? She placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay, Cassidy?”

“I’m lost! I have no clue anymore! Something’s not adding up in my papers.” She frantically showed her roommate her notes. It showed so many math figures and grouping mechanisms, and small drawings of her, her friends, and the factory.

Aelita creased a brow. “Someone’s been doing the math.” Then something caught her eye. “Why is there a rutabaga on there?” She handed it back with a slight chuckle.

Cassidy looked at it and then looked back at her roommate. “That’s not a rutabaga; that’s a pen smudge.”

“Well, I um…don’t think you should get worried about that. Relax…” Aelita smiled a little.

Ulrich looked at Jeremie from the corner of his eye. “I wonder what she sees in that shrimp.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Brynja needs somebody a little more intellectually developed.” Jeremie closed his eyes.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, packing away her supplies. She felt like finding her knitting needles and a project now. This math was causing her a headache. “I’m sure Brynja could find someone that would…be a bit appropriate.”

Aelita turned to Jeremie’s general direction. “You guys realize you’re talking about your friend. Jealous, all three of you! I don’t believe it. About fried brains, Jeremie, you take the cake.”

“You’re wrong, Aelita. I was just working out the statistical probability of a girl as pretty and as charming as Brynja falling in love with a guy like Odd.” Jeremie shifted his attention to the wall.

Yumi lifted off from the wall a couple inches. “Look at you, Ulrich. Ever since that blond ice cube showed up here, you’ve turned into a doormat.”

Ulrich turned to his girlfriend. “Me? I have _not!_ Anyway—”

“Ulrich!” Cassidy yelled as loud as possible. “You and Yumi are boyfriend girlfriend, now, and I won’t stand for a break-up! Word of warning: Keep away from Brynja!”

“What about you, you don’t seem to find any faults!” Ulrich smirked at her. “Unless you happen to like girls, too. Wouldn’t Odd be disappointed…?”

Cassidy’s cheeks heated up like a hot plate. “So what? He told me he isn’t homophobic. Anyway, I’m keeping my psychic blurt-outs quiet. That’s what you wanted for me, right, Ulrich? Me without villainous visions of the future? Also, that wasn’t very cool. So what if I like girls, too?” She picked up her bag and stormed out.

Yumi and Aelita crossed their arms and glared at their boyfriends. The Japanese Lyoko Warrior growled daggers into the samurai.

Later, Ulrich and Jeremie walked under the arches. “What is it with girls this year? Cassidy, especially.”

Jeremie stopped. “They’re right, you know.” He adjusted his glasses and tapped a temple while Ulrich stopped. “That Brynja girl’s really messing with our heads. And I’m sure that’s the case with Cassidy’s confusion. Brynja’s messing with her, too, without realizing it.”

That night, Odd hummed happily to himself as he walked into his and Ulrich’s room. All five of his friends, plus his dog, sat in random spots. Aelita and Jeremie seated themselves in separate beds. Ulrich and Yumi each took different chairs. Cassidy and Kiwi stayed on the floor, the girl petting his head. “It’s okay, Kiwi.”

Odd shut the door with his foot. “Huh? Did I miss a chapter?”

Yumi held a knee to her chest, staying near Aelita. “Odd, we have to talk, seriously.”

“It’s not as though you stole twenty bucks and then have to give it back once you think you’ve been caught, but it is still serious.” Cassidy kept petting Kiwi.

Ulrich sat in his chair backward, sitting nearest to Jeremie. “It’s true. Ever since you started going out with Brynja, there’s been a lot of friction in our group, and, um…”

Jeremie kept his tone matter-of-factly. “…and it’s not very good for our mission. Your second girlfriend is coming between us and…”

Aelita crossed her arms over her chest, cross-legged on Ulrich’s bed. “…and we think the best thing for you to do is break up with your second Juliet now, Romeo.”

“Plus, I think it’s damaging Cassidy’s powers. She’s been doing very complicated and nonsensical math,” Yumi said. “And her coming and going radar has been haywire.”

Cassidy shyly nodded.

Odd put his hands on his hips. “You actually want me to stop seeing Brynja just because you guys can’t get along and Cassidy is stuck with math that doesn’t make sense?! It’s not her fault, or mine either! The problem is you and your jealousy!” He turned and opened the door.

“Odd, wait, it’s a big problem,” Yumi pleaded.

He kept his back to his friends. “Maybe for _you_ , but not for me. In fact, I have a date with _your_ problem, so ciao!” He slammed the door.

The rest of the group looked at each other in concern. Odd didn’t get this aggressive about anything.

Cassidy nuzzled into Kiwi’s fur. “The math doesn’t even make any sense.”

Meanwhile, Odd walked to the stairwell.

Brynja waited for him, noticing the scowl on his face. “You look a little upset. If you do not want to go out…”

His tone, while reassuring, had a bite to it. “Sure, I do. It’s just that my friends are acting so lame.” He walked down the stairs. “Come on. Let’s go!”

At the factory, Cassidy and Aelita joined Jeremie in the lab. The genius of the group typed on the Supercomputer. “The program will run all night. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” Jeremie sounded distracted.

Cassidy’s stance had loosened. Being at the factory soothed her nerves and helped her concentrate on her knitting more than her unrelated math notes.

“’Still thinking about Odd?” Aelita asked Jeremie.

“I wonder if our little gang will survive this Eighth Wonder of the World. And I also ponder if Cassidy’s math will make any given sense.”

She looked up at the mention. “I still say that if I add in the properties of Pi, I’m screwed. I checked thousands of times already.”

“I know, Cassidy, but that was just a tease… And I didn’t know that you had already thought of that.”

She shrugged. “It pays to be a little ahead of the curve.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t worry, you two,” Aelita smiled. “Odd’s romances—aside from being with Cassidy—last an average of two days.”

Jeremie held his glasses in place with one finger. “I don’t know. I think that girl has turned our Casanova into a two-girl Romeo.”

“If Odd’s romance with her lasts more than Aelita’s average, we may be in so much trouble. I fear that he will start adding his and Brynja’s initials on a tree on Earth, or on a rock on Lyoko.” Cassidy shook her head. “I’m not sure what to think.”

After a movie, Odd and Brynja walked through Kadic’s gates. However, the date soured. “You have such a sad face all night. You’re not happy to be with me?”

Odd sighed. “Sure, I am. I was just thinking about the fight I had with my buddies.”

“Don’t worry. Sometimes you make friends. Sometimes, you lose them. You make new ones.”

Odd stopped at a tree. “Oh, they’re not just any ole pals. They’re real friends, and real friends count a lot more for me, Brynja.” _And one of them, I should comfort. She had a distressed look on her face, and I ignored her._

Brynja twirled around and smiled. “That is true, but your real friends have made you very sad.” She waved a hand in front of him. “Now that we’re together, you don’t need them.”

Odd cocked a brow and shook his head. “Hm…? No, no, it’s really different with them.” He turned away from her. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Well, then, explain it to me. What is the matter? Don’t you trust me, Odd?”

He scratched the back of his head and then made a motion similar to his friend Ulrich unsheathing his katana from his backpack. “Well, ya see. We’re kinda like an army…of warriors.”

Her eyes widened. “Warriors? What do you mean?”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Oh, nothing… Forget I ever said it.”

“I thought that you trusted me, but you don’t…” She turned and walked off.

“No, no! WAIT!” Odd thrust a hand.

She stopped, backed up, and looked at him.

“Okay, let me show you something. Maybe you can see why my friends are so special. But you’ve gotta swear to keep it a secret.”

Brynja smiled, facing him. Maybe she could see why he thought so highly of them, despite the argument that he had with them. “Mm-hm…”

In the lab, Odd untied the dark purple blindfold. “Here we are! Tada!” He pointed.

Brynja gasped at what she saw. A computer complex hung from the ceiling. A bowl sat right next to it. “Oh, this is incredible. What is this place?”

Odd looked away as Brynja walked to the chair. “Uh, it’s kinda complicated. I’m not sure I understand it all. There are some pretty top secret scientific experiments—uh, ultra-secret phenomena, digital kinda stuff.”

She sat in the chair and turned on the monitor. Her slim fingers typed on the keyboard. “Wow…”

 _Odd, ya darned idiota en el amor,_ Cassidy’s words echoed in the boy’s mind. _Mira over yonder!_

“Hm…?” The noise of tapping keys bought Odd’s attention. He saw her typing. However, he saw that the computer was working on something. His heart pounding, he flew between her and the keys. “No, Brynja. Don’t touch anything!”

She scowled at him. “Alright, Odd. I’m not an idiot.”

He noticed a program on the screen. What did Einstein say the program would do?  “But the Supercomputer was doing something. What did you do?”

“Me? Nothing at all. I hardly touched the keyboard.”

Odd sprinted to the elevator, his heart quickening in panic. “Okay, I think we better go now.”

“But, I haven’t seen anything yet,” Brynja protested.

He stopped mere feet from the lift. “Let’s go. Please, Brynja.”

She pouted. First, Odd wouldn’t trust her when it came to being with her, and now she saw the computer complex, he wanted to leave. She could note from the forced grin on his face that he was uncomfortable being in the factory. However, it was enough. She smiled and nodded, leaving the chair.

The next morning, Jeremie woke to a beep. “Huh? What’s going…?” He grabbed his glasses and raced over to his computer.

A few seconds later, Ulrich’s phone rang on his pillow. He pressed a button. “What is it?” he groaned.

Jeremie typed on the keyboard. “Ya gotta get up. Activated tower in Sector—” The tower on the super scanner window disappeared. “That’s weird. There isn’t any activated tower. Okay, Ulrich, you can go back to sleep. False alarm.” He hung up and sighed. “I don’t get it.”

The samurai blinked heavily at his roommate, noting the dog sprawled out on his side on his owner’s back. Odd, in his PJs, was face-down on his pillow, snoring heavily. Next to his bed lay a package of cookies, a bone, a napkin, a soda can, and a comic with a subscription advertisement that had fallen next to it. His hair stuck out in several places. It appeared to Ulrich that Odd hadn’t bothered to cover himself up to keep warm, just his feet.

He laid himself back in his bed, sleep calling his name. Now he could dream of his next date with Yumi.

Meanwhile, at the factory, the elevator opened to reveal Jeremie, Aelita, and a bedraggled Cassidy. She had been up all night, trying to figure out her off-topic math. However, things still didn’t add up.

“’You sure you heard the alarm?” Aelita asked, seeing her knight in glasses race for the chair. She and her roommate ran to either side of him.

“Sure, I’m sure, and I don’t think my computer’s gone paranoid.”

Cassidy cracked up. “A paranoid computer… What in this infinite universe will we think up next?”

“That’s why we gotta hurry and find out what’s going on.” Jeremie adjusted his glasses and typed on the keyboard. “Still no activated tower. Now let me check the log.”  He looked at the times in the factory, and something caught his eye. “Bingo! There was a system alert, alright, but not from this morning. It was a 12:36 last night. Interesting.”

Cassidy’s eyes clouded in white. “Oh, no!”

Aelita looked across from Jeremie. “What is it?” Her voice piqued in curiosity.

“Odd and Brynja were here!” She grunted, closing her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes became the same chocolate brown, but then they rapidly filled in white.

Underneath Aelita’s feet, the ground started to shake. She gasped. Her roommate had her first vision in ages. Jeremie picked up a hand and slapped Cassidy hard on the cheek.

Her brown eyes filling the white, Cassidy shook her head. Her cheek throbbed in pain. She staggered around the lab. “T-thank you, Einstein…” She slumped against a wall. That vision exhausted her body.

Jeremie nodded a “you’re welcome,” his hand returning to the ASDF side of the keyboard.

A window popped up, revealing another tower. “Huh?! This is getting weirder every second.” Jeremie kept typing. “Look. The Supercomputer says that there’s an activated tower in the Desert Sector, but in terms of digital activity, nothing’s going on.”

Aelita put a finger to her chin. “What’s the cause of these false alarms? Do you think it’s a virus?”

He looked at his sweetheart. “It could’ve been a problem with the program we launched last night, but I don’t get it. I checked everything out.”

Cassidy managed a small smile, wincing a bit. “I know you did, Jeremie. I watched you make the program shine.”

Jeremie started typing with one hand. “Here are my calculations.” His hand stopped. “Oh, no!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” both girls chorused.

His hands rested on the arms of the chair. “The program has been modified. Some sort of parasitic foreign data was entered into the Supercomputer.”

Cassidy struggled to her feet. “I told you—ow—Brynja and Odd have been here. Check the footage.”

Jeremie looked at the psychic. “You had a vision?”

“Yes—ow… Sorry, my cheek hurts. But it was Odd and Brynja.”

Jeremie tapped on a key and the surveillance program popped online. He, Aelita, and Cassidy watched as, in cyan tone, Odd led someone, blindfolded, into the lab.

“Uh-oh. Looks like Odd made a big, fat mistake,” Aelita sang.

Cassidy staggered to the chair, holding herself on the back of it. “No, I think his mistake is more like skinny, and blond!” She jumped as Jeremie tapped a key.

The blond girl in the video crossed over to the chair, sat on it and started typing on the keyboard. Then Odd threw himself in between the computer and her. _“No, Brynja, don’t touch anything!”_

“Only you’re too late, Odd,” Jeremie said to the screen.

“Well, no need to look any further, Jeremie. Odd gave away our secret.” She crossed her arms in front of her stomach.

Cassidy closed her eyes, concentrating on her power. “I don’t think he said anything about Lyoko. I’m going through all the conversation he and Brynja had. The closest he ever said was that we, his friends, were like an army of warriors.” She reached behind her head and mimed unsheathing a sword from her “backpack.” “And something about digital phenomena, but that’s close, Aelita.”

“It was Brynja. By touching the keyboard, she modified my program. And that’s what messed up the Supercomputer.” Jeremie reclined into his chair.

Aelita looked back to the screen. “Can you fix it, Jeremie?”

He winked an eye. “Yeah, but the problem is, it might take a little while. And, of course, during that time, XANA could…” He stopped as the window to the Super-Scan popped up again, pinpointing **another tower**. “…activate a tower!” He tensed. “Though it could be another false alarm.”

Cassidy shook her head. “My powers tell me there isn’t going to _be_ an activated tower at this rate.”

Aelita leaned into the chair. “Yes, but we can’t be sure. Send us to Lyoko.”

“Uh-uh, too risky!”

Cassidy shook out the wobbles from her legs. “Come on, Jeremie. Aelita and I will do fine on Lyoko. We always have!”

Jeremie looked at her, eyes widening. “And run the risk of William flirting with you?! No way!”

“Not knowing what XANA could be up to is even riskier. You’ll need someone there like before we had the Super-Scan. Cassidy’s right.” Aelita held her arms behind her back.

“Just like old times, Jeremie,” Cassidy murmured, remembering all the times, minus one, before Aelita’s materialization.

He sighed. The girls had points. They needed to do reconnaissance. “Yeah. You’re probably right. Get in!” Aelita and Cassidy smiled and raced for the ladder. He held a hand out. “And Cassidy?”

She looked back at him, stopping just shy of the opening. “Hm?”

“Ten cuidado ahí fuera, ¿de acuerdo?” Jeremie nodded. “If William even flirts with you once, squeak, and I will try to devirtualize you.”

She grinned and nodded. “Gracias, Jeremie. And your Spanish is getting better.” She climbed down the ladder and joined Aelita in the scanner room.

_“The tower should be in the northwest part of the Forest Sector.”_

Aelita took the scanner to the left. “Gotcha.”

Cassidy took the scanner in the center. “Hasta luego, Jeremie.”

 _“Transfer, Aelita, Transfer, Cassidy._ _Scanner, Aelita, Scanner, Cassidy. Virtualization.”_

The two girls disappeared from Earth and materialized into the virtual world. They dropped expertly as their feet hit the snow. Aelita and Cassidy looked around themselves. There, glaciers and ice floes outcropped in the landscape. “Jeremie? You made a mistake. You sent us to the Ice Sector.”

_“No, I didn’t make a mistake. I virtualized you two in the Forest Sector.”_

“Uh…Einstein, unless it’s Christmas over here and the Kankrelats are making snowmen with the Megatanks, then we could very well call this the Forest Sector,” Cassidy smirked.

_“Oh, we really have a huge problem.”_

At the vending machine, Ulrich drank his soda while sitting next to Yumi, enjoying hers. His phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. “Jeremie, what’s up?” He stopped to listen to Jeremie. “He must be with his Icelandic Icicle…” He again paused to pay attention to his friend’s words. “Huh?! Be right there.” He pressed a button, ending the call. He turned his head to look at Yumi. “Odd took the Eighth Wonder of the World to the factory and guess what! She tweaked the Supercomputer!”

Yumi cocked both brows. He could not be serious. Odd had enough sense not to do that, despite his insanity.

Meanwhile, Sissi paced around, arms crossed. She could not believe what she just saw.

“Sissi, you haven’t seen Odd around, have you?” Ulrich’s voice called her attention.

“I sure have! He’s in the park with _my_ pen-pal!”

Hearing the answer, he and Yumi turned around and raced to the park. They had a bone to pick with him now.

In the Ice Sector, Aelita and Cassidy sat in lotus positions on the path. They had to feel a vibration, a pulse, something. There had to be some sign of an activated tower somewhere.

_“Where are you, Aelita and Cassidy?”_

Cassidy cringed.

Aelita woke quickly and looked up. “I don’t feel any pulsations. I don’t think there’s a problem.” She rose to her feet.

The psychic opened her eyes. “Siento nada, Jeremie.”

_“Okay, then, I’m going to bring you two back in right now. I don’t like you both being all alone on Lyoko. Materialization, Aelita, Materialization, Cassidy.”_

The girls became wireframes of each other’s avatars, disappearing from the Ice Sector entirely. Suddenly, they became wireframes somewhere else. Their feet hit rock. Mountains outcropped and the cyan sky stayed above them.

Cassidy looked around. “Okay…? Did we take a wrong turn in Lyoko’s system or what?”

“Oh, no, Jeremie. Another major problem. Believe it or not, we’re in the Mountain Sector.”

“Not only that, Aelita. Look!” Cassidy pointed a claw to her left.

Two Bloks and two Kankrelats trotted onto the scene.

“And we’re not alone either!”

Cassidy changed her tube into a gun but ran with Aelita to cover her. “Jeremie, we may need backup.”

_“Okay, Aelita and Cassidy. I’ll warn the others.”_

At the park, Brynja petted Odd’s hair, smiling in content. For all the hair gel he put in, it surprised her that it felt soft and smooth. And he had charm. Oh, yes.

Odd, in the meantime, rested his head on her lap. Sure, she didn’t feed him frozen grapes or anything. She had beauty and elegance.

“Odd!”

He sat up to see Yumi and Ulrich walking up to him. “Oh, hi, guys.”

Ulrich crossed his arms in front of his chest. “How was the movie last night? Which one was it?”

“Uh… _Jurassic Experiment.”_

Yumi bent down near the couple. “Oh, yeah? ’You sure it wasn’t _Two Rats in a Factory_?”

His heart raced. Jeremie must’ve found out, with Cassidy’s help, and told them. "Uh…no. What makes you say that?”

“Because Jeremie’s got the whole film on video. The actors are the spitting images of you two lovebirds.” She removed one hand from her pocket, formed it into a fist, and placed it on her hip. “Anything to say for yourself?”

Odd leaned his head forward. “Hey, listen. It’s not what you think. I was going to tell you about it.”

She placed the hand on her brow, then threw it in front of herself, palm upward. “What’s in that head of yours, sawdust? The Supercomputer is on the blink. _Odd!_ You have just betrayed your way out of our group!” She crossed her arms over her chest.

Brynja spoke up. “But what is the problem? Yes, we visited your mysterious laboratory, but that’s not the end of the world.”

She leaned forward once again, scowling. “For your information, _it could be_ the end of the world!”

She glared at her and rose to her feet. “I’ve had enough of these stories! I’m going to the swimming pool. Well, Odd? Are you coming or not?” She held her right wrist to her hip as she towered above him.

Odd shifted his eyes from her to the disapproving glares of his two friends. Should he go with Brynja, and risk his friendship (and loving relationship with one of them) and Lyoko Warrior membership? Alternatively, should he go with his friends to fix his mistakes, lose the Icelandic Goddess, but still have a shattered heart? He stood up, closing his eyes to Yumi and Ulrich, frowning. “I um—I’m really sorry.”

Brynja smiled. She would have him all to herself. She took his hand and led him away.

The samurai and the geisha uncrossed their arms and groaned. They decided that they would talk with Jeremie later and have him delete Odd’s card, dismantling his immunity to the Returns to the Past.

A ringing sound alerted Ulrich. He fished the phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear. “Jeremie…?” He listened to the Einstein’s question. “Well, things could be better.” He realized he talked over him. “Huh?” Jeremie explained the situation. “But why did you send them out alone?! Doesn’t Cassidy know that XANA wants to use her as live bait so William can flirt with her? Be right there!” He pressed end call. “What’s the matter today? I think everyone’s gone crazy!”

Yumi cocked a brow. “Hm…?”

Meanwhile, Jeremie typed on the keyboard. “Don’t worry, girls. Ulrich and Yumi are on the way. I’ll be finished fixing the Supercomputer really soon. Just a couple minutes.”

On Lyoko, Aelita and Cassidy hid behind a rock, the cat girl firing and missing the Blok.

Aelita looked up at the sky. “Just a couple of minutes?! Survival out here is just a matter of a few microseconds…” She kept her tone soft and low.

Cassidy stopped firing to pant, “I don’t know if we will come out of the scanners if we lose all of our life points this time. Brynja’s bug is indecipherable, even by my standards, other than we are on a random chance virtualization.”

They charged for the next rock cover, unleashing their weapons at the enemy. They managed to make them split up in separate directions. However, the bullets and the energy field did nothing to dispatch them. Then, Aelita rose up from her position behind their cover, raised a hand, and a pink orb charged. “Energy Field.” It flew to one of the Bloks and combusted the monster. The Kankrelat beside it hopped out of the way.

“Congratulations, Aelita!” Cassidy smiled. “Bullseye!”

Aelita turned around. “Yeah, but there are still three more squares to cover.” She waved a hand over her pendant. “U and A!”

The cat girl swiped her hand over hers, smiling. “You’ve learned well.”

They rose above the ground when a white wave hit them, and they slammed back with a shout. Cassidy whimpered in discomfort as she landed on her shoulder.

There, just resting on the rock they hid behind, stood a black robed figure gently letting his zabanto rest by his thigh. He watched the Blok and two Kankrelats clunk forward, firing their lasers and missing.

Cassidy and Aelita rose to their hands and knees. The psychic cat girl hit her fist on the ground. “Darn it! I forgot all about my XANAfied ex-boyfriend…even if I did the math about him last night.”

William sliced his sword through the air. **“Cease fire!”**

The three monsters stopped firing, watching as he jumped off the rock. He romped through the landscape, resting his weapon on his shoulder. **“Aelita, Cassidy, at last—just the three of us!”**

Cassidy growled, slightly braver. “How about no!”

_“Aelita, Cassidy, watch out!”_

The cat girl aimed and fired her gun. He brought up his zabanto, and the bullet hit the blade. Aelita turned and shot an energy field. He moved to the side, and the orb flew into the atmosphere. He watched it for a second and looked over to see the two girls running for safety.

“Have I ever mentioned how much I hate having a run-in with my ex?”

Aelita growled and sighed at the same time as they jumped off the mountain and onto another. “Only a million times.”

William raced behind them, unaware that a Kankrelat started to follow them.

At the lab, Jeremie heard a mature voice. _“Okay, Jeremie. We’re here!”_

He typed on the keyboard and adjusted his mic. “Okay, you’re going in right now. Aelita and Cassidy are in big trouble in the Mountain Sector!”

In the Scanner Room, Yumi and Ulrich walked to the scanners facing each other and stopped. “Just a second, Einstein,” he said. “How are you planning to send us there if the Supercomputer’s all messed up?”

_“No idea. I’m trying to fix it, but we’ll have to risk it. If not, Aelita and Cassidy will be at the mercy of William.”_

He sighed sarcastically as they turned to enter. “Another great idea—it gets better and better.” The doors closed.

_“Transfer, Ulrich, Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Ulrich, Scanner, Yumi. Virtualization.”_

In an orange atmosphere, a pair of wireframes appeared, filling into solid forms of Yumi and Ulrich. The two bent their knees and landed onto sand. Ulrich looked around. “Hey, didn’t you say the Mountain Sector? Speaking of bright ideas Einstein.”

_“Sorry, guys.”_

Yumi looked at her boyfriend. “Chill, Ulrich, okay?” It’s not Jeremie’s fault. Don’t forget! We could’ve wound up in the digital sea, too.”

_“I could always try to bring you back in and then send you to the right Sector.”_

Yumi looked up at the sky. “No, we can’t take the chance. We’ll find our own way. Just point us in the right direction.”

_“Okay, the way tower is due south of your position.”_

The two raced off into the general direction.

Back in the Mountain Sector, Aelita and Cassidy raced from rock to rock. The elven warrior looked around the rock, seeing that the Blok and two Kankrelats searching for them. She looked at her friend, who had ceased fire so their position wouldn’t be given away, and raised two fingers in a peace sign. Cassidy nodded, and they charged for the next hiding place. Aelita saw something silvery-gray in the way. Her friend ran into it. They looked up to see William. The cat girl blinked and trembled, the earlier bravado fading into dark fear.

Aelita charged a pink orb in her hand and fired away. It nicked his wrist gauntlet. He rubbed his face. Taking flight and lifting off, she took Cassidy by the hand and kicked him in the chest. “Wings up, Cassidy.”

She activated her wings and flew alongside her roommate. “Aelita, I’m sorry… I…”

“You mean to say that he still strikes fear into you.”

She looked at the ground. “Indeed, yes.” She then looked beneath and behind her. “He’s still after us.”

In the Desert Sector, Ulrich and Yumi ran across the sand. “Jeremie, we’re almost at the way tower.”

_“Roger!”_

They dissolved into the tower. Now they could switch to the right part of Lyoko.

Back on the Mountain Sector, Aelita and Cassidy flew across the rock. _“Listen, Aelita and Cassidy. I’m almost through fixing the Supercomputer. You two okay?”_

“No, we’re not okay at all!” Aelita retorted.

Cassidy shivered midflight. “My possessed ex is giving a heated chase. At least he isn’t—” She gulped “—using my nickname or flirting with me.”

Suddenly, a laser connected with Aelita’s knee, deactivating her wings and forcing her to land. The cat girl’s eyes widened. “Aelita!” She cried out as a laser cut through her stomach and she fell to the floor. She looked back and saw a Kankrelat, moaning as she held her stomach.

Aelita’s jaw dropped as she saw William rise from his smoke, holding his zabanto over his shoulder. Both girls had no time to react as he shot a smoky bullet from his hand, it splitting and engulfing them, sending them sprawling into the air.

 _Is Mr. Hated drunk? He’s doing things haphazardly,_ Cassidy asked in her mind.

William formed a fist. He finally had them in his grasp. Then he thrust it to the side. The girls flew through the air and hit a rock, knocking the breath out of them. Cassidy fell unconscious, while Aelita struggled to keep herself awake. However, his work had only just begun.

Smoke surrounded them once again, and the pinkette gasped as she and her roommate unwillingly came forward to him. **“XANA’s finally going to have your company for good!”** He started to laugh, studying his prey. **_I will make you proud, Master XANA. Soon you’ll have Cassidy for your own personal servant._**

Cassidy’s eyes struggled to open. She could hear a buzzing sound through the air. _Yumi…?_ A small explosion, followed by a grunt, snapped her back to consciousness. She blearily looked through her glasses and saw a reddish-purplish figure standing next to an orange-brown one. Blackness settled around the edges of her vision.

Ulrich unsheathed his katanas as Yumi caught her fans. “Hey, William! When are you gonna learn that we never abandon our friends?”

William dissolved into smoke and slithered a few feet in front of them, rising back to form and resting his zabanto on his shoulder. He brought it around his waist, then swung.

Yumi reverse cartwheeled out of the way while Ulrich dodged. “Super Sprint!” He charged for him and slashed, but he threw his head back, and his sword missed his throat. He backed away a couple feet.

Meanwhile, Yumi watched a wireframe materialize into a Kankrelat. It fired at her, but she cartwheeled away from the laser, and the trio of monsters that Aelita and Cassidy encountered. The Blok charged its laser.

At the pool, Odd looked up at his Icelandic sweetheart on the diving board. She wore a dark navy blue strapless one-piece with two snow white vertical stripes. She spread her arms apart and dove head-first, causing the boys on the other side of the pool to cheer. She swam to them, and they gathered around her, offering their towels as she climbed over the edge, smiling all the way. Nicholas waved his around. “What do you say we go for a swim later…”

“Do they have beaches in Iceland?” Julien Xao asked.

“Hey, would you like to have a fantastic breathtaking experience in the moonlight today?”

Bastien looked at Nicholas. “Shut up, Poliakoff.”

Odd decided to take his leave. She came on strong, Jeremie and Ulrich had told him. That statement was true. She fried the brains of every boy and even the girls. That wasn’t right. And to think that Cassidy had worked on off-topic math and he ignored and cheated on her. He felt horrible.

Back at the lab, Jeremie typed on the keyboard. “Hey, Ulrich, Yumi, go real easy, okay? If you you guys get devirtualized before I can fix the program, I’m not sure I can bring you back to Earth again.”

In the Mountain Sector, the fans soared through the air, but the Blok shot one off-track. The other one hit the Kankrelat beside it then came back to Yumi. She grabbed it and sheathed it. “And you’re telling us this now?”

Cassidy stood beside her. She blinked the darkness from her vision and shook her head. “Uh…” Soon, her sight cleared up.

Yumi spun around, fans open and blocking laser fire.

Just a few feet away, Ulrich avoided another smash from William’s zabanto. “Thanks a lot. What’s the bad news?”

**“How could I possibly ask for more? I’m gonna get four birds with one sword!”**

Ulrich backed up, preparing his attack. “We’ll see about that!”

William parried. **“Yes, we’ll see, too.”**

He brought us his katanas to shield himself. He dropped down and hooked William’s feet, causing him to fall on his back. He brought his katana down, but he took most of the damage with his wrist. A foot met his stomach. He back-flipped and stood up.

In the lab, Jeremie heard the creak of the elevator. He turned his head as the metal doors opened. He saw Odd. He sighed and turned back to the Supercomputer’s keyboard.

“Uh…could you use my help?”

“Odd, you’re not exactly welcome around here. I’m sorry, but I have no time to chat with you,” he said coldly.

Odd smiled. “Well, that’s great. Let’s not waste any time and virtualize me right away. Our friends must need our help.”

He sighed and smiled. “Okay, but with the Supercomputer down, you could be virtualized anywhere at all.”

He pressed a button. “That’s my problem.”

Jeremie resumed his typing, his fingers like pistons.

Back on Lyoko, Cassidy and Yumi flipped to avoid the lasers. Then the geisha threw her fans. However, the monsters leaped, avoiding instant death. The cat girl fired her gun. The Blok spun around and caught the bullet in its pore, and then sent it back. The girl cried out as a rush of pain shot up her thigh. “OW! HEY! No fair!” She growled, eyes widening as the Blok’s eye turned an icy blue. “Oh, no!” She flipped and cartwheeled, bumping into Yumi as she did. “Yumi, look out!” She winced as a cold sensation covered her arms.

 _You really didn’t need to do that,_ a voice echoed inside her head.

_Franz? Is that you?_

As fast as it came, it disappeared. She frowned.

“Cassidy! Hold on.” Unsheathing her fans, Yumi started to slice at the ice. “The ice is strong!”

“It was super strong a couple months ago.”

Sudden laser fire hit the imprisonment. Cassidy fell onto her stomach. “GAH!”

Aelita swooped into the scene, charging an energy field, letting it loose on a Kankrelat. It covered the monster, and it combusted, the legs collapsing and disappearing. The Blok shot back in retaliation, but she leaned back and ducked, avoiding the lasers.

Yumi unfurled her fans and tossed them, only for the block-like monster to jump and dodge one of them. The other weapon dove at an angle and sliced through it, causing instant explosion.

Cassidy creased a brow. “Since when do Bloks have a sudden spring to their step?”

The geisha and elven warriors shrugged. That was new, they had to admit.

Meanwhile, Ulrich held his katanas in an X formation, holding off a slice in half attempt. William brought his weapon back, slicing above and below his opponent. The samurai warrior ducked and leaped to avoid them. He brought it up again, but the other warrior skipped backward a few feet. The zabanto smashed down into the rock. Then William brought up his weapon and slashed again. Another jump. He sent it down. Ulrich crossed his katanas above him and caught the bigger sword. The older boy pushed as hard as he could.

Suddenly, Ulrich’s feet met a mountain formation. He turned his head at it, but his eyes widened as a pain met his chest, and he dissolved into pixilated dust.

William removed his sword from the stone and sighed contentedly.

Yumi watched in horror. He devirtualized her boyfriend. “Ulrich, no!” Then a sudden pain hit her neck, making her disappear.

A pink orb charged up in Aelita’s hand, letting it loose at the Kankrelat. It covered the monster and it exploded.

A ball of smoke shot up mere feet from the girls, and William reappeared. **“You’re next!”** he said as he charged toward the girls.

Cassidy’s eyes sparkled. “Um…does he know that in a few seconds he’s about to be toast?”

“Is this the time or place to be asking that sort of question?” Aelita scowled.

Meanwhile, Jeremie’s fingers hovered over the enter key. “It’s the moment of truth, I guess,” he sighed, pressing it. He closed his eyes, hearing the program’s high-pitched beeping. He thrust his fists in victory. “Yeah! Transfer, Odd.” He pressed the key again.

In the scanner room, the doors to Odd’s scanner closed tightly around him.

On Lyoko, William slowed his gait to a walk, holding his zabanto in front of him. He pumped a fist. **_This is it!_**

Cassidy and Aelita walked backwards. “Um…Cassidy…if you’ve got any bullets left…I’d suggest you use them?”

She held her guns out and squeezed the triggers, hearing sickening clicks instead. She gulped nervously. “Good news is there are usually plenty of ammo for my guns. The bad news is that my weapons are jammed and I can’t unload the squibs quick enough.”

Back in the scanner room, Ulrich rubbed his neck as he walked out of his scanner while Yumi stretched as she sauntered out of hers.

Meanwhile, Cassidy and Aelita backed away, eyes wide.

_“Virtualization.”_

A spiky-haired wireframe appeared in the sky, filling into a cat-like warrior. Aelita and Cassidy stopped in their tracks, smiling. “ODD!”

Odd landed onto the rock, spreading virtual dust around him and causing William to look at him and growl. “You think _I’m_ afraid of that popsicle stick?” He raised his arm, firing several laser arrows.

The possessed minion raised his sword, hearing the arrows hit metal. Suddenly, a pain spread into his shoulder and he lowered his weapon. He couldn’t believe it. That brat cat just hit him!

In the lab, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi watched the screen. Would Odd prove himself to keep around? However, they knew that they had to wait and see.

On Lyoko, William held his zabanto, hearing another _ching_ , but feeling another pain spread. This time, the arrow hit his stomach. He thrust his arm outward, firing his smoke. It split and hit the girls.

Aelita and Cassidy stumbled over the edge of the Mountain Sector, caught off-guard from his attack.

Odd’s eyes widened. “AELITA! CASSIDY!” He ran over to the edge, seeing them both in freefall. He jumped off the rock and started falling. Hearing their screams, the cat boy knew that he had to do this right. Raising his arm, he aimed for Aelita’s wrist and fired. Then he fired an arrow at Cassidy’s.

The star and heart pendants activated, spreading the virtual wings open and catching the girls in mid-fall. Shaking off the impact, Aelita and Cassidy looked up to see Odd about to fall in. They soared up and each grabbed him by the hands. The sudden weight almost flung them all back into the dangerous situation. The girls grunted as they pulled up with all their strength, smiling as they looked upon Odd, who sighed in relief.

They flew back up onto the land.

Later, the three scanners opened to reveal Aelita, Cassidy, and Odd. The cat girl warrior rubbed her stomach.

Yumi, Ulrich, Jeremie, Aelita, and Cassidy looked at Odd, expecting an excuse.

Odd stepped out of his scanner. “Well, I know just what you’re going to say. I betrayed you, and I’m a total lame-o, and I should be kicked out of the group.” He closed his eyes, taking a moment to pause. “And you were right, too, guys. I should never have shown the Supercomputer to Brynja. It’s unforgivable.” He raised his head, eyes still shut.

Jeremie walked closer to him, smiling. Now he got it. “Well, no. You simply forgot that inside that head of yours, there happens to be a brain.”

Ulrich frowned. “You’re not the only one who’s lame. We were just too jealous of you.”

Yumi nodded. “Yeah, we all went a bit too far because of Brynja.”

Cassidy shook her head tiredly. “I don’t know what I was feeling. The math I did had made little sense to me. I guess tenía celos, también.”

Aelita folded her arms over her chest, smiling. “Well, I forgive you, Odd. I mean, you saved us from William.”

Odd’s voice cracked in surprise. “Well, still friends?”

“Does the sun rise in the East?” Cassidy asked. “Of course, we are!”

“And Cassidy, I’m sorry I cheated on you and ignored your struggles.”

She rolled her eyes. “We agreed we would have an open relationship, so that way you could still go out with girls. I might never date more than one guy, but I want you to still enjoy the company of other girls.”

Odd smiled more. “There is a way to fix the mess I made. A little return to the past, hm…?”

She blinked. “No need, Odd. Brynja is too—too—too fickle to remember this place. Plus, she’s going to the countryside tomorrow to visit Sissi’s cousin. She always wanted to see that.”

He frowned. “Oh…”

The next day, Brynja walked out of the Kadic dorms, a suitcase in hand. Most of the male and female populace said their “goodbyes” and “bon voyages.”

“Can you believe that? She completely forgot to say ‘goodbye’ to me,” Odd moaned.

“Well, now do you see why Cassidy and I aren’t worried about the Supercomputer, Odd?” Jeremie deadpanned.

He smiled. “Who cares about her anyway? There’s no shortage of girls around here.” Odd winked at his girl.

Cassidy winced. “Odd…you know that your flirting with me makes me nervous.”

Ulrich looked to see Sissi. “Hey, Sissi, I thought that Brynja was going to stay here for four days.”

“Well, let’s just say I convinced my father to send her out of town to my cousin’s place. She wanted to see the countryside, so why not?” Sissi smiled. Now she could get all the attention again.

Odd strode forward. “I guess for you, that’s a real relief. So now that Brynja’s gone, she can’t steal the show.” He played it up. They all did to avert suspicion of Cassidy’s powers.

“You may not believe it, Odd, but it was really a pleasure. You know, sometimes I envy you, too…” Sissi sang.

Aelita and Yumi collectively cocked their eyebrows. “Hm…?”

“Especially with your magical girlfriend. I’m surprised that no one believed the article about her powers. She clearly has them.” She pointed at her.

Cassidy ducked behind the post, uneasy about her putting her in the spotlight.

“Anyway, because being surrounded by guys all the time, could never happen to you.” Sissi waved a dismissive hand as she walked away.

Odd smiled and stepped forward as the geisha and elven warriors groaned. “Ah, now _that’s_ the Sissi we all love.” He playfully hit his head with his fist. “How could I ever have flipped over Brynja?” He held his hood in front of Cassidy. “Here, hold me back?”

She pursed her lips. “What?”

He pouted and cocked a brow.

She rolled her eyes. “Alright.” She took the hood.

Odd started running in place. “Let me after her. Let me after her.”

Cassidy held him back with all her strength. “I don’t know what you…” She caught his gaze that screamed “Work with me here!” The cat girl warrior sighed and let the hood go. “Okay.”

Odd raced for Sissi.

“Get away from me!” She ran away from him.

“Sissi! Sissi, wait! Wherefore art thou, Juliet?!” Odd shouted after her.

Back with the group, the others chortled. Ulrich grinned. “Uh-oh… Odd’s gone bananas again. We better watch out, guys!”

“That maniac’s in love with both me—and Sissi!” Cassidy cackled.


	63. Kiwi gets into a Conundrum

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but again…**

**…this place has gone to the dogs. And this won’t be the last time, I don’t think.**

**“+text+” is sign-language with mouthing.**

_The circus arrives without warning._

Those words swirled around Cassidy’s head as she sat with Yumi in their NavSkid.

 _“Yumi, Cassidy! Where are you two?”_ Odd asked.

“Mr. Hated is on our trail!” Cassidy protested, dragged out of her thoughts.

Yumi yanked her torpedo launcher. “We can’t shake the guy!”

In his Rorkal, William’s mouth tilted upward as he aimed at the girls’ NavSkid. They swerved left and right, one trying to avoid the other. Yumi and Cassidy activated their hyper speed while Odd followed close beside them. _“Ladies, I’m coming in for you! Watch out on your left.”_

“We’re on it!” Yumi affirmed.

William pressed a button on his launcher. **“Fire.”**

They looked at their sonar as two torpedoes came close. Yumi pulled on the joystick and tilted left, the projectiles missing. They pulled to one side and took off with William behind them. Odd pulled up behind him. _“Okay, girls, I’m in line with you.”_ He pressed a button on a panel to his right. “Hey, tall, dark, and handsome, you’ll never get anywhere with them if you don’t…back off a little. Take my advice, give them some room!”

At first, William looked around in confusion, wondering how Odd managed to talk to his vehicle. Then he growled, clenching his teeth. _“You-who…!”_

Cassidy turned the NavSkid around, and the offender went over the XANAfied minion, who went over and chased him.

“Cat and mouse, huh?” Odd bragged.

William huffed confidently. He will pay for distracting him from his prey.

Odd took a right, the enemy not too far behind, leaving Yumi and Cassidy alone.

Aelita came in, _“The coast is clear, Cassidy and Yumi. You can take off now.”_

“He’s worse than a candy bar stuck in your jeans in the middle of a heatwave,” Cassidy muttered as Yumi took a vertical U-turn.

In another section of the digital network, a Shark swam in pursuit.

Ulrich stayed beside Aelita in the cockpit.

“Ulrich, Yumi and Cassidy are coming in to take over for you,” Aelita informed.

He nodded. “Right, I’ll break away.” Maneuvering his NavSkid away from the sub, Ulrich took off in the opposite direction. He squinted as he saw something behind the girls.

Yumi looked at him, unaware.

“Yumi, watch out!” Cassidy and Ulrich chorused.

Ulrich pressed a button. “Torpedoes!”

She moved out of the way, the projectiles spiraling to the monster. However, the Shark ducked and shot its laser from its mouth, hitting Yumi and Cassidy up the fuselage. Both girls cried out as their NavSkid sank down.

“This way, Fish Face!” Ulrich catcalled, passing by the monster. It followed him.

 _“You guys are way low on energy. We’re going to have to abort the mission now,”_ Jeremie said.

“Already?” Aelita asked. “We didn’t even get close to the Replika.”

_“That’s my point. You still have too far to go, and with XANA harassing us all the time, it’s way too dangerous!”_

“Aelita, I’m coming in on your left!” Odd informed.

Aelita looked around. “Right. I’ll lock on your NavSkid, Odd.” She typed on the white keys. “Okay, Odd. You’re the target now.”

Odd panted slightly. “Here we go!” He accelerated his vehicle.

In the cockpit, Aelita aimed at her new goal and pressed a button. “Now!” Two torpedoes shot out of the cockpit and followed the path.

Odd smiled as they came into his view, rounding the corner. Maneuvering his NavSkid, he spun to avoid them. “¡Olé!”

William’s Rorkal got hit wayside.

“Hey, that’s fantastic! Just like in practice!” He smiled enthusiastically.

“Awesome work, Aelita!” Cassidy applauded.

 _“Good job. Our fighting techniques are improving, but it doesn’t change a thing. You’re still too far away. I gotta bring you in!”_ the genius stated.

“I gotcha,” Aelita whispered, pulling a lever. “Rotation.” The top shell of the Skid slowly whirled around to the front. Right away, she saw two NavSkids in the midst of a battle with the Shark. She growled in quiet determination. “This one is mine.” She pressed both buttons, and two torpedoes arched over and behind her.

Ulrich and Yumi dodged them. The monster moved away from one, but the other one hit it. “Well done, Aelita. He overstayed his welcome a long time ago,” Ulrich praised.

“My pleasure!” Aelita smiled gleefully. She pulled down on two levers just as the sea turned cyan. “NavSkids in.”

Yumi and Cassidy’s double NavSkid filled the top part, while Ulrich came in from the side. Odd twirled in. “Hey, wait for me!” he protested.

Aelita pressed on the octagonal keys. “Maximum propulsion.” The Skid sped back to Lyoko.

Later, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich, Aelita, and Cassidy rode the elevator up to the Lab, none worse for wear. They took to Jeremie’s side.

“That’s another mission down the drain,” the genius sighed.

Ulrich yawned. “I can’t even remember what we were trying to do.”

“Finding that Replika, that’s what,” Cassidy blinked, swaying.

“It’s such a simple procedure: we construct an intermediate digital sinusitis with intergalactic lyrical context, all multiplied by the virtual factors of the theorems of Thales and Pythagoras. Piece of cake!” Odd smiled.

Ulrich chuckled. “Perfect imitation!”

Cassidy fell to the floor. “Odd, what did I tell you about stealing leaves from Einstein’s book?”

“Yeah, what do you say we go to sleep?” Jeremie groaned, giving the wildcard a deadpan glare.

Yumi helped the drained psychic to her feet, smiling with her eyes closed. “Good idea.”

The younger Lyoko Warriors snuck back to the dorms. When Ulrich and Odd opened their room, they found it full of feathers. “Oh, no, I don’t believe this.”

Kiwi sat in the middle of the mess, yipping innocently.

Ulrich gestured to him. “Odd, what did we agree on about your dog?” he asked in a growl.

“Uh…well…” He stood in front of his friends the next morning. “But there was no need to get carried away.”

Yumi walked in with Cassidy. “Hi, everybody!” She looked at Odd’s scowling face. “Let me try and guess. No seconds in the lunchroom? A prank that backfired? Girl trouble?”

“Worse, Kiwi!” Ulrich answered.

“Before you get all hot under the collar about him, you forget that I can read animal minds,” Cassidy said. “Might not help the sentence, but might explain the behavior.”

“You really think you could be Kiwi’s lawyer?” Odd’s eyes widened.

“Of course, Odd,” Cassidy smiled. “Let’s go get my client.” She winked.

The gang walked to Odd and Ulrich’s room, and Cassidy knelt to Kiwi’s level. “Hi, Kiwi.”

 _Hi, Cassidy. Happy to see you._ The dog looked up at the glares of her friends. _I can explain._

“It’s okay. We’re going to go through each of your—um…transgressions—and see if we can lighten your sentence. Odd will explain his side, and then you’ll say to me what it is.”

_Okay, Cassidy._

“Do you think I like the idea of sleeping in wet sheets every time Odd forgets to take him for a walk?” Ulrich asked her.

“Put yourself in his place. The poor little thing’s cooped up all day.” Odd put his fingers together nervously.

_It’s true, and I have an excitable bladder._

“He also has a nervous bladder, so if he doesn’t take him for a walk, and I can’t, then you have the fullest permission to, Ulrich.”

“How do you think I feel about torn up books?” Jeremie brought up.

“Paper makes Kiwi sick. So if you didn’t leave your books all over the place, he wouldn’t be chewing on them,” Odd defended.

_Plus, if I stay in his room, I don’t have my chew toys. He hates it when they squeak._

Cassidy sighed. “Jeremie, I know you are sensitive, but you have to let Kiwi keep a couple of his toys in your room. He hates it when you don’t let him have them.”

“And what about my stuff? Is it because I leave them around that Kiwi steals them? I spend my life digging through the campus grounds. Mr. Rouiller thinks I’m a nutcase!” Aelita complained.

_Yeah… I haven’t been trained out of that yet._

“Kiwi’s burying instincts haven’t been taken out of his system yet.”

“And what about my new shoes he ruined last week?” Yumi protested.

Odd’s head lowered. He had a feeling that Kiwi was going to have a bad time.

_I didn’t mean to do that. I needed to go out._

“He didn’t intend for that to happen, and he really needed to go on a walk that day.”

Everyone sighed. They could take pride in Cassidy’s ability to read Kiwi’s mind, but sometimes they thought that it was more trouble than what she let on.

Odd sighed. “What’s the sentence?”

Jeremie thought on it. “To make Kiwi understand his behavior, he has to stay at the factory for two days.”

His eyes widened. “What?! Two days in the factory?!” He then considered. “That’s lighter.”

“It is,” Cassidy sighed. “At least he didn’t do anything bad with me.”

_If it’s just two days, I’ll understand._

She petted the dog behind the ears. “You will be okay, Kiwi.”

“He’ll be fine there. It’s not so horrible,” Aelita reassured.

“‘Not so horrible?’ Staying for hours in a computer lab may be fine for Jeremie, but not for my dog,” Odd grumbled as the others left the room.

That afternoon, in the factory’s laboratory, Odd made a small corner for Kiwi without Cassidy. He yipped anxiously. “I even remembered your froggy.” He handed it to him. “Except for Cassidy, no one understands you, especially our so-called friends.” He walked away while Kiwi held his frog. “Be brave, my little diggity dog.” The elevator went up.

The dog laid himself down on the bed, about to take a nap when the Supercomputer beeped. The eye of XANA covered the screen. Then, the super-scan popped up with a rectangle grabbed an activated tower.

In Jeremie’s room, one of XANA’s ghosts floated from his electrical plugs and into a box on the top shelf. It toppled off and onto the ground, breaking the seal and opening the flaps. Enshrouded in shadow, a pair of eyes blinked activated.

In the gym, Jim led the lesson. “Hello there! I’m glad to see many of you here at my Pencak Silat class. Pencak Silat, as its name indicates, is a combat technique, which is half aesthetic, half self-defense, and half spirituality. Yes, well, uh…these three halves could save your life…especially if you ever parachute in the middle of the Burmese jungle at the height of the monsoon season.” He demonstrated some moves.

“Well, I see we have an extra student today,” Yumi whispered.

“Hey, this class is open to everybody, isn’t it? And besides, I wanna learn Pinching Skillets too,” Sissi protested.

Johnny put his hand to one side of his mouth. “It’s called Pen-catch Silar.”

Yumi looked at her brother and his friend. “Hey, what are you two doing here?”

Hiroki smiled. “We came here to be with you. I love hanging out with you, Sis.” He waved double peace signs while she groaned.

Jim raised a finger. “Alright. Enough talking and let’s get to work. I want you in groups of two for a warm up. We’re going to begin with a short little warm up…” The door opened interrupting him.

“Excuse us, Jim?” a soft little voice asked.

“Hey! Just what are you two doing in here?” he demanded as Milly and Tamiya walked up to him.

“We wanna do a story on Punchy Muskrat,” Milly explained. “Ishiyama said you wouldn’t mind at all.”

“Huh?!” He turned to Yumi. “Did you say that?”

She backed away. _Of course, I wouldn’t, Jim!_

“No, not her!” Milly quickly defended and pointed the eraser at someone. “It was him.”

Hiroki blushed light pink. “Uh, well, I um…” He looked off to the side.

In the Rec Room, Cassidy was pouring over her vision journals. “My goodness. We’ll have a Sector Five Replika mission soon.”

“You serious?” Aelita giggled as she and Jeremie played Go. “Well, go on, Jeremie.”

Paul Girard and Julian Xao were playing foosball, the black-haired boy making loud commentary.

Jeremie tried to concentrate and take his turn. Aelita sighed. “Take your time, why don’t you.”

He threw his hand up in the air. “It’s impossible to concentrate with all that racket going on behind us.”

Cassidy sighed and walked over, whispering to Julian. “Hey, my friends and I would most enjoy it if you would lower the volume.” She smiled meekly. “We’re trying to um…concentrate?”

He glared daggers at her. “Concentrate! That’s all you bookworms do.”

She lowered her gaze, slight bags under her eyes. “I’m not a bookworm…”

“Why don’t you try something important, like foosball?”

She threw her hands into the air. “Jeremie, Aelita, let’s just get out of here. Besides, I think our video game needs us.” Cassidy stormed out of the Rec Room.

Right as she did, Jeremie’s bag beeped. He shushed the two students.

“Are you talking to me, Belpois? It seems McGuire has flown the coop,” Julian glowered at the genius as he passed them.

He set his laptop on one knee and opened the lid. The same window that showed on the Supercomputer popped up and showed the tower. “Oh, no! XANA’s launched an attack,” Jeremie whispered as Aelita came close.

“Which Sector?”

“In the Desert Sector. We better hurry up. Cassidy’s already ahead of us.” His brows cocked high.

Just as Odd uncovered the lid to the sewers, Cassidy neared him. “You must go back to the factory. Jeremie and Aelita are on their way.”

“XANA?” he creased a brow. “Oh, no. Kiwi already has a hard time whenever I leave. Now if I have to go to Lyoko…” He saw the look on her face. “Okay, okay. We’ll see them over there. Follow me.”

She waited until he was a few feet down to add her own, covering the entryway.

In the gymnasium, Jim asked, “Are you ready? Begin!”

Sissi squared off against Johnny, hopping on one foot toward him. He backed away with his arms in the air, avoiding her fists and feet. They switched positions as Jim walked onto the field. “Sissi, what you tried to do was a Lanka, which is complicated for a beginner.” He looked over to the side. “Ulrich, Yumi, demonstrate!”

The geisha nodded and got into a stance. So did the samurai. She swung a leg over him, but he dodged with a grin. She kicked behind her using the same one. Ulrich avoided it again. Sliding in low, Yumi knocked his feet from under him.

He landed on his back as Sissi moaned in worry. The samurai smiled as he allowed her to help him to a standing position.

“Get the idea?” Jim asked.

Ulrich brushed off his shoulder, smiling at his girlfriend. She never held back when sparring, and that’s what he liked about her. The Lyoko Warriors around them openly supported their relationship.

Yumi’s phone rang, and she picked it up to answer. “Aelita? Hm?”

Ulrich looked at her worriedly.

“It’s a XANA alert,” she whispered.

Sissi rubbed her head. “Can’t you watch what you’re doing, you dork?!” Johnny stood a little bit away from her.

Jim smiled. “Deep breaths, Sissi! As my Burmese master said, ‘Serenity is vital in order to stay calm.’” A noise alerted him to look behind him. “Stern, Ishiyama, what are you doing?”

“Uh…sorry, we gotta go. A little emergency to take care of!” Ulrich and Yumi walked out of the gymnasium.

“Have a good training class,” she breathed.

Sissi held her arm in disappointment. “Ulrich…”

Johnny looked to the side away from her. “Yumi…”

Hiroki internally rolled his eyes. _They are dating now! You two should move on._

Just as Yumi and Ulrich ran out, they saw a robotic dog. “Hey! That’s Kiwi 2. I wonder what he’s doing here.”

“If he let himself out to do his business, then Jeremie must have upgraded the program,” Ulrich quipped.

Yumi looked into Kiwi 2’s eyes, seeing the eye of their enemy. “You know what? I think it was XANA who pulled a few strings.”

“Head for the factory, and I’ll try to distract him.”

She started to back away when the robot’s eyes glowed red and beeped. The mutt started to glow until two automatons showed up side-by-side.

“Uh-oh…” Ulrich frowned as they charged and jumped for them.

Yumi kicked at one of them while he ducked. The other one hit the door and landed on his back. They reentered the gym, accidentally letting one of them in.

He looked back and then raced forward and pounced on Johnny, biting his hand, amidst the panicked shouts of other students. He shook him off, but the robot bit Milly’s ankle, razor-sharp teeth cutting through the leather on her boot, causing her to cry out. Ulrich kicked him off her. The mutt disintegrated into parts, a ribbon of smoke coming out of the bottom of his head as he powered down.

The Kiwi 2 outside of the gym multiplied until a big pack of them surrounded the door.

Back in the gymnasium, Jim knelt by the girls. “Now I want a clear explanation what’s going on! Where did all of these mechanical dogs come from?!”

Yumi panted. “We don’t have time to explain. The only chance we’ve got is if Ulrich and I can get out?”

Ulrich cracked the door open slightly and looked out. The dogs looked at him menacingly with the eye of XANA pounding in theirs. He closed the door, phone to his ear. “Jeremie, do you remember your dog robot?” He heard him say “yes.” “Surprise. There’s a whole army of them lined up outside the gym.”

In the elevator, Jeremie and Aelita stood. “What are you talking about? I only built one Kiwi 2, and he’s just programmed to play basketball.”

_“Well don’t look now, but I think XANA’s trying to form a whole team. We’re going to try to get out to the boiler room. Meet you at the factory as soon as we can.”_

Jeremie and Aelita walked out of the elevator. “Good luck.”

Odd sat with Cassidy and Kiwi. “What’s the matter?”

“Kiwi 2,” said the psychic. “I knew that someday XANA would use him as an attack.”

“He’s been XANAfied and multiplied…” He caught her gaze. “Ulrich and Yumi are stuck in the gym. They’re gonna try to get out, but I-I don’t know if they will.”

Back in the gymnasium, Jim pointed at himself. “’You take me for a nitwit, Miss Ishiyama?”

Yumi waved her arms at her sides. “Absolutely not! You’ve already been to the factory a few times.” She took a small breath, raising a finger to her temple. “Of course, we had to erase your memory every time by returning to the past.”

Jim’s mouth turned to a confused frown, letting out a noise.

“Right, and once this is over, you won’t remember any of it either, as usual,” Ulrich shrugged with a smile.

“Craziest story I ever heard!” Jim said. “You watch too many stupid Japanese mahn-goes.” He placed one finger from each hand to his temples and pulled a stereotypical Asian look.

Yumi put her wrists akimbo, creasing her brows and giving off an offended sigh.

“Uh…that is to say, can you prove that what you’re saying is true?”

“Well, how do you explain all those robot dogs out there? Do you think Jeremie built them all by himself?” Yumi asked as he turned around.

He put one finger a couple of centimeters to his chin. “Uh…” Jim looked back at the girl.

“Listen, Jim, you’ve gotta trust us. If we don’t get to the factory, Aelita won’t be able to deactivate the tower, and we’ll all be attacked by those mechanical dogs,” Ulrich explained.

“I trust Ulrich, and I don’t usually trust Yumi, but since she has confidence in Ulrich, for today I’m gonna trust her, but just for today!”

Yumi winced slightly.

“Me, too!” Hiroki walked up next to Ulrich. “I trust Ulrich and I keep telling my sister she should marry him! I tell her and tell her and tell her but she pretends she doesn’t want to.”

Both the boyfriend and the girlfriend looked to her brother with identical reddening on their cheeks and across their noses. Yumi growled and raised her fists. _I hope he has his grave pre-dug!_

Jim scratched his head. “Well, you mind telling me how you plan on getting to this factory?”

Ulrich walked around the room. “We obviously can’t just walk through the door, but there’s a chance that we might be able from here to the sewers through an air duct.” He looked back at him, snapping his fingers. “But for that, you have to create a diversion.”

He waved his hands in front of his chest, backing away. “Too dangerous. And why shouldn’t I be the one who tries to get out through the air duct? Tell me that.” He turned around and crossed his arms.

Yumi looked at him. “Because you’re too…uh…um…uh… Because you wouldn’t know where to go afterwards!”

He looked at her. “Well, it seems pretty clear we have no choice.”

Back in the lab, Jeremie typed on the keys. “Okay. I’m launching the process. Are you ready, guys?”

“Ready,” Aelita smiled.

Odd put his hands in his pocket. “Do your stuff, Einstein.”

“I’m always ready, Jeremie,” Cassidy nodded.

The scanner doors closed on them.

“Transfer, Aelita, Transfer, Odd, Transfer, Cassidy. Scanner, Cassidy, Scanner, Odd, Scanner Aelita. Virtualization.”

Odd, Cassidy, and Aelita landed in the Desert Sector.

He raised a fist and swiped his hand to the side. “Come out, XANA, and fight like a man!”

His “twin” creased a brow. “XANA isn’t a man, per se.”

_“The activated tower is northwest of your position. Keep your eyes out for uninvited visitors. Here are your vehicles: OverWing and OverBoard!”_

The vehicles materialized in front of them. Cassidy held the bar in front of Yumi’s vehicle as Aelita placed her hands on her roommate’s sides. Despite knowing her sexuality, the female cat warrior showed no interest in the geisha or the elven ones. (“You two are already taken. I’m dating Odd right now,” Cassidy defended.)

They sped off to the location of the activated tower.

In the locker room, Ulrich took the grating off of the ventilation duct, and Yumi crawled inside. The samurai followed her.

Back on Lyoko, Odd followed Cassidy and Aelita. The pink-haired warrior pointed. “There’s the tower.” She looked around. “That’s weird. No one’s around.”

Cassidy flipped through her visions. “Mr. Hated, his pet Manta, and two Tarantulas will be here soon.”

“Let’s go while the going is good. The faster we save the world, the sooner we can get back to lunch,” Odd said as they sped to the tower.

Back in the locker room, Jim acquired a five iron and stood to one side of the door. “Now, are we all set? Let’s be careful, kids.”

Sissi held her cheerleading baton, a determined look on her face, keeping to the other side. Hiroki set himself upright on a bench, holding shotput balls.

The physical education teacher opened the door, and a myriad of Kiwi 2’s flew across the floor. Hiroki threw one at one of the offenders. Jim hit another. Sissi swung her baton. “Take that, you filthy beast!”

“Come on, little doggies. Come and get it!” He swung his golf club at two of them, brought it high above his head and smashed it down on a third.

Hiroki threw two more shotput balls at them, catching another one when Sissi wasn’t looking. She looked at him, and he winked at her.

In the boiler room, Yumi pushed the grating on the ceiling down and looked down at the floor, trying not to let her fear of heights get the best of her.

In the locker area, the Kiwi 2’s were alerted to the clank, and a few turned and raced to find the offenders.

“Oh, no! Ulrich!” Sissi worried.

In the boiler, Ulrich landed next to Yumi, giving her a thumbs up. “Let’s go,” he panted.

However, the door leading to the room they were in burst open and several doggie automatons poured out. Ulrich threw his arm to the side. “Go on! I’ll cover you!” He assumed a fighting stance.

She turned and raced through the passage into the sewers. Yumi paused and looked behind her. Two robots stood behind her. She turned around. “Uh-oh!”

Back in the Desert Sector, Jeremie’s voice rang out. _“Aelita, Cassidy, look out on your right!”_

Cassidy looked to her right just a nanosecond too late. A laser connected to the OverWing, and she and Aelita fell.

“We were expecting you!” Odd sang, seeing his “twin’s” ex in the distance.

William rested his zabanto on the ground.

“Laser Arrow!” he cried, firing at him.

He brought his gigantic sword up and deflected the shots. He swayed his head to the side to dodge a third. He clenched a fist. **“Manta!”** Right away, the ebony sting-ray like monster rose from the edge of the sector and floated beside his master.

Aelita and Cassidy rose up, shaking off the force of the impact. “Uh…” They looked at the XANAfied boy as he jumped onto his pet, conjuring reins, and unleashing a white wave of energy at Odd.

The cat boy jumped off his board, soaring into the air. He aimed his arm and shouted, “Laser Arrow!” The projectile hit the black Manta in the nose. It exploded. He landed on his paws as William touched down several yards from him.

He raced for him. **_You will pay for this!_**

Cassidy and Aelita got to their feet, watching as Odd flipped and avoided being smashed. _Good. Odd’s keeping him busy!_ They activated their wings, soaring high above the ground, flying to the tower.

In the sewers, Yumi backed away to her skateboard, seeing their ears perking up at her. They barked at her and charged. She dropped her skateboard, wheels down, onto the concrete and hopped on, pumping her leg as much as possible. She looked back. Her enemies gave chase.

In the boiler room, Ulrich kicked one of the Kiwi 2’s and threw another one that grabbed his arm. He had obtained several bites. He kneed one to oblivion.

Within the Desert Sector, Aelita and Cassidy wheeled through the air, almost close to the activated tower. A couple of Tarantulas clunked from around it.

_“Better be careful, girls. I see Tarantulas.”_

One of them rested on one “knee” and fired its arm cannons.

The two looped around, trying to avoid the lasers and retreating.

\---

Ulrich ran through the hall, trying to avoid all of the Kiwi 2’s. He couldn’t hold on much longer. He barely had the cognizance to know that someone’s large hand had dragged him back into the locker room.

Jim shut the door and pulled him to safety.

Weakly, he looked up at him. “Yumi…managed to make it out…” Ulrich’s eyes closed and his head slumped forward.

Sissi whimpered softly in concern.

\---

Yumi sped through the sewers with two of the robots on her heels. She jumped off her board, letting it grid on the railing as her feet landed on a pipe. Both bots dropped to the ground. Her board landed on its wheels and she hopped back on, continuing her journey to the factory.

On Lyoko, Aelita and Cassidy flew toward several rock formations. The cat girl took out her tube and fired away at a Tarantula. Unfortunately, it brought its cannon up, and the bullet sped back to her. Then it fired at Aelita, hitting her in the chest.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy!”_ Jeremie cried as they tail-spun into the Digital Sea.

“It’s okay, Jeremie. We’re gaining altitude again!” Aelita informed, swooping up and back toward land.

Cassidy realigned herself as she followed her. “I may not express this enough, but I love my wings!”

_“That’s great, ladies. I’ll try to find out how Yumi and Ulrich are doing.”_

In the locker room, Sissi tied the knot in the bandage on Ulrich’s leg when a noise made her jump. He groaned, still down for the count. Jim knelt down and reached into his pocket, grabbing his cell phone and answering it. “Hello?”

 _“Jim, how come you answered Ulrich’s phone?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Because he’s in no condition to talk. Your robot and his clones sic’d him in the leg just like they did Milly and Johnny. Now listen here, Belpois. I don’t know whether you and your strange gang are capable of doing anything, but if you can, do it fast!”

Back in the lab, Jeremie closed his eyes. “Odd, Aelita, Cassidy, we’ve gotta shift into high gear right now.”

Into Lyoko, William brought his sword in front of his face. **“Super Smoke!”** He dissolved and slithered around Odd. He ran to catch him.

_“It seems that Ulrich’s hurt really bad, and Milly and Johnny aren’t much better.”_

Odd looked up into the sky. “We’re not exactly in paradise either, Einstein!”

\---

Yumi crawled out of the sewers and raced across the bridge connecting to the factory. Behind her, two doggie automatons materialized across from the hatch.

In the Desert Sector, Aelita landed in the sand, letting her wings dissolve into nothing. That was enough flying for the moment.

William snaked close, then popped up to her. She opened her palm. “Energy Field.” The pink orb made its way to him, but he sliced into it.

Cassidy stayed above, firing at the Tarantula that made her and Aelita go into a tailspin. “Take that, you overgrown spider!”

Odd stood half a mile away from the elven warrior and their enemy. “Be right there, Aelita! Just a little unfinished business to attend to.” He raced away from them.

\---

Yumi swung down the rope and landed in front of the elevator, sprinting in. She moved her hand to press the button, but stopped, seeing the robot mutts following her. _How did they get there? I thought I got rid of them in the sewers._

They raced into the car.

“NO!”

On Lyoko, Odd ran across the desert, flipping upside down and firing a Laser Arrow at one of the Tarantulas. It exploded. “Sorry, my little buggy friends, but I’m the boss from now on.” He cocked his arm, but it clicked empty. “Huh?” He backed away. “I was just kidding.” He turned and sprinted away on all fours. “Hey, Einstein! Reload me!”

_“Coming up!”_

\---

Jeremie heard the elevator’s mechanism open. He turned his head. “Ah, Yumi! Good thing that you…” His heart practically stopped. “Yumi!”

She lay in the elevator, motionless. Multiple scratches and bites lined her body. Her eyes were blank, but moving. Next to her stood two of his own creation. XANAfied and multiplied, as he summed up earlier, he felt weak in his heart.

Back on Lyoko, Odd raced across the sand, avoiding the Tarantula’s lasers. He looked up into the sky. “Hey, Einstein! Where are my arrows?!” He ducked as another one soared over his head. “Jeremie, are you still there, or did you take Kiwi out for a walk?”

In the lab, Jeremie and Kiwi backed into a corner. One of the robot doubles of Odd’s dog pounced on and attacked its creator, while the original ran around, trying to avoid the other, barking in fear. _I’m being punished, they said. You can’t go back to the dorms for a couple days, they said. And for this, I’m being attacked by these things?!_

Jeremie got his attacker off his arm and started racing away from him, screaming.

Kiwi decided to get to higher ground, using the “cushy chair.” He jumped onto the keyboard instead, paw hitting a button.

On the computer screen, a virtual incarnation of Odd popped up in a window. And his arm loaded up with arrows.

Back on Lyoko, the cat-boy cried out as a sharp pain entered his back. He landed on his left hip and fired a laser arrow. “Hey, what do you know. I’m reloaded.” He charged at the Tarantula and climbed up on its “leg,” shooting. “Laser Arrow!” He landed feet behind his downed adversary, it combusting. “Nice one, Einstein!” He gave a thumbs up.

Cassidy swooped around, trying to take care of a Krabe that just materialized into the vicinity. “What’s with these unscheduled monsters?” she moaned as she shot a bullet at it. “Seriously.”

In the lab, Jeremie backed into the wall, unable to do anything to defend himself.

In the locker room, Jim barred himself and his Pencak Silat training class from the threat of the doggie androids. All of them seemed worse for wear.

Sissi looked at the unconscious boy. “Ulrich?”

On Lyoko, William brought his zabanto high around his shoulder and swiped. Aelita shot an Energy Field at him. She tried to run, but ducked just in time to avoid an energy blast from his sword, bringing two of her pink orbs together to shield herself from him.

Cassidy landed by Aelita and aimed her gun, her Krabe now defeated. Her roommate charged another ball.

“Just you and me, Mr. Hated!” Odd called from behind.

Cassidy gasped and pushed Aelita, but her feet stayed firm in the effort to change the timeline. The elven warrior unleashed it at the same time the cat boy unleashed a Laser Arrow. William ducked. The Energy Field connected to Odd.

“HEY!” he shouted as he disappeared in a cloud of pixilated dust.

 **“Good shot, Aelita!”** William taunted and chuckled.

She and Cassidy ran behind the rocks.

In the Lab, Jeremie sidled along the wall, trying to evade Kiwi 2 and his twin. This wasn’t what he had planned for today.

Jim held the door, grabbing his cell phone. “I can’t believe it. I called the police about ages ago, and they still haven’t come.”

Ulrich regained consciousness. “The robots… They won’t let anyone through. There’s only one way out of this place, Jim…”

“Yeah, we already tried it and it didn’t work!” Jim accused. “From now on, I’m chief officer of this unit!” He pointed. “Hiroki, Tamiya! Take all these floor mats over to this door. Sissi, you’re going to help me pile them up. We’re going to build us a barricade!”

The principal’s daughter nodded.

“And all I wanted to do was spend the afternoon with Milly.” Hiroki walked off to get the floor mats.

Milly looked as he did. _Does he have more than a crush on me, or what?_

On the Desert Sector, William raced for the rocks. Cassidy and Aelita ran there. He had a thought that he could find them. He looked around as he halted.

Behind one of them, Cassidy scowled at her roommate. “+Aelita, why in the hay didn’t you move?! I was trying to keep you from devirtualizing Odd!+”

“+Because my Energy Field was still charging. I’m sorry I couldn’t move.+”

She felt a sudden chill go up her spine.

 **“Cassidy…? Where are you…?”** William called to her.

Cassidy gulped back a squeak. He could _not_ be serious. He was calling her out?

**“The robots are trying to get through the door…”**

_I knew that._

**“Jeremie is surrounded by two of them…”**

_Yep!_

**“But I can call the attack off.”**

_Wait. What?_

Aelita’s jaw dropped as she looked at her.

**“All you have to do is turn yourself into XANA. It will be quick and painless.”**

The pink-haired girl looked at the brunette. _Please make the right decision._

 _Not on your XANA-possessed life!_ Cassidy scowled. _If I wanted to give myself over to him, I’d have done it a long time ago._ She turned to her friend. “+Could you give him a clone of me to deal with as well as one of you? I have an idea.+”

Aelita nodded, internally giving a sigh of relief. Her roommate’s loyalty passed her test. She placed her fingers in front of her and breathed out, a choir of angelic sound surrounding her.

William looked around and then saw Aelita and Cassidy running across the sand. He brought his zabanto across his chest and swung out, unleashing an energy wave at them. The two girls fell to the ground with a cry. He conjured his black smoke and let it out. It split and surrounded the unconscious elven and cat warriors.

They glided across the sand and over the Digital Sea, their legs dangling on the edge. He brought his hand down, and the girls fell into it. **“I fulfilled my mission, XANA!”** Two white columns of light emanated from the two victims. His sword vanished, he raised his fists to the sky. **“VICTORY!”**

In the lab, the cornered Einstein found the courage to kick one of his creation in the head, racing away at the first chance he had. He looked at the screen from beside the chair. “Aelita! Cassidy!” He saw their cards go down to nothing. “No…” he whispered. _This can’t be! Not again!_

The hatch leading to the lab opened and Odd popped into view. “What’s going on, Einstein? My dog’s a genius, but I wouldn’t have given him your job…” He leaned on one of the bars of the ladder.

“Odd, Aelita and Cassidy just fell into the Digital Sea!” Jeremie lowered his head.

Odd’s jaw dropped. “Huh…?!” _Now who will deactivate the tower?_

In the locker room, the barricade had been built. “They’re getting in,” Sissi, Hiroki, and Johnny cried.

“Bring them on! The more the merrier. It takes more than some tin cans to scare Jim Morales!” He held his five-iron, keeping his class behind him.

Back in the Desert Sector, William looked around. **_Where is he? Franz Hopper should have shown himself by now._**

Suddenly, he heard a voice. “Did you expect my father to show up and bail me out?” Aelita stood with her arms crossed. “He won’t be coming today! Surprise! I can duplicate myself and my friend, too!”

He conjured his zabanto, when two sharp pains entered his back. He turned around, eyes wide.

“And you can tell your master XANA that I’m not some weapon to be used,” Cassidy spat at him, standing over his disappearing body. As soon as he did, her eyes widened. “I can’t believe I did that!” A smile formed on her face. “That was awesome!”

Aelita entered the tower. A white aura materialized around her as she reached the center of the first platform. She started to rise.

Back in the locker room, everyone stood tense and ready, waiting for the robot dogs to come out.

\---

Aelita’s feet gently met the second platform.

In the lab, the boys backed from the robots, Kiwi safe in the chair. They attacked. Odd tried to get rid of the one on his arm. Jeremie cried out at the one that bit his leg.

In the tower, Aelita placed a hand on the interface, seeing her name blink at her before swapping out to the Code screen.

In the locker room, the myriad of doggie automatons poured. Sissi braced for impact, hoping to shield Ulrich before they hurt him.

On Lyoko, the pink-haired elven warrior entered the code. “Tower Deactivated.”

\---

Jim and the Pencak Silat training class looked at the pack of Kiwi 2’s dissolving into holographic squares, eyes widening in surprise.

In the Lab, Jeremie braced himself when his attacker disappeared. He cried out in surprise.

 _“Are you okay, Jeremie?”_ Aelita asked.

He grabbed the communicator and inserted it into his ear. “Aelita… But—” His eyes widened. That must mean that Cassidy was still alive, too.

 _“You mean you haven’t launched a return to the past yet?”_ his sweetheart teased.

“Return to the past, now!” Jeremie pressed a button.

A white bubble gently covered all of Earth.

\---

“And with Cassidy’s suggestion, when we saw how the Kiwi 2’s multiplied themselves, we decided to do the same,” Aelita smiled, telling the story in Ulrich and Odd’s dorm room. “The rest was easy.”

Jeremie clapped for her. “Aelita, you are really amazing.”

“Hey! They’re not the only one. They managed to get away because William was distracted,” Odd defended.

“That was an accident!”

“Still. What if they hadn’t been there?” Odd held Kiwi out in front of him, hugging him over his shoulder. “So who do we have to say thanks to?”

“To you, Odd?” Aelita asked.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “He’s talking about Kiwi.”

“Who do you think let him reload my Laser Arrows?” Odd smiled, cuddling his puppy.

Yumi brought an arm down. “Okay, so Kiwi’s a hero! What are you trying to say?”

“Just that heroes don’t sleep in abandoned factories!”

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “Well, then, Ulrich. It’s your call. After all, you’re the one who shares a room with him.”

Ulrich snapped out of his trance. “Uh…what?” He scratched the back of his head. “Oh, yeah, no problem. He can come home!” A blush ran across his nose.

Aelita leaned over him. “You feeling okay?”

He readjusted his position on the bed. “Yeah, I was thinking of something else.”

Odd jumped off his bed, throwing his arms in the air. “That’s great! You’ll see. He’s a brand-new dog. He’s much more calm and much better behaved.” He didn’t notice Yumi walking up beside him.

“Hey, Odd? Your pants! Look at them!” she looked at the fold near his ankles.

He grimaced. “Huh? Well, that’s just…for ventilation. It gets so hot here in school.” He crossed his arms.

“Are you sure it wasn’t Kiwi up to his old tricks?” Aelita teased as Jeremie covered his mouth, chuckling.

“I told you it wasn’t him,” Odd defended. “Can we go and eat now?!”

Everyone laughed internally, except for Cassidy, who was giggling like a maniac.

“What’s gotten into you?” Yumi asked.

“I did something you might be proud of,” she winked.

Jeremie smiled as they walked out of the dorm room. “Really? What did you do?”

“I shot Mr. Hated in the back!” she chuckled.

“That’s great, Cat Girl!” Odd pumped his fist in the air.

Ulrich stumbled. “How did you do that?”

“Simple: Aelita distracted him, I snuck around and did it!”

“That’s awesome!” he smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

Cassidy looked at Ulrich, crying tears of joy.


	64. This Space has taken a turn for the Weird

**Now, I’m only gonna say this one time, since of the obvious.**

**“SPACE!!!”**

***ahem* that is all.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. I do own Cassidy. ACTION!**

Odd opened the door to Jeremie’s dorm room. “This is it! It’s the end of the world!”

Ulrich looked up from his comic book. Aelita and Yumi paused their game. Cassidy quit penciling in her writing book (her vision journals in her bag). Jeremie stopped typing on his keyboard, turning around.

“What’s wrong? They run out of spaghetti and meatballs in the lunchroom?” Ulrich asked dryly.

“Almost as bad,” Odd dismissed, still in his high-pitched tone of dramatic flair. “I just ran into Jim and Delmas, and they’re making a surprise inspection of the dorm!”

“But…didn’t they make one a few weeks ago?” Aelita asked.

Cassidy blinked. “They are checking for appliances that could be fire hazards, right, Odd?”

He nodded.

“So what? There’s nothing dangerous here,” Jeremie reassured. “No appliances. Not even an electric kettle.”

“Be careful with that, Jeremie,” she shivered. “XANA would love to use household appliances against us.”

“Are you referring to that day you had to brag?” Yumi gasped in surprise. “But that was weeks ago.”

“Yeah, but the words that scientist XANA had under his control really dug deep into me. I’m not thinking about changing my loyalties.”

“You won’t,” Aelita reassured.

Odd waved his hands for everyone to focus. “Anyway, I know, Jeremie, but the problem is what do we do with _Kiwi?!_ ”

The dog in question slept beside his roommate, unaware of the world.

“Do we have enough time to take him to the factory before math?” Aelita asked.

Jeremie checked his watch. “In ten minutes?”

“Anyway, I wouldn’t want to leave him alone in that cold factory. He hasn’t been himself lately.” Odd fell to his knees, clasping his hands in prayer. “It’s all over, he’s gonna end up at the pound, or worse, in some traveling circus strapped to a rocket and shot out of a cannon! Unless…Yumi, you don’t have class for another hour, could you, uh…?” He smiled at her, giving titters.

“Don’t even think about it!” Yumi raised a finger.

“Yumi, please? You’re his only hope!” he whined, gesturing to Kiwi, again sleeping, ignorant of Odd’s begging.

“The answer is no!” she said.

Down the hallway of the girls’ dormitory, Jim and Mr. Delmas walked. The principal carried several appliances in his arms. “Ah, good old surprise inspections. I love them. They make even the cloudiest days sunny. Look at what we’ve already dug up: An electric coffee maker, an immersion heater, and a twelve-person fondue set. It’s like being a pioneer explorer.” The physical education teacher halted. “Let’s see what we can come up with in Sissi’s room.” He opened the door and they went in. “Although, I doubt if she would be hiding anything suspicious. I mean, being your daughter and everything.” He gestured to the closet. “But let’s look behind this door just in case. You might never know. A hairdryer on the blink, forgotten pack of matches, a curling iron invented by some crackpot scientist…”

Inside, three photos had been taped on the edge of the top shelf. All three of them showed the principal. One had been a father-child convention when she was eight on his shoulders. They had run against others and she won first place. The second was of him alone, holding a glass of a sparkling yellow drink, confetti everywhere. A blush went across his nose as he blew a noisemaker and wore a party hat. The third had him dressed as a penguin and dancing with two other dads.

Jim chuckled. “I would never have guessed. For a stern school principal, you’re a million laughs.”

Mr. Delmas gave him a stern look. If he told on him with the other teachers, he’d never get the chance to live it down.

\---

“Please take pity on a poor, defenseless puppy!” Odd whined.

“Odd…” Yumi said.

“You will?” He looked up at her.

Cassidy rolled her eyes.

“You know if there’s one thing my father can’t stand, it’s pets that shed their hair all over the house, chew up furniture, do their business…!” Yumi looked to her Savior. “Please tell me you have an alternate solution to this.”

She gulped. “I’m sorry, Yumi, but you will have to. I’ve tried looking for alternate solutions, but no dice.”

She gaped at her, but sighed. There was no point in arguing with her. “Okay, Odd, you win this time.”

“Oh, thank you, Yumi! Nothing can stop me from kissing you!” He leaned in when a hand grabbed his hood.

“Except your girlfriend,” Cassidy growled. “Leave her alone. She’s dating Ulrich!”

“What shot your tail, huh, Cat-Girl?” Odd asked in a strangled voice.

She let go. “Sorry. It’s that same, stupid nightmare again. It gets stronger every night. Plus, I guest passed to have a free period. It’s only for math so I can help Yumi.”

Meanwhile, Jim and Mr. Delmas entered the boys’ floor.

In Jeremie’s room, Yumi zipped her backpack with Kiwi inside. “Okay, Kiwi, get in. We’re off.”

“Make sure to keep it open a crack. Everyone needs air,” Cassidy said.

There was a knock on the door as Yumi stood up. Then Jim walked in. “Well, McGuire, Ishiyama, Della Robbia, Stern, Belpois, and Stones all together in the same dorm. They sure don’t look like they are in a big hurry to get to class, do they?”

 _And us being in the same dorm surprises you? You also seem to want to separate Ulrich from Yumi and Odd from me, but seem totally satisfied with keeping Jeremie and Aelita together._ Cassidy scowled before her mouth moved up to a smile. “Well, I will see you tomorrow, Jim. We can train some more, Captain.” She winked as she passed by the older authority figures.

“Uh…sure, Cadet.” He smiled.

“Well, I better be going,” Yumi said, following the younger female out.

Later, they walked to the Ishiyama residence, Odd’s words in a list in Cassidy’s purse. _“Don’t just give him any old thing to eat. Only steamed, organic vegetables. And no potato chips—he can’t digest them. And no mustard, whatever you do. And by the way, he hates household appliances, like vacuum cleaners. The noise drives him nuts!”_

Yumi set the backpack down on her bed and unzipped it. Kiwi jumped out. “Okay, coast is clear.” He ran around and barked happily. “Sh! If my dumb brother hears you, he’s bound to say something like, ‘What’s that ugly mutt doing here?’”

_I don’t care, Yumi. This place is new. I—I think I’ve been here before._

“Kiwi? What do you mean?” Cassidy asked, eyebrow cocked.

_I think I’ve been here before somehow._

Her jaw dropped. _Uh…Kiwi?!_

Hiroki walked in. “Hey, what’s that ugly mutt doing here?”

“It’s Kiwi, Odd’s dog. Hiroki, promise you won’t say anything!” Yumi put a wrist on her hip.

“I could give you tips on how to impress Milly,” Cassidy sang, quickly regaining her composure and posture.

Hiroki smiled at her. “Deal!”

The girls walked to the door. “We have to go to school. Look after Kiwi ’til I get back, okay?” His sister asked.

He looked after them. “Huh?”

Cassidy came back. “Here is a list for you to follow—or not. It is your preference.” She hugged him as she slipped it into his pocket. “It’s always good to see you. Kiwi would love to play fetch—outside—with you.”

He smiled as she left the room, bending to the doggie’s level. “Don’t worry about a thing, um…Kiwi. I’ll take good care of you.”

After classes, Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Aelita walked to Yumi and Cassidy at the vending machines, who sipped sodas. The psychic sighed happily. “I love the sodas here.”

Odd sprinted to the girls. “Ah. There you are, ladies!”

“Hi, Odd,” Cassidy smiled, hugging him and patting his ear.

“Well?” he asked after she let go.

Yumi looked at him. “No sweat. Hiroki’s watching him.”

“Hiroki?! Are you nuts? Did you forget what happened to Cassidy’s DS?” Odd protested.

Cassidy blushed. “He said he was sorry, and after I came back from Jeremie’s house with Aelita, he had given me a new one.”

Odd pressed a button on his phone. “I’m going to check in on him.”

Ulrich looked at him. “Are you sure you should be doing this?”

In the Ishiyama residence, Hiroki picked up the phone, placing a wrist on his hip. “Sorry, we’ve already got an encyclopedia!”

_“Wait a second, don’t hang up, Hiroki! This is Odd.”_

He smiled. “Don’t worry, everything is cool! Your dog is in good hands! See ya!”

Away from him, Kiwi ate potato chips from the bag, lifting his head and barking happily.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you want!” He lifted up another one. “You want some more of these, okay. But I have a surprise for you this time.” He pointed at the potato chip bag. “These are chips with mustard.”

Kiwi barked jovially.

Back in the vending machine area, Yumi looked at the worried dog owner. “Nice to know you trust us, Odd.”

“But you don’t understand, Yumi. Kiwi happens to be a very sensitive dog,” he protested.

Jeremie typed on his computer when it beeped. “Guess what, everybody—and everypony—the Supercomputer has picked up a new Replika on the network.” He winked at Cassidy.

She gulped, but smiled. “Awesome. I know which one it is.”

“Rats, now I’ve gotta come up with a new excuse to get out of Chardin’s class again!” Yumi sighed.

“You won’t be missing much, except maybe a little nap!” Odd reassured.

Aelita looked at the wildcard. “I have to stop by the library, but I won’t be long.” _I have to return a_ Harry Potter _novel._

“Well, you all know where to meet up.” Jeremie closed his laptop.

Later, at the factory, he sat at the Supercomputer. “I don’t have to remind you that the more Replikas we destroy—”

 _“The weaker XANA gets,”_ Cassidy sighed.

“You feeling alright?” Jeremie asked.

_“Just tired from getting all these nightmares.”_

“We’ll launch the Dream Barrier Destroyer later,” he reassured.

In the scanner room, Yumi stepped into one of the cabins. Aelita and Ulrich stared straight ahead as their doors closed.

Odd put his hands on his hips. “Of course you don’t, Einstein and Cat Girl. You don’t have to remind us that if we find the new supercomputer…”

“We can destroy the freaking Replika,” Cassidy growled at him. “And find out XANA’s schemes!”

 _“If you wanted to, Cassidy, you could have stayed at the school,”_ Jeremie gently reminded, not wanting to yell at her.

“And miss the chance with the Replika? No way,” Cassidy said. “Plus, the last time I missed a Lyoko mission, it almost cost me my life. I don’t want to ever miss one again.”

_“Okay, get ready, guys._ _Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization.”_

Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich landed in the center of the eye in the arena. As they rose, Jeremie said, _“Virtualization,”_ and Odd and Cassidy dropped in.

_“Everybody okay?”_

Cassidy nodded, her mood lighter and better. “Much.”

“I’m good,” Odd raised his head. “As for Kiwi, I’m not so sure.”

Yumi turned around at him. “Chill out, Odd! He couldn’t be in better hands!” She placed a hand on her hip.

In the Ishiyama residence, Kiwi shook his head, eating all the chips when he bumped into the leg of the chair in the kitchen with the bag still on. He whimpered, scratching at his neck with his front paw. Then he ran around, trying to figure out how to get the silly thing off him, barking.

In Sector 5, the Lyoko Warriors rose up in the elevator. “Jeremie, we’re in the Skid Garage,” Ulrich informed.

_“Great. Get on your teleport spots!”_

Everyone raced and claimed a spot, Cassidy stepping into Ulrich’s. “It’s been a while since I shared a NavSkid with you.”

He gently led her to Yumi. “It’s not that I don’t like you, Cassidy, but I feel that you and Yumi are closer than you and I.” His heart gave a spike of fear whenever she shared a NavSkid with her.

She sighed through her nose. “Fine.”

 _“Okay, here we go!”_ Jeremie said.

Bright, white columns flashed up from the teleport spots, and one-by-one, the warriors disappeared and reappeared into the Skid. Aelita appeared in the cockpit, grasping her thrusters. Yumi and Cassidy appeared and landed in a double NavSkid. Odd and Ulrich stayed in separate NavSkids.

_“Prepare for lift-off. Release the docking mechanism.”_

“Ulrich, why didn’t you want me to share the double? I shared with you before,” Cassidy wondered.

“I just think you’d be safer with Yumi,” he said.

“Um…I think that it’s the other way around. I’m usually her Savior. And don’t you remember the last time that she and I were together? Mr. Hated ended up on our trail.”

Ulrich shrugged.

Aelita pulled back on the thrusters, causing the turbo jets to ignite. The Skid ascended until it was out of the North Pole of the Celestial Dome.

_“Aelita, I’m opening up a tunnel.”_

The submarine semi-circled the sphere. A row of light deactivated and a new tunnel opened. She smirked as she pulled the left thruster. It swooped into it, and she pushed the joysticks forward. Once outside of Sector 5, Aelita announced, “Ready to dive!” It descended, hovering for a moment, then splashed into the Digital Sea.

In the Lab, Jeremie pressed a button. “Holoweb system online. Aelita, I’m entering the coordinates of the new Replika.”

_“Roger.”_

The Skidbladnir soared through the gateway to Lyoko. Aelita pulled on a lever. “Rotation.”

The vehicle moved from vertical to horizontal. “Powering turbo prop and auxiliary generators.” It glided through the Digital Network.

In the Ishiyama residence, Hiroki played his game on his GBC when Kiwi rushed by, potato chip bag still occluding his sight, barking. He bumped into the bookshelf, upsetting a bonsai tree that Cho placed.

“A little patience, Kiwi. I’ll play with you as soon as I finish this game,” he said.

Kiwi barked in discomfort, racing into the first step leading to the bedrooms.

In the network, Aelita asked, “What do you think it’s gonna be this time around?”

_“I have no idea.”_

Yumi nodded. “It might be a Replika of the Ice Sector.”

Cassidy shook her head. “That’s our next Replika.”

“My guess is Mountain. What do you think, Odd?” Ulrich asked.

Odd fretted, “I think I should’ve fed him more tofu kibbles!”

 _“Stay focused, Odd,”_ Jeremie ordered.

“I’m starting to have second thoughts about sharing a NavSkid with Ulrich. Maybe I should have shared with Odd,” Cassidy looked up.

“Anyway, you know what one it will be,” Ulrich looked in their NavSkid’s general direction. “Which one?”

“Um…Sector 5?” Cassidy muttered.

“Wow, you’re out of left field,” Odd smiled.

“Well, if Yumi is guessing Ice, which will be our next one, and Ulrich bets the Mountain, then I choose Sector 5,” Cassidy smiled.

Back in the Ishiyama residence, Hiroki pet Kiwi’s head, having finally removed the bag that was obscuring the canine’s eyesight. “Poor Kiwi. Those chips didn’t agree with you.”

The dog scrambled out of his arms, landing on his feet and turning to look at the boy.

“Hey, what do you say we play ball outside?” Hiroki suggested, bending over him.

Kiwi barked jovially. _Cassidy, your words are working._

In the Digital Network, Aelita came face to face with the sphere. “Replika in sight, Jeremie.”

 _“Okay, Aelita, I’ll unlock the portal as soon as you’re connected,”_ Jeremie informed.

When the vehicle got close, Aelita pulled on the lever—it rotating back to vertical—and placed a hand on the keypad. “Digital code entered.” A laser beam hit the virtual keyhole.

_“Just give me a minute or two, and we’ll see what this Replika looks like.”_

“79669…” Cassidy whispered.

 _“Okay, Aelita, I’m sending you the entry portal code,”_ Jeremie informed.

When the laser beam vanished, the entrance dropped down, and the claws opened, letting the Skid inside. It emerged from its Digital Sea, in an unfinished Desert Sector copy.

“Pay up, guys,” Aelita giggled. “Looks like Cassidy was right. Welcome to a Replika of Sector 5!”

“Y’all don’t owe me anything!” Cassidy defended.

The Skid ascended into the Replika’s sphere.

_“I just spotted a tower in the Core Zone that can be reached from the North Pole. I’ll guide you in so you can get to it.”_

“Gotcha, Jeremie. You’re in the driver’s seat.” _Proxy-Pie._

Cassidy smiled and giggled. She sometimes didn’t know what she did to deserve a cute roommate.

“You read Aelita’s mind again, didn’t you,” Yumi whispered.

“Yeah, but I want to keep it a secret,” she smiled, voice soft. “I don’t want to embarrass her.”

The Skid semi-circled into the North Pole of the Dome. Aelita spotted the tower. “Nice piece of work. We’re in a room exactly like the ones in Sector 5. Tower dead ahead. I’ll take over from here.”

_“Okay, Aelita, do your stuff.” I’m so lucky to have a girl like her._

Cassidy held her mouth shut, body shaking in laughs at the adorability. Those two were so compatible with each other, and no amount of “I love you” needed to be said.

“Jeremie again?” Yumi smiled at her chuckling friend, careful to keep her voice low.

She nodded, smiling happily.

“Skid docked,” Aelita announced, unaware of her roommate’s giggling. A pink beam of light hit the tower, followed by several little beams.

 _“Perfect. Yumi, Cassidy, Odd, ready for Teleportation?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Aye aye, captain Einstein!” Odd saluted and winked.

Cassidy cackled. “That’s my boyfriend.”

_“Would you give the bad jokes a rest, private? Ulrich and Aelita, you two—”_

“We stay here and guard the Skid,” Ulrich said.

_“You guessed it! I’m activating the tower for our own use!”_

At Jeremie’s words, the tower turned from white to an emerald green.

_“Ready for Teleportation?”_

“Just say the word,” Yumi smiled.

_“Teleportation.”_

Yumi, Cassidy, and Odd flickered and disappeared.

_“Odd, Cassidy, Yumi, do you read me? Odd! Cassidy! Yumi!”_

Yumi smiled. “We read you loud and clear, Jeremie!”

_“That’s great! Well which continent did you land on this time?”_

“None of them,” Odd answered.

_“What?! You mean you’re in the ocean?!”_

“Oh for two, but we are floating!”

_“Outer space? You guys are in outer space?!”_

Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy floated around inside a space station. He smiled. “That’s more like it, Einstein! I knew you’d figure it out sooner or later.”

The cat female trembled as Yumi laughed. “I don’t like being in zero gravity…”

The geisha gasped and held her hand, remembering the time XANA launched an anti-gravity attack. She landed on her feet while Cassidy ended up in a tree. “Just keep your focus on my hand. If we separate, then grab Odd’s hand or mine.”

 _“Amazing,”_ Jeremie whispered.

The three Lyoko Warriors looked out a window, the male warrior upside down. “Hey, look at this, Odd,” Yumi whispered. “Wow…”

Cassidy’s grip on her hand increased. “I-it’s beautiful…b-but…”

“Easy, Cassidy. Just look away,” Odd said, concern crossing his features. He looked back at the window. “It’s unbelievable…”

“It is… It’s beautiful, and yet, it seems so fragile…”

Cassidy’s mouth turned upward. “I never pegged you for a poet, Yumi. That was gorgeous.”

“He gets sick even though I only feed him good, healthy food. I’m beginning to think that there’s something seriously wrong with him,” Odd worried.

“Odd! You’re looking at the most beautiful sight you’re ever going to see, and all you can think about are your stupid cans of dog food?!” Yumi glared at him.

Cassidy sighed and growled at him. “Are you being serious, Odd!”

“Kibbles! I never give Kiwi canned dog food!” He pointed out.

_“According to your coordinates, it looks like you guys are on the brand new international space station, four hundred kilometers above the Earth!”_

“This is great,” he smiled.

Cassidy trembled, keeping a hold of her hand. “If you all say so… I’d rather be on our home planet!”

Odd continued, “We could meet some astronauts and get their autographs.”

They heard Jeremie cut to the negative. _“I wouldn’t bet on that. The station is uninhabited right now. A new team is coming in about ten days.”_

“Good, that’ll give us time to find the Supercomputer and destroy it!” Yumi smiled.

_“Be on your guard all the same. We can never be sure what XANA has up his sleeve.”_

“Up, up and away!” Odd exclaimed, propelling himself off of the metal, Yumi and Cassidy floating behind him. The geisha giggled while the cat female kept holding her hand.

In the backyard of the Ishiyama residence, Kiwi sat at attention a couple feet from Hiroki, panting.

“Okay. Ready?” The dog raised his leg, at attention. “Fetch!” the geisha’s brother cocked his arm back and threw a red ball with some darker paw print patterning. Right away, the little doggie turned and ran after it, jumping in the air and catching it in his mouth. Hiroki clapped and smiled. “Good dog! You did it again!”

He put the ball down and raised his leg. _You are so much fun. Please throw another!_

In the international space station 250 miles above the earth, Odd turned the handle and opened the hatch, floating into a room, Yumi and Cassidy not too far behind. Inside, a conveyor belt made some metallic spheres. “Wow…” he said.

“Jeremie, there’s a line of little metallic spheres here, like mini Megatanks!” Yumi smiled.

“You think XANA’s manufacturing those things?” Odd looked at them.

Cassidy nodded. “They turn into little spiked balls of mass destruction.” They looked at her. She scowled. “I’m not joking!”

“They look harmless enough,” Yumi soothed.

“Maybe XANA’s taking up Bocce Ball,” he joked.

_“It could be nothing or something major. They’re definitely not made to serve mankind. Forget about them for now and find that Supercomputer.”_

Odd reached out at one of the spheres when Yumi cried, “No, Odd, don’t touch it, you never know!” Using her other hand, she grabbed him and took him and Cassidy away, the cat boy yelling in surprise. “Come on!”

They soared for another room, Yumi holding Cassidy’s hand and Odd swimming behind them.

In the back yard of the Ishiyama residence, Kiwi rolled the ball up to Hiroki, who sat on his butt and panted, barking. _Just one more round, please?_

“That’s enough. Go lie down!” the geisha’s brother said tiredly. _Taking care of a dog isn’t an easy picnic._

The dog barked insistently.

“I said lie down. If not, I’ll lock you in here or my sister’s room!”

A door from the outside opened and shut, catching Hiroki’s attention. Then he realized the mess that Kiwi inadvertently made. He raced into the living room and locked the back door behind him, quickly throwing away the potato chips and readjusting the bonsai tree.

In the front yard, Cho and Takeo walked up the steps, him setting down his suitcase and patting his coat. “Now what did I do with my keys?”

“They’re in your adecheke,” Cho replied.

He chuckled. “Of course. Where’s my head?”

“Maybe you left it with your keys.”

Hiroki picked up the books that fell to the floor, then the Go board, quickly gathering the pieces.

Takeo grabbed the keys. “Ah, here they are.” He then unlocked the house.

Their son grabbed a broom and started to sweep when…

“Look at this mess. What is the meaning of this, Hiroki?” Takeo asked.

\---

In the Sector 5 Replika, Aelita and Ulrich stood by the tower, him crouching. He rose to his feet. “It’s weird. Usually XANA would have launched an attack by now.”

She shrugged. “That’d be the first time that he—” She looked as a white ring around the Skid became a red ring of data. “Jeremie, we’ve got a really huge problem!”

_“I see it. XANA’s doing all he can to wipe out the Skid.”_

“If you have a solution, I’m all for it,” Ulrich said.

 _“If the Replika is an exact copy of Sector 5, then it should function exactly like it did on Lyoko.”_ There was a slight pause. _“I’ve got it! Just like before on Lyoko, you have to activate a key to stop the mechanism. Do I have a volunteer to take care of it?”_

“Okay, Jeremie. I’m the fastest, so I better go.” Ulrich pointed at himself.

 _“The Key is directly across from where you’re standing right now!”_  
“Right,” Ulrich nodded. “I’m off. Super Sprint!” He raced into the corridor, a golden trail in his wake, leaving Aelita on her own.

Back in the international space station, Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy floated into the Supercomputer room. The cat girl still held the geisha’s hand. He gave a gleeful aha noise.

“Jeremie, I think we just found the Supercomputer,” Yumi announced.

_“Perfect timing, because XANA’s trying to wipe out the Skid. Better take out the Supercomputer now. Careful now to make it look like an accident. The space station is too well-known. We don’t want any rumors about sabotage.”_

“An accident?! How do we do that?”

“I hope your brother remembered to give Kiwi enough to drink,” Odd worried.

Cassidy growled. “FOCUS, MI NOVIO!”

“We’re facing disaster and all you can think about is your dog?!” Yumi asked with her brows raised and then folded.

Odd looked at the ladies for a moment, an idea forming from what he just said. “Water! Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Yumi’s brows raised again as she gave a confused noise.

“We’ll create some water damage, there’s gotta be water flowing through one of these things!”

At the lab, Jeremie smiled and made an approving grunt.

Back in space, Cassidy sighed in relief. “At least his head’s mostly screwed on,” she whispered to herself.

Yumi smiled at him. “Nice going, Odd!”

“Don’t thank me; Thank Kiwi!” Odd grinned as he listened around the pipes for a rush.

Yumi brought Cassidy to one of the pipes.

Below them, a screen flashed and the Eye of XANA appeared.

Like a bowling alley, three spheres shot out of the chute, gently gliding into the air to find the intruders.

On the Sector 5 Replika, Ulrich sprinted through corridors. He looked up at the ceiling. “Uh-oh. Don’t expect me to bow down to you, XANA!” The samurai raced through the lowering ceiling, jumping when the walls got too low. He wiped the “sweat” from his brow.

_“Well done, Ulrich.”_

He ran through to the next room.

Back in space, Yumi and Cassidy put their ears to a pipe. The noise of rushing fluid found its way to their drums. “Odd, over here!”

The cat boy swam to them.

“There’s water in this pipe,” Yumi announced. She pointed at it when he was close. “The water flows through there.” She turned her head. Three spheres glided into view. The three Lyoko Warriors gasped as they grew spikes.

“I told you I wasn’t kidding,” Cassidy muttered in a low voice.

Yumi raised a foot and pushed Odd’s stomach. “Watch out!”

“What did you kick me for?!”

Immediately, the mace-like monster implanted itself into the wall. “Oh… Thanks, Yumi.”

They turned their attention to the other two.

“We’re outta here!” Yumi pushed off and floated toward the way they came, the spheres following them.

Odd floated through the hatch, grasping Cassidy’s hand as Yumi let go. “You guys! Give me a hand!” They closed it, Cassidy and Odd turning the handle. They impaled the door.

At the Ishiyama household, Hiroki ran the vacuum cleaner in the living room.

Outside, Kiwi barked in distress.

“That’s strange. It sounds like a dog is outside,” Cho said.

Hiroki’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe that he forgot to lock Kiwi in Yumi’s room. He kept vacuuming, smiling in the hopes that he wouldn’t get caught.

However, Takeo stopped their son as he passed by with the vacuum, hearing some howling. They opened the door and the gray doggie walked into the living room, sitting in front of him and Cho with a paw raised.

Yumi and Hiroki’s father said, “Hey, Hiroki!”

The boy tried to back away.

\---

A golden trail in his wake, Ulrich sprinted to another room.

_“Make your next left, Ulrich.”_

He turned left out of the hallway, hopping back when a couple lasers connected to the wall. Ulrich moved out of the way.

Meanwhile, the ring constricted around the tower and the Skid. “Jeremie, I transferred all of the energy into the shields,” Aelita announced.

_“Let’s hope they hold up.”_

She looked around. “They seem to be okay for now.”

Suddenly, a dark-costumed figure ran into the scene.

_“Aelita, Mr. Hated just showed up.”_

William stopped at the edge and conjured his zabanto, resting it on his shoulder, then swinging it around his circumference. Upon bringing it back around, a white wave of energy flew to the Skid.

She looked up, only to be jolted from the impact. Giving an annoyed grunt, Aelita whispered, “Doesn’t he ever give up?!” She typed on the white keys. “Here we go.” She flickered and disappeared, reappearing yards behind him. A pink ball charged up in one of her hands. “Energy Field!”

William turned around and then ducked. The sphere of energy flew up and into the Skid, lowering its shields.

“I can’t believe it. That was so dumb!” Aelita bemoaned.

He rose up and sauntered toward her, growling.

In the space station, the three balls turned red and melted through the door to the hatch.

“XANA’s really having a ball—and lots of them,” Odd observed.

Yumi held Cassidy’s hand again. “Stop the joking, Odd. Those things could reverse the teleportation. If we fail this mission, XANA wins.”

Back on the Sector 5 Replika, the ring wound itself tighter and tighter around the Skid, the shields lowering and weakening.

_“The Skid just lost one shield layer. Ulrich! Aelita!”_

Aelita bent backward, avoiding another energy wave from William. “I’m doing all I can, Jeremie.”

He brought his zabanto up and charged after her.

She turned to the edge and jumped off. He slowed to a stop. **_Did she do my job for me?!_**

Then she swooped up into the air, a pink orb charging in her hand. “Energy Field!” The ball of energy fired. William pulled his zabanto up and shielded himself. The force of the impact threw him yards from it.

Her feet hit the land—wings retracting—and she ran over to stand on his sword.

Back at the space station, Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy backed away from the melting hatch.

The geisha glared at him. “What now?”

He contemplated, finding a lever, and cocked a brow. “Yumi, you and I hold onto Cassidy!” He grabbed Cassidy’s other hand. “It feels pretty stuffy in here. Let’s air the place out.”

“ODD,” Yumi and Cassidy cried, “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

Odd looked at them. “What? If I don’t do that, we’re going to be bowling pins.” The spheres made their way in. “Hang on tight, Yumi!” He pulled on the lever, the airlock opening. Right away, their legs flew in the non-air.

A box knocked a hammer to the floor. Cassidy ducked her head, keeping ahold of Odd and Yumi, and tried to avoid all the objects coming toward her.

The spheres fought the vacuum, but their fight was in vain. They fell out of the airlock. After that, Odd reached for the lever and pushed it upward, shutting the door.

Cassidy clung to Yumi, trembling like a leaf.

“Huh. Much better. Smells less like an astronaut’s dirty socks in here now,” Odd cracked.

She nodded, whimpering badly. “I never want to be up in space after this mission ever again!”

_“The mission is almost done, Cassidy.”_

On the Sector 5 Replika, the Creeper strutted to another side, groaning like a deep-voiced diva, and fired its laser.

Ulrich unsheathed one of his katanas. He ducked the lasers. “It’s time you stopped drooling over me, pal!” He threw it.

The sword hit the beast in the chest. It combusted.

Sighing in relief, Ulrich cried, “SUPER SPRINT!” and raced over to the next hallway.

 _“Not much further, Ulrich!”_ Jeremie informed.

Back with Aelita and William, the two stared each other down like victims in the grind. Each knew that either of them would have to give.

The ring grew tighter around the Skid. Aelita took a minute to look up at it.

William took his chance. He lifted his hand and summoned his zabanto. Dark smoke surrounded it and swept the hapless pink-haired girl off her feet and onto her back.

With Ulrich, he made it into a wide room.

_“The key’s on the other side. Better hurry!”_

“Thanks a lot, Jeremie. I can see it!” he said drily. A wide gap stood in between him and the target. He backed away. “Well, when ya gotta go…” When he had a fair amount of distance, he commented, “…ya gotta go. SUPER SPRINT!” He raced and flew over the gap, fingers grasping the edge on the other side. Struggling to get up, his eyes found that the floor and the ceiling were closing in. Sprinting to it, he gradually ducked lower until he was on his belly, he reached out and pressed it, disappearing into digital dust as the floor and ceiling touched each other.

Elsewhere, the ring around the Skid disappeared in a flash of white light.

In the Scanner Room, Ulrich sat in his scanner. “Now that’s what I call being pressed for time.”

In the space station, Odd floated over to the pipe and struck it open with a hammer. “I hope they got insurance.”

The liquid spilled out and gently made its way to the supercomputer. Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy gave the droplets a wide berth. “It’s working, Einstein!”

A big droplet hit the keyboard and purple electricity rose from it.

_“Yeah, it’s gonna blow! I’ll bring you all in! Deenergize, Odd. Deenergize, Yumi. Deenergize, Cassidy!”_

The three disappeared in the explosion. Yumi and Cassidy reappeared in the double, while Odd returned in the single, all three unconscious.

William threw his hands in the air. **_Why can’t they let XANA succeed for once?!_**

Aelita, on the other hand, rose to a sitting position and shook her head from the impact.

William shot a black smoke at her, about to take her to the Digital Sea when a sharp pain hit his shoulder. He turned around.

Aelita dropped to the floor.

“LEAVE OUR FRIEND ALONE, YA HEAR!” Yumi roared, chucking her fans at him.

He put his sword up at one of them, but a pain exploded into his shoulder again. William charged at them, but Odd and Cassidy were ready with a barrage of bullets and laser arrows, felling him to the floor. He looked up at them.

Seeing no surrender in their eyes, William backed off and jumped over the edge of the sector’s Replika.

 _“I don’t wanna be a pain, but if I were you, I’d get out of there, fast,”_ Jeremie announced.

Aelita materialized into the cockpit, Yumi and Cassidy in the double NavSkid, and Odd in the single. The pink-haired elven warrior grasped the thrusters. “Okay, everyone’s onboard.” She disconnected from the tower. “Here we go!” The Skid flew out of sight and into the Digital Network.

The sphere cracked, light flying from the edges, until it exploded.

 _“That’s one less Replika,”_ Jeremie sighed in relief. _“Mission accomplished.”_

After rematerializing, Odd, Yumi, and Cassidy walked to the geisha’s household, noticing the car. “Rats! My parents are home!”

“Yeah, and…?” the cat boy asked.

“Well, let’s say I wouldn’t like to be Kiwi right now,” she fretted.

Cassidy’s eyes sparked. “Yumi, Odd, Kiwi’s fine. He’s having fun with your father.”

They entered the living room, hearing laughter. Right away, they saw Takeo gently juggling Kiwi with his feet. “Nice little doggie, you love playing with your uncle Takeo, don’t you? Yeah!” He chuckled jovially.

Yumi cleared her throat, still surprised to see her father acting like that.

He looked at the source of the noise. “Oh…back already?” He caught Kiwi in his arms.

“Uh, yes, Mr. Ishiyama. I don’t want my dog to be a bother to you, so uh…I’d like to take him home,” Odd said.

Cassidy hid behind Yumi, still remembering the day that Takeo wished her dead in Japanese.

He smiled at him, slight disappointment biting his heart. “Oh really? Well if you like I could take care of him for…a week or so!” Takeo gently petted Kiwi’s head, taking care to have Cassidy see that she has nothing to be afraid of.

“Thank you, sir, but I missed him!” Odd reached out for him.

The older gentleman gave him back, seeing boy and dog cuddling happy with each other. “I can understand that!”

Just as the four exited the house, Cho met them. “Just a minute, Odd! Here, take some sushi!”

“Thank you, ma’am, but…I’m not crazy about raw fish.” Odd raised a hand politely, trying to refuse.

“But it’s not for you, it’s for Kiwi! He loves it, especially when it’s got lots of mustard on it! Mm…” Cho smiled.

He gave a half-hearted grin.

As they ambled back to the school, Yumi holding the mustard covered sushi, Cassidy looked at the dog. “You said something earlier. What did you mean, Kiwi?”

Kiwi yipped at her. _I meant that I was at Yumi’s place before._

She folded a brow, raising another. “Kiwi?”

“What is he ‘saying’ to you, now?” Yumi asked.

“He says that he was at your house before, but I don’t know how that can be. Unless…” She placed a hand on his head thoughtfully.

“Unless what?” Odd looked at her.

“Unless the visions I have are of the past, but how you don’t remember and Kiwi does, I’m not too sure.” Cassidy gingerly scratched behind the puppy’s ears.

Odd gently patted her on the back above the scar. “Animals are sometimes smarter than us. Kiwi may be no different.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but it is a distinct possibility.”

Kiwi barked happily.


	65. Now Jeremie has Cousins Twice Removed

**The family tree regarding cousins removed always confuses me.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko, but I do own Cassidy. Kaitlyn Belpois is © LongHairedAelita.**

**In my personal opinion, Hervé sounds lame XANAfied.**

**“[text]” = Morse Code**

Jeremie typed on his computer when his phone rang. He scowled and threw it over his shoulder. “Do you mind taking it?” he asked, not bothering to look away from the screen.

Cassidy nodded, catching it and answering. “This is Jeremie’s phone.”

_“Cassidy?! Guess what? Yumi and Aelita just bet they could wipe us out in foosball, so Ulrich and I are gonna teach them a lesson. Do you and Einstein wanna watch?”_

She cut to the contrary. “Jeremie’s working on the NavSkid’s programs, and he can’t get away. I’m glued in so there are no distractions on his plate.”

_“Relax, Cat-Girl. I thought you two would like a front-row seat to see the girls get thrashed. We weren’t gonna make you play.”_

“To Einstein, working on the Skid is slightly more important than foosball. You don’t want your last journey to be our last, do ya?” Cassidy sat on his bed.

_“Always the optimist, huh, Cassidy. Come on over. You two could use a break from the computer.”_

“I’m sorry, Odd, but Jeremie is not in the mood. Look, he’s giving me the eye, so I better go. I root for both the teams. Love you.” She hung up.

He growled.

“Hey, I’m just your secretary for the moment,” she defended. “Plus, you have some inner irritations. I’m going to try to mitigate them. Don’t threaten my boyfriend. Otherwise, I might just use you as bait to draw out Mr. Hated!”

He winced. She had not used that threat before. He hadn’t updated his look at all. Not that he would need it, but if her XANAfied ex-boyfriend saw the genius’s look, he would laugh. “Where was I? If I compress the executable files, I’ll be able to free up enough memory to—” A knock at the door jolted his spoken thoughts.

“I’ll get it.” Cassidy walked to the door and answered. “Oh, hi, Mr. Delmas.”

Jeremie turned around. “Hello, Mr. Delmas.”

“I hope you’ll be glad to see your cousins, Mr. Belpois,” the principal said.

Jeremie’s brows raised while Cassidy’s eyes widened. She grinned uneasily, “Cousin _s_? As in, more than one? The plural form?”

“Very astute, Miss McGuire,” Jean-Pierre complimented sarcastically. “Especially since you have chosen writing as your career path.”

“Sorry, sir. I got a bit confused…”

“Come in.”

In came a boy with brown hair and eyes first. He wore a black leather zip-up jacket over a light bluish V-neck shirt over a darker shade shirt. His jeans covered the back heels of his black and gray shoes. A dark spot birthmark settled itself upon his left cheek. His hair stood as though shocked with electricity. Unlike the genius, the boy’s complexion had paled.

The second, a girl, walked in. She had long bleach blond hair that met her butt and sea green eyes. She wore a pink turtleneck sweater that was almost like Jeremie’s old baby sky blue one and khaki pants. Like him, she had glasses on, yet the frames were not circular, but square.

“Hello, Jeremie,” the boy spoke as though his nose was clogged.

The girl smiled at him. “It’s great to see you, cuz.”

“Patrick, Kaitlyn!” Jeremie looked at them, shocked. “What are you two doing here?”

“A severe storm hit my hometown,” Kaitlyn admitted.

“I’m surprised your parents didn’t tell you. Patrick’s been enrolled on their recommendation. And until we can get them rooms of their own…”

Cassidy raised a finger. “Sir, Aelita and I could house Kaitlyn as a second roommate. Plus, we could be great examples for her.”

“How very noble of you, Miss McGuire. I’ll make the arrangements for you and Miss Stones to have Miss Belpois in your room.” He looked at Jeremie again. “Until we get him a room of his own, I thought we would put him with you.” He scratched under his beard. “Camping beds should do the trick.”

“But, sir, it’s just that I—” Jeremie’s brows cocked high.

He patted Patrick’s shoulder, then Kaitlyn. “Well, young man and lady, welcome to Kadic. Belpois and McGuire, I’ll leave you to um…Belpois and Belpois. It might be a good idea to show them around the school.”

Cassidy rifled through her vision journal, trying to make sense of a second cousin, finding nothing.

“How are you doing, cuz?” Patrick asked Jeremie, who folded his arms. “I caught you by surprise, didn’t I? You’re glad to see me, I hope.”

“Yeah, I’m overjoyed, Patrick,” the genius glared at him. “Listen, don’t you have to go get your stuff and Kaitlyn’s, or fill out a form or something?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess…”

The new blond girl glared at him. “Seriously? Let the past go, Jeremie!”

Footsteps interrupted their conversation, and Odd rushed toward the bespectacled male. “Hey, Jeremie! ’anyone ever tell you it’s bad manners and dangerous to have others answer your phone?!” He looked at Kaitlyn and Patrick. “Incredible! Einstein’s made handsomer clones of himself! And one is a girl!”

Kaitlyn blushed, looking at her cousin suspiciously.  _What are you doing…?_

Cassidy blinked, trying to hide the fact that she read her mind. “Odd, these are los primos de Jeremie, Jeremie’s cousins. Get your mind out of those science fiction novels and comics you read so often.” She pointed at the brown-haired one. “This is Patrick.” She then gestured at the blond. “This is Kaitlyn. And, I hope you don’t mind, Aelita, but I asked Mr. Delmas if she could bunk with us.”

“It’s alright by me,” Aelita warmly said.

“They’re going to be students here.” Jeremie tried to keep from sounding mean. He liked Kaitlyn more than he did Patrick.

Ulrich waved at them. “Hi. My name is Ulrich. Another two Belpois, huh? Are you two also nuts about square roots and all that stuff?”

“I’m a weak spot at math, actually,” Kaitlyn said.

“Oh, no, I’m not as bright as Jeremie, that’s for sure.”

“You think he’s bright, do you? If you ask me, he wears kinda drab colors!” Odd pointed at the genius.

“Yeah, well, I guess from the way you dress, anything would seem kinda dull,” Patrick cracked, causing Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich to snicker.

“Hey! This was a classy outfit. It’s based on  _Kung-Fu Commando_.” He pointed a finger up.

“It’s a great game. I guess you’re stuck at Level 7 because, in Level 8, the clothes get a lot more tame.”

Odd’s jaw dropped.

Ulrich leaned in close. “You two should get along. A couple of joystick junkies. And I thought we had someone new for football.”

“I don’t just play video games. I’m into Aikido, too.”

He turned back to him. “Yeah? Hey, that’s cool, although I prefer doing Pencak Silat! Anyway, we could train together.”

“So where do you come from, K-Kaitlyn?” Cassidy asked.

“I’m from the United States, like you,” she said.

Her jaw dropped.

She smiled. “Jeremie told me all about you. You can be a bit mystifying.”

Cassidy’s eyes widened, even as a hand waved in front of her face. Jeremie chuckled. “I think her mind froze. Anyway, everybody out—”

She woke up. “Okay, everybody. Let’s get Kaitlyn and Patrick more or less situated around Kadic. Jeremie’s got a report due on the Vikings and the Skidbladnir, the mystical toll ship. It’s paramount. He’ll join us later. Maybe for lunch, if possible.”

“Roger,” Yumi smiled, helping to lead everyone out. “Time to ship out. We’ve got a date with the foosball game.” She looked at the two new students. “Hey, why don’t you two come with us.”

Patrick smiled. “That’d be great, thanks.” He looked back at the genius. “Your friends are very nice, Jeremie.”

“I can see exactly what you’re after!” he said as soon as Kaitlyn was out of earshot. “So just leave my friends alone, okay? Make your own friends in the rec room.”

“Is that family reunion typical of the Belpois?” Yumi asked, outside of the room.

Aelita and Cassidy doubled back. “We’ll meet you over there. We forgot our mobile.” They rushed back to Jeremie’s room while Patrick fell in step where they stood, smiling. They trekked on to the rec room.

“Jeremie, I know you and Patrick had some bad blood a while back, but you’re allowing yourself to be controlled by events of the past. You’re…you’re not letting any good times with him because of one single instance in time, priming yourself to react this way. Holding a grudge isn’t right for you,” Cassidy scolded. “I may not know Kaitlyn as much as I think I do Patrick, but you should show a little mercy to him. He might’ve acted as though you didn’t exist, but I think his ‘showboating’ as you think he did in summer camp was an accident.”

“Cassidy, are you blind?”

“Actually, I’m farsighted, but that’s against the point. Just give your brown-haired cousin a break. He’s new, needing someone to show him around. If you don’t, then we will. But, the thing is, like him or not, we will always remain Lyoko Warriors,” Cassidy took his hand and rubbed it with her thumb. “Nothing will tear us apart. Not even your Edward Cullen of a cousin.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She giggled. “Yes… Now, you need to get back on the NavSkids programming. Aelita and I will come in to check on you later. Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She placed a right hand over the lens. The two of them left.

In the Rec Room, Yumi, Kaitlyn, and Patrick played against Ulrich and Odd. The wildcard asked, “What’s taking Aelita and Cassidy so long anyway? I can’t wait to teach you four ladies a lesson.”

“Oh, yeah?” Kaitlyn asked.

Yumi flipped the man rod-five, and the ball soared into the goal. “Like the one we’re giving you now?”

Odd gaped, then pointed with his finger, the other hand resting on his hip. “You don’t deserve the credit! It was Patrick’s pass.”

“If Jeremie wasn’t stuck to his computer all day, he might be able to play like you two,” Ulrich said.

Patrick smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t be too hard on him. After all, it’s harder to be a whizz in math than playing foosball.”

Odd looked up at him. “That’s incredible. Einstein treats you like dirt, and yet, you try to defend him. If he was my cousin, I’d ask for a divorce!”

“I don’t think that’s possible. Emancipation maybe, but not divorce. Our family frowns upon incest,” Kaitlyn said.

Sissi smiled, overhearing the conversation. “Very interesting.”

“Can we change the channel? This is the third episode of _Love, Glory and Paella_ in a row!” Hervé complained.

She held the remote in one hand, pointing her finger at him with the other. “Just shut up! _I_ decide, and you _obey_!”

\---

“Cassidy may know a thing or two, but she still needs to keep up with her psychology,” Jeremie muttered as he typed.

Another knock on the door interrupted his spoken thoughts. He turned around. “Who’s there?”

Jim walked in with one of the camping beds. “Well then, Belpois, got a little family company?” He noted his turning around and typing as he set it up. “Oh, looks like you’d rather not talk about it. Happens to me sometimes too! You should do more exercise. Takes your mind off other things.” He left the room.

A window popped up on his computer screen, and a sphere in the Digital Network activated. He smiled. “Ah, some good news. About time.”

Cassidy and Aelita walked to the rec room when a loud ringing jolted them. The pink-haired girl picked up her mobile. “Hello? Is that you, Jeremie?”

_“Yes, Aelita. I have to tell you something.”_

“I’m warning you, Jeremie, if you’re gonna be as rude as…”

_“The Super Scan’s picked up a Replika.”_

“What?”

 _“I’ll meet you at the factory,”_  Jeremie told her.  _“Call the others.”_

“Now?!”

_“Yeah. Right now!”_

In the Rec Room, Odd pulled at the rod, contemplating his next move. The door squeaked as it opened. He smiled as his girlfriend and his best friend walked in. “Ah, Aelita, Cassidy, finally!”

“Uh…little change in program.”

Yumi looked back at them, tapping at her leg in Morse Code. “[XANA?]”

Cassidy nodded. “[Replika.]”

“Are they okay?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Are they sick?” Patrick walked toward the psychic.

“Yeah, they’re fine. They just like to communicate in a different way,” Ulrich smiled. He walked around the foosball table, while Odd went the other way. “Sorry, we have to go now. We have a little problem to take care of.”

“Is there a school emergency?” Kaitlyn asked.

“No, we just need to take care of something,” Cassidy smiled. “We’ll be right back.”

Her eyes widened, remembering something. “You both know Morse Code! She asked XANA and you said Replika.”

“Who are XANA and Replika? A couple of Greek friends?” Patrick asked.

Odd stopped in his tracks. “Uh…” He chuckled nervously. “Right! And they make a wicked moussaka, but you gotta eat it while it’s hot!”

“They also do Soutzoukakia Smyrneika,” Cassidy said, but mispronounced the Grecian terms.

They rushed out. “See you later,” the wildcard cried.

They looked at the foosball table and walked to their rooms.

Sissi tossed the remote. “See you later!” She walked away. “Tell me how it ends.”

Hervé caught it.

A Portuguese actor said, “I can’t keep it from you anymore! I’m not Ramone’s brother…”

Nicholas pointed at him. “Change the channel, what are you waiting for?”

He clicked a button, and a sports announcer popped onto the screen. “Incredible save by the goalie. The pressure’s on…still no score…”

“Hey!” They both stood up.

In the sewers, Jeremie led the way. Odd came in second, Cassidy in third, Ulrich in fourth, Aelita in fifth, and Yumi in sixth.  The cat boy fell into wheel-step with the genius. “Already here, Einstein? Did you reinforce the NavSkid?”

“The program’s running,” Jeremie panted. “I left my computer working while I’m gone.”

“That’s not a good idea. One time, I left mine running while it rendered a video I was creating, and it didn’t complete until a couple days later,” Cassidy blinked.

“The update will install itself directly onto the Supercomputer.”

Ulrich came up on Jeremie’s other side while the psychic overtook the lead. “Yeah, but won’t Patrick or Kaitlyn see it?”

“I locked my room. They won’t get in until I get back,” he said as they reached their destination.

\---

Patrick jiggled the handle. “I guess Jeremie locked his room up.” He dug the key from his pocket. “Good thing the principal gave me a copy of the key.” He placed it into the lock and opened the door. Before he could close it, a dark pink shoe entered the crack. His brows cocked high as he looked behind him.

“Hello, my name is Sissi. I’m really glad to meet you!” Sissi smiled deviously.

His brows cocked higher.

In the Scanner Room, Odd, Cassidy, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich walked to the cabins. The geisha, samurai, and elven warriors entered first.

_“Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization.”_

\---

Patrick scowled at Sissi. “You’re wrong. Jeremie and I don’t hate each other!”

She filed her nails. “There’s no need to lie to me. I know everything. But I’m on the side of the good guys, like you, Patrick. Jeremie and his gang are up to no good, but together, we catch them.”

“Jeremie? He wouldn’t dare steal a lollipop! Besides, he’s always in front of his computer,” Patrick defended.

Sissi turned her attention to Jeremie’s computer. “Yeah…what if the answer’s in his computer?”

He looked at her, then over to it.

\---

Nicholas and Hervé watched the game when the acne-scarred boy’s phone rang. “Oh, Sissi… Look, Miguel and Tereza were just about to kiss each other, when all of a sudden…”

 _“I don’t care, you little dork!”_ Sissi shrieked.

“You don’t?” he asked.

_“Just go over to Jeremie’s room, and step on it.”_

\---

The Skid glided through the Digital Network. “I’m steady in the right direction,” Aelita informed. “Hub 1-10 in sight, Jeremie.”

_“Stabilize the NavSkids over the hyper fluid while I enter the Replika’s coordinates, and—DARN IT!”_

“A problem?”

_“More like three problems. A trio of Sharks at eleven o’clock.”_

“I’ll stabilize the NavSkids.” She put on the retro brakes. The Digital Sea changed from cyan blue to a wine red.

Odd looked out the window. “Just one for each of the NavSkids? Piece of cake! And I’m the expert at desserts!” he grabbed a lever and the thruster.

Yumi waved her arms in front of her. “Would the captain mind releasing us?”

Aelita pulled down three of four little levers with her fingers, saluting with her other hand. “Battle stations, sailors! NavSkids away!”

The three mini subs raced off into battle. Cassidy stayed in the second double. “I might as well sit back for you.”

 _“Keep them off the Skid!”_ Jeremie warned.

One of the Sharks opened its mouth and shot a laser, it connecting to the main virtual sub. Aelita flinched, unsettled from being hit.

_“Your deflector shields haven’t finished uploading yet.”_

In Kadic, Hervé typed on Jeremie’s computer. Sissi folded her arms. “Will you hurry?! I thought that you were a computer whizz!”

He kept his focus. “There’s some kind of program running, and it’s blocking my access to Jeremie’s personal files.”

Patrick stood up. “Hey! What you’re doing is _way out of line!_ ”

“But why? If Jeremie has nothing to hide, we won’t find anything, huh?” she asked.

“That doesn’t matter. It’s still wrong!”

Hervé kept typing, unperturbed by the argument. “Miserable program!” A window popped up and a bar filled in purple. “Don’t ask me how I did it, but I think I did it!”

Back in the Digital Sea, Aelita waited patiently in the cockpit while Cassidy sat in the NavSkid. “I heard you had a bit of a talk with Ulrich about our last Replika mission.”

“He did turn me away. It turned out that he was just chicken about my powers, as usual.” She rolled her eyes.

Aelita noticed the red bar depleting. She typed on the keys. “Jeremie, my protector shield just dropped all of a sudden.”

 _“Wait, I’ll check it out,”_ Jeremie reassured.

“I’m sure Sissi and Hervé are in on this,” Cassidy growled, a spark flashing inside her NavSkid.

“And Patrick?” Aelita asked.

“He’s trying to defend Jeremie and his computer.”

 _“M-me?!”_ the genius’s voice cracked.

“Yes. Jeremie, he loves you.”

_“Hey, what’s going on now?!”_

Ulrich tailed his Shark. “You won’t get away from me that easily!” He pressed a button. “Take this, you overgrown sardine!” The torpedoes shot out. The monster moved out of their way. They struck a structure, causing several blocks of data to fall apart.

_“Factory to NavSkids. Head back to the Skid!”_

Odd looked up. “What’s wrong, Princess and Cat Girl? Feeling lonesome?”

“No time for jokes, Odd. I don’t have a shield anymore.” A laser connected to the Skid, causing it to sink into the digital water.

“AELITA!” Odd shrieked. “CASSIDY!”

Aelita struggled with her thruster, seeing the shield screen disappear. “Jeremie! I’ve lost power! I have no control at all!”

Cassidy brought her tail up to her hands. “And I have not been deployed! I should’ve known what I was getting into!”

“Jeremie!”

_“Listen, NavSkids, I’ve lost contact with Aelita and Cassidy. Catch up to them fast. They’re being swept away in a digital tide!”_

Yumi turned her thruster. “Okay, I’m breaking off!”

_“It’s impossible to debug it. It’s coming from the program I left running in my room.”_

\---

“I see her date of birth, her Social Security number, all of her school records. This is weird. It’s like he’s forged all of Aelita’s ID papers,” Hervé said.

Sissi had a hand on her hip, looking over his work. “I was sure if we looked hard enough, we would find something interesting.”

“Wait! I’m sure that’s Aelita’s real ID file, he must’ve scanned them for the photo, he’s got a crush on her, right?” Patrick walked up to them.

“Yeah, and her health records? Did he scan those to get her eye color?” Hervé asked snidely.

The program popped up again, barring their field of vision.

“Uh-oh. Hey! Someone’s trying to access the program from a distance. Okay, let’s tango.” _Although I’d much rather be doing the tango with Sissi._

Back in the Lab, a window with a red exclamation point popped up. “Access denied? Huh?! How can that happen?!” He placed a hand on his communicator. “Jeremie to NavSkids, the only way to deal with this bug is to go back to my room.”

Back on the Digital Network, the NavSkids sped through to the Skid.

“Thanks a lot for leaving us alone to protect Aelita and Cassidy!” Yumi sarcastically said.

The Sharks fired their lasers.

“There’s a whole aquarium that won’t let us get through!” Ulrich moaned.

_“I know that, Ulrich, but as soon as the bug is fixed, we can bring the Skid in, so hang on!”_

On the Desert Sector, red electricity spread through the wires and raced toward a tower, turning the white aura into a bright vermillion.

_“I don’t believe it. Activated tower in the Desert Sector. NavSkids, we’re changing our plans. We gotta bring Aelita back to Lyoko.”_

The NavSkids avoided the lasers.

“You want us to turn a squadron of deadly Sharks into fish sticks, find the Skid and haul it back with our tiny little reactors?” Odd asked.

_“That…pretty much sums it up!”_

“Ok, we’re on it, Einstein!”

_“I’m activating a firewall in the system, so you won’t have any trouble while I’m gone.”_

Back in the Lab, Jeremie raced to the elevator and pressed the button. _Patrick, if you were the one who messed with my programs, you will regret it._

\---

_“Delmas Academy. Jean-Pierre Kadic here. Uh, Kadic Academy. Jean-Pierre Delmas speaking.”_

_“This is James Dunbar, William’s father. I’m calling to say that my son won’t be able to attend school this week. He’s got a very high fever and he has to stay in bed.”_

_“RATS! I hope it’s not game over for him. Uh, that is to say, nothing too serious.”_

_“Just a very bad flu.”_

_“Oh, that’s a relief. Please tell your son that we all wish him a speedy recovery, Mr. Dunbar. Good-bye and thanks for calling.”_

Hervé paused the recording as Sissi whispered, “Tapping phones is a serious offense! You’re through, Jeremie Belpois!”

“Here’s another call.” Hervé clicked the file.

They heard Sissi’s voice. _“Hi there Julian. This is Sissi, the love of your life… And I just love your bookworm insults…”_

“But…but I never said that to him,” the snob moaned.

_“Oh, Julian, you won’t believe how mad about you I am!”_

“It’s—It’s those idiots Odd and Cassidy imitating my voice! So that’s why that dork Julian Xao wouldn’t stop following me!”

_“That you, Daddy?”_

_“Elisabeth, why aren’t you home yet? You should be in your room doing your homework! Do you understand? Now then, hurry on home!”_

_“But…but…be right there!”_

Hervé pressed a button, and out popped a CD from the drive. “Well, that’s all. I burned you a CD with all that’s on it for your father.”

Sissi rested her head on her hand. “Great. We have enough on them to get them all thrown out of school!”

Patrick ripped the boy from the computer, and Kaitlyn pulled the girl back. She came down because her cousin needed help. “Not so fast! I’m sure Jeremie has a pretty good explanation.” They took their place between them and the computer.

“My father would be glad to hear it, I’m sure. Out of my way!” Sissi ordered.

“Over our dead bodies!” the cousins chorused.

One of the cords sparked black smoke.

“Stop playing the hero. I can get you kicked out of school, too!” she spat as the black smoke weaved around her and the acne-scarred boy. She closed her eyes, XANA’s ghosts possessing them.

The cousins’ jaws dropped at the sight of the possessed.

They advanced, and before Patrick or Kaitlyn knew anything else, their backs hit the wall outside of Jeremie’s bedroom. XANA-Sissi and XANA-Hervé chuckled as they shut the door.

Back in the Digital Sea, Aelita cried out, “NavSkids! Jeremie?! Do you read me?!”

Back in Jeremie’s room, XANA-Hervé reclaimed his spot on the computer, fingers typing at the Skid program. Suddenly, a window popped up with a red padlock on a fiery orange and yellow background. He groaned in disappointment.

In the Digital Sea, Ulrich tried to hold steady in his NavSkid, seeing the Shark in his view finder. He leaned in, holding the thruster and pressing the button. “Torpedoes!”

The two projectiles flew out and toward the monster. It moved and avoided the first one, but disintegrated at the second one.

Odd smiled. “Nice one, Ulrich.”

“We’ve got to dive down and find Aelita and Cassidy!” he moaned. “LET’S GO!”

The three soared downward into the Digital Sea, avoiding Hubs along the way.

\---

Jeremie burst through the doors leading into the Boy’s Dormitory Hall. “Patrick! Kaitlyn!”

The boy and the girl lay unmoving but not unconscious. “Patrick! Kaitlyn! What’s the matter?!”

Patrick tried to rise first. “This guy Hervé was snooping around on your computer with the principal’s daughter.”

“We tried to stop them, but they lost their minds and threw us out of the room, as though we were some toy to be thrown away,” Kaitlyn moaned.

“They are going to show the ID you made for Aelita to the principal and get you all expelled. I’m sorry. This is our fault. You didn’t like me much to start with, and now…” Patrick said.

Jeremie turned his attention to his cousins. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry for acting like a total idiot—only showing favoritism to Kaitlyn—ever since you two got here.” He held out his hand to his pale one first. “No hard feelings?”

Patrick took it. “No sweat, cousin.” He turned and helped Kaitlyn up to her feet.

“Listen, I don’t have time to explain now, but if we let Sissi and Hervé play around with my computer, getting expelled from school will be the _least_ of our problems. Will you two help me?” Jeremie asked.

“You can count on us!” they both said.

He smiled, a sigh leaving his nose. _I have faith in you! It’s show time!_

\---

XANA-Hervé typed on the computer when the door swung open.

Jeremie, Kaitlyn, and Patrick burst through.

The two XANAfied people turned around.

\---

The Skid with the only remaining NavSkid floated deeper into the drink. “Skid here. NavSkids, come in, please!” Aelita said.

Suddenly a squid-like monster, contrasting from the Schyphozoa on Lyoko, swam into view, looking for the victims.

Aelita typed on the keys. “Come on, answer!” A jolt caused both girls to cry out. The monster’s four tentacle legs grasped the Skid. “Oh, no, what’s that?”

“Aelita, I believe that that is called the Kalamar,” Cassidy, who had been in catatonia for a while, finally found the strength to speak.

The four-legged squid adjusted its position on the vehicle. The capsule on its head opened, and a giant drill came out of the bottom. It slowly determined its position, and then it tried piercing a hole in the roof of the Skid.

Aelita couldn’t move.

The drill failing to make a dent in the metal, the Kalamar moved toward the vehicle’s cockpit window. “Oh, no!”

“Over there! I can see the Skid!” Odd said, squinting his eyes at the monster. “What have we got now?! It looks like a monster from _The Dentist Steel Massacre_!”

“Yeah, except this one looks worse!”

The monster kept drilling the window.

\---

XANA-Sissi slammed Patrick against the closet.

Jeremie grasped his table, trying not to let XANA-Hervé take him away from the computer. However, the acne-scarred possessed boy shucked him into his bed. Kaitlyn kicked the boy in the head, only to be met with some intangibility.

Patrick landed with a thud. Kaitlyn soon followed.

The controlled snob smiled and placed her wrists on her hips, while XANA-Hervé resumed typing at the firewall. The red flashing lock turned black and vanished, causing the genius of the group to cry out, “NO!”

He chuckled. **“I cracked the firewall!”**

\---

The monster continued to drill.

“Oh, no!” Aelita cried softly.

“You know what? You’re right, Yumi! The mad dentist is a saint compared to this monster.”

“In formation. Here we go,” Yumi ordered. “NavSkids standing by to fire!”

The torpedoes charged up, but suddenly fizzled out.

Ulrich’s eyes widened. “Huh?! No more power. What’s going on?!”

“No idea, anata. Something’s wrong!” Yumi said.

They sped away from their friend.

“Now more of them. The return of the sardines!” Odd fretted, looking behind him.

\---

XANA-Sissi stood over the three cousins. Jeremie looked over to them.

“They both blown a fuse, don’t you think?” Patrick asked.

He growled confidently. “Now there’s an idea. If I cut the electricity, my computer will switch off, and so will the access to the Supercomputer!” _Patrick, you may not share my smarts, but you are a genius!_ He got up and shot out of his room as though an inferno followed him.

XANA-Sissi followed slowly when a hand grabbed her arm.

“You stay here!” Patrick said.

Kaitlyn tackled the possessed teenager to the ground.

The genius looked back at them, then kept running.

XANA-Sissi kicked Patrick to the ceiling.

\---

Back in the Digital Network, the Kalamar drilled deeper into the Skid.

The NavSkids shot around in all directions, trying to avoid the Sharks. The monsters shot their lasers at them.

Ulrich quietly cried out from the force of the impact, trying to avoid being hit again. He looked down to see he was almost out of power, then turned to Odd’s NavSkid. “My deflector shield is almost gone! One more hit, and it’s all over!”

He whimpered. “To think I’ll never get to level eight of _Kung-Fu Commando_ … Patrick’s such a lucky guy!” They split at another laser.

\---

Jeremie raced across the campus and into the boiler room.

\---

XANA-Sissi, who had thrown off Kaitlyn, raced down the stairs.

“GERONIMO!” Patrick yelled as he tackled her.

The two tumbled until they were both at the bottom. The controlled snob looked at who attacked her and then charged a purple ball of electricity, hitting him.

He landed hard against the bottom stair, purple electricity circulating around his body. His vision went black.

\---

XANA-Hervé kept typing on the computer, smiling in utter victory. Two bars filled in purple as a NavSkid window popped up.

\---

On the Digital Network, the NavSkids continued to evade their enemies.

\---

In the boiler room, Jeremie opened the door leading to the fuse box, then closed it, shutting his eyes for a moment. He placed a shovel under the hinge.

\---

The Kalamar drilled into the Skid, causing more cracks to form.

Aelita cried out. If they lost their virtual sub, they would lose her and Cassidy.

\---

Jeremie opened the door to the fuse box. He looked around. “It must be one of these buttons.”

\---

Hervé continued to type.

\---

In the rec room, Nicholas vibrated in excitement to the announcer talking about the penalty kick. Suddenly, the TV turned off. “And what?!”

\---

The computer in Jeremie’s room turned blank. **“No, this is impossible!”**

\---

Nicholas rushed to the TV. “Come back on! This is impossible! Come on!” He banged on the box, trying to get it to resurrect.

\---

Back in the Digital Network, the monster drilled.

Aelita braced herself for impact when something bounced it off. She looked as the green went across the screen. “My shield is back,” she whispered.

“Aelita, are you okay,” Cassidy asked.

“Are you? I couldn’t talk to you.”

“I’m a bit scared, but I’m fine.”

She saw the reading window come back online and smiled. “Jeremie, you did it, right?!” The red lights in the cockpit turned off and the main light clicked on.

“He did…in an unconventional, but useful, way,” Cassidy said. “He turned off the fuse box that connected his computer to Lyoko’s.”

Aelita asked, to check for herself, “Jeremie, can you hear me?”

 _“Nice to hear your voice again, Aelita. Einstein strikes again!”_ Ulrich told her. _“Cassidy?”_

“I hear you loud and clear, Ulrich,” Cassidy smiled.

Ulrich turned a lever and turned around. “Too bad for you, Fish Face. I’m off the hook, but not you!” He pressed a button on the thruster.

Two torpedoes sped for the Shark, disintegrating it. “YAHOO!” he cried.

\---

Jeremie sat with his arms around his knees. “I sure hope the others get a move on.” He got up and ran to the other side, hearing someone bang on the door. The shovel moved aside as it swung open, revealing XANA-Sissi.

\---

The last Shark got hit broadside and imploded. Odd sped through. “YAHOO! No more Sharks.”

The Kalamar tried to drill through the Skid’s shield.

“It’s not as easy as it was, is it?” Aelita taunted.

“I hate to bother you, Princess, but do you mind stepping aside. Bring Cat Girl with you.”

She nodded, pressing three octagonal keys. “Reverse propulsion!”

The Skid backed away, separating itself from the monster.

Ulrich got in line. “Fire!”

Odd came in diagonally. “Fire!”

Yumi followed them. “Fire!”

The torpedoes hit the squid-like monster and it disappeared.

“Well done. I can bring you in, now!” Aelita said to them as they passed her line of vision. “Next stop: Lyoko!”

“Roger,” Yumi said.

“NavSkids in!”

Everyone connected to the stem, ready to go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower.

“Maximum propulsion.”

\---

XANA-Sissi advanced to Jeremie, who grabbed a rake. “Sweet talk won’t get you anywhere, Sissi!” he growled as he charged at her, the leaf tool at the ready. _This is for my cousins!_

\---

The Skid came out of the Digital Sea into the Desert Sector. A few Tarantulas guarded the activated tower. The virtual ship made it to a safe edge. “Disembarkment.”

Everyone disappeared from the compartments and onto the artificial sand. Odd stretched. “Ah! That’s much better, I had virtual pins and needles in my legs!”

Aelita rolled her eyes, smiling.

Cassidy grinned. “I feel like hugging everyone, but I know Jeremie, Patrick, and Kaitlyn are in danger, so those will have to wait.”

The Tarantulas started to aim.

Ulrich got his katanas out while Yumi unsheathed her fans. “Ah, that’s better. A good old fashioned land duel.”

However, Aelita stood between them and shot at the first Tarantula, taking first blood. The other one fired at them.

He glowered at her. “Hey! Don’t be a party pooper. You’re spoiling all the fun!”

“Hey!” Cassidy whacked him up the neck. “The Belpois family is in danger. Don’t give Aelita lip!”

“She’s right. Jeremie’s in trouble.”

\---

XANA-Sissi grabbed Jeremie’s rake, the two struggling for a moment, and threw him to the wall. Then she turned on the fuse box.

\---

XANA-Hervé sat back as the screen came back online.

\---

The Lyoko Warriors charged into battle. Yumi threw a fan, but she took a laser into her ribcage, dissolving her into white squared dust.

The Tarantula ducked the fan.

“Nice going handsome, but you forgot to look up,” Odd cracked.

Ulrich jumped off near the top of the tower and landed on it, stabbing it in the eye. He vaulted off it as it combusted, about to put his katanas back.

The cat boy bowed to the pink elven warrior. “Okay. It’s your move, Princess.”

A mechanical growling noise got the three bodyguards’ attentions. They turned around to see three Tarantulas.

Ulrich breathed to Aelita. “Better hurry. XANA’s invited some friends over.”

She turned and entered the tower.

The three Lyoko Warriors stood their ground.

\---

XANA-Hervé grinned as he pulled up all of Aelita’s information.

\---

Jeremie’s phone rang, and just as he was about to reach out to answer it, a pink shoe crushed it.

XANA-Sissi stood victorious.

\---

Aelita rose to the second platform.

\---

The possessed snob started to electrocute Jeremie.

\---

Her feet met the floor and she entered the Lyoko Code. “Tower deactivated.”

\---

Sissi let go of Jeremie, free from XANA.

He got up. “Pa-pa-PATRICK! KAITLYN!” He held a hand to his throat.

\---

The scanners opened up to reveal Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita.

The pink-haired girl looked at Yumi. “Have you seen Jeremie?”

The black haired girl stared at her phone. “No, and he’s not answering his cell phone.”

Cassidy came out after Odd walked out of his scanner.

\---

He rushed toward his cousin, who was lying on the bottom of the staircase. “PATRICK!” Patrick’s phone rang, and he picked it up. “Aelita, are you at the factory?! Launch a return to the past! Hurry! Patrick’s in pretty bad shape, and Kaitlyn is worse!” He hung up.

Patrick’s eyes opened. “Jeremie…” he whispered. “You—did it!”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. You and Kaitlyn are going to be okay!” Jeremie tried to keep his voice from breaking.

“I—I’m glad we settled things…” Patrick sighed, falling unconscious. “…between us…”

“Patrick…PATRICK!” Jeremie cried.

\---

The elevator to the lab opened and Aelita shot out and got into the hot seat. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Return to the past, NOW!”

A white bubble gently covered all of Earth.

\---

Jeremie typed on the computer in his room. Odd walked to the genius’s closet. “Well, we could finally play foosball!”

Yumi smiled. “In a hurry to get crushed, Odd?”

Cassidy chuckled as Odd moaned. “Plus, we double X chromosomes can be quite strong…”

Jeremie closed a window on his programs. “Odd’s right. Come on. Let’s all go to the rec room!”

Aelita’s brows shot through the ceiling. “You, too? What about your program—I mean, report on the Vikings?”

“It can wait,” he smiled. “It’s not every day that you get to hang with your cousins.”

Cassidy beamed. “That’s great, Einstein.”

“Plus, I can’t wait to play against my cousin,” Kaitlyn grinned.

“I wish one of my relatives could come, but they’re stuck,” Cassidy sighed. “But my friends are like my family.”

“No problem, girl.” Kaitlyn wrapped an arm around the brown-haired psychic.

“Did you give him a three-point handicap?” Ulrich asked as they all started to go out the door.

“It depends. If Patrick and Kaitlyn play on their team, and we get stuck with Jeremie, we’ll be the ones needing a handicap!” Odd cracked and chuckled.

Patrick turned, then looked at the genius, smiling. “Your friends really seem nice, Jeremie.”

“You’re right. They are. Wait until you get to know them better,” Jeremie chuckled.

The two walked out of the dorm. “You think we could be friends? I mean, you and I haven’t gotten along that well.” They walked down the hall.

“Just kids’ jealousy and stuff. That’s all over now,” Jeremie reassured. “You’ve only been here an hour, but I feel like we’re friends already.”

A new voice caught their attention. “Belpois, I forgot to give your schedules for classes. I placed you in Jeremie’s class.” Mr. Delmas handed Patrick a piece of paper. “I shall expect the best from you and Kaitlyn. And again, welcome to Kadic Academy.”

He looked at him with a smile. “Thank you, sir.”

The principal turned around and left the halls.

“I almost thought that he would tell me my parents pulled me out at the last minute,” Patrick sighed in relief.

Jeremie smiled. “Maybe he gave them some food for thought.”

“That’s so cool. Now we won’t have to only see each other at family reunions,” Patrick beamed.

“Let’s get back to the game of foosball before everyone asks where the other two-thirds of the Belpois Clan are.”

“YEAH!” Patrick yelled.

“Will you and Kaitlyn be on my team? I’ve always been dying to beat the socks off of Odd,” Jeremie asked.

After dinner that night, Jeremie pulled Cassidy aside. “This morning I found some drool on my door handle when I came in from the showers. I know that it wasn’t Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, or Yumi.”

“Aelita sleeps very still unless she has a nightmare,” Cassidy noted.

“Plus, Kaitlyn and Patrick have only just arrived here. And they are newly-made Lyoko Warriors. So it couldn’t be theirs. Look, I know you’ve been sleepwalking lately.”

“It’s mine. But I don’t really remember the events leading up to it. I only know that I just fall asleep in my room, dream that wretched nightmare, and wake up somewhere. It’s so weird.” She shook her head.

He shrugged.

“Anyway, maybe tonight, because Aelita and I are housing Kaitlyn, I could wake up sooner and go straight back to bed again,” Cassidy smiled.

“Maybe. I’m so glad that Patrick and Kaitlyn are going to stay at Kadic.”

“Me, too, Einstein.”


	66. This Savage Beast is Tame

**Cool down! We’re going to calm the beast somehow.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko or Kaitlyn Belpois. She is owned by LongHairedAelita. “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” is by _The Moody Blues_. It’s integral to the ending of this episode. Lyrics will be in italics, free from quotation marks.**

In the science classroom, Mrs. Hertz said, “Now, pay close attention, children. An electrical charge flows through a section of conductor. The current’s intensity is expressed in amperes. The force of the tension, however, is measured in volts. This is what gives it the energy it needs to maintain the current. If the tension given out from the source is constant, a continuous current flows.”

Odd pulled double duty in copying the material. Cassidy went to the infirmary before Mrs. Hertz could start, but not before handing him a note of the correct answer to a question. “There isn’t one ticket left. Completely sold out, and I absolutely have to find one by tonight,” he whispered.

“Relax, Odd…” Ulrich kept a low tone of voice. “Aelita’s gonna give us each a ticket. Along with Cassidy, she’s the opening act at the concert, and she’s got comps for all of us.”

As though called on, as well as sitting next to Jeremie, Aelita popped her head up.

Odd kept writing down the notes. “I know that. The problem is I need _two_ tickets for tonight.”

The samurai grinned. “Ah…so the two-timer Romeo status hasn’t changed.”

He looked at his roommate. “You can never understand, Ulrich!”

“Odd,” Mrs. Hertz called out, “would you repeat what I just said? What exactly is an electrical charge?”

He looked at the answer in front of him, answering confidently. “It’s the physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field.”

Mrs. Hertz smiled. “I see you actually paid attention to my words. Well done, Odd.”

Ulrich leaned over him. “I know two somebodies who are a lot more stressed out about tonight.” He looked over at Aelita, who seemed to be in a trance of fright, holding her pen clicker-end-up to her face. “Tonight’s concert is making Cassidy’s stomach house more butterflies.”

The bell rang, and everyone charged out. Jeremie raced down the steps, Aelita walking behind him. “Aren’t you coming to lunch, Jeremie?”

He waved at her. “No. I came up with a brand-new program that should help us to locate new Replikas. I have one or two more calculations to work out. See you later!”

Cassidy raced back to Aelita. “I couldn’t get into the infirmary. Emily wanted my autograph. Anything I missed?”

Odd looked at her. “I’ll see you later, too… I’ve got an—an important errand to run.” He raced off.

Cassidy reached out to him. “Odd, wait!”

He stopped in his tracks. “Yes?”

“I know you have a date with Kelly, novio. Before you go head-hunting all over Kadic, here’s the extra ticket.” She handed it to him. “Aelita will give yours later in the rec room.”

“Thanks, Cassidy! You’re the best,” Odd kissed her cheek.

\---

Later, Aelita pressed a button on the vending machine, bent over, and grabbed the soda can.

Ulrich read from the _Kadic Herrald_. “Subdigitals…I liked them better as the Subsonics.”

“Well, Ulrich, the name sounded the same as another band, so they had to change it,” Cassidy said. “But all the same…”

“I like their new name,” she and Aelita chorused, smiles on their faces. The pink-haired girl walked out with her drink.

Yumi walked up to the three. “Well, Aelita and Cassidy, all set for the big night?” She smiled. Her Savior would sing a great song.

Cassidy hid behind her roommate, despite being a little taller than her. “I’m still fighting my inner torment.”

“Don’t even talk about it. We’re so scared.” Aelita held her soda can.

“Welcome to stardom, you two!” Yumi held out her copy of the newspaper. “Listen to this: ‘In our next issue, an exclusive interview with Aelita Stones and Cassidy McGuire, Kadic’s brightest new stars.’” She looked up from reading. “Did you two know about this?”

“Psychically, yes,” Cassidy whispered.

Aelita looked to the sky. “Milly and Tamiya haven’t stopped hassling us for over a week for that interview.” She blinked and focused on Yumi. “But we didn’t promise them anything.”

Ulrich set his copy down slightly. “Oh, you two know what those two are like. Always looking for a little gossip.”

Yumi winked. “Forget about that stuff. Think about the concert.”

Cassidy clenched her teeth. “I’d rather be back in a fighter jet possessed by XANA.”

“What she means is, whenever we do, we get major butterflies in our stomachs. We wish we could stop thinking about it. If we could just get our minds off it for a little while,” Aelita said, trying to bring the lip of the can to her own. “We’ll go and see if Jeremie needs any help with his calculations. See you later.” The roommates minus one walked off.

Odd walked into the scene with Kaitlyn and Patrick in tow. “My extra ticket is secured.”

“But…Aelita’s got a free ticket for you!” Yumi said, slightly incredulous.

“Yeah, but that’s not enough for Odd’s little harem!” Ulrich cracked.

“Laugh at me, go on, but wait until you see Kelly. Then you’ll know why I have to make this first date absolutely perfect,” Odd smiled.

“You mean to say that this is the first time you’re going out together?” Kaitlyn asked.

“Oh, let’s not get into all the details.” He placed a hand in front of his chest. “I am glad that Cassidy helped give me a ticket for tonight.”

“I hear my kid brother’s taking Milly,” Yumi smiled. “She’s such a lucky girl.”

“She also is bringing Tamiya,” Patrick said. “I don’t think they have tracked Aelita and Cassidy down for that interview yet.”

Odd looked up at Yumi. “I need to check on Kiwi. I’ll be right back.” He raced off but stopped to look back at her and the samurai. “Ulrich, you really oughtta propose to her.” He winked and sprinted off to the dorms.

The two blushed fuchsia. “HEY!” He looked at the ground. “Uh…you and I are only boyfriend and girlfriend for now, isn’t that right?”

She looked at him. “Right.”

Milly came up with her notepad, Tamiya, her camera. “Hello, we’re looking for Aelita and Cassidy. We’re supposed to interview them. Do you know where we can find them?”

Ulrich and Yumi looked at each other, blushes disappeared, and then chorused, “They went to the gym.”

“Okay!” Milly smiled and ran off.

Tamiya soon followed her, equally pleased. “Thanks a lot!”

“Just doing our share to support school journalism,” Ulrich said.

“I don’t know if lying was the best option, but I do understand where you are coming from.” Kaitlyn scratched the back of her head. “Speaking of tickets, will Patrick and I receive ours?”

“I’m sure either Aelita or Cassidy managed to get you a couple,” Yumi giggled.

\---

Aelita and Cassidy walked the boys’ dormitory hallway. They reached a door.

“Aelita! Cassidy! We were looking all over for you,” Nicholas announced, approaching the two girls.

The brunette gave a squeak of fear. _Not an autograph…_

“Yeah, we have. Would you two give us your autographs?” Hervé asked.

“Please, Aelita and Cassidy.” The two boys raised their copies of the _Kadic Herrald_.

Cassidy and Aelita blushed dark pink. “Um…uh…”

The psychic girl gritted her teeth. “Sissi’s coming, boys?” her voice sounded unconfident.

Right on cue, a third copy of the news whacked Hervé on the back of the head. They looked as the raven-haired widow's peaked snob approached. “You dorks! Can’t you just see that they’re just _dying_ to?!”

“Sissi…” Cassidy squeaked. “T-this is no-not the time…”

“But…” Aelita tried to protest.

“I’m onto you two. Mrs. Einstein and Psychic Wonder think they’re big stars now that they’re cover girls for a magazine!” She shoved the magazine in front of the girls’ faces.

“Elizabeth! Do you think that we didn’t ask for being hassled?!” Cassidy exploded. “We don’t believe that we’re big stars! Right now…” Her eyes welled up with tears, shoulders shaking as she sobbed. “Oh, God…”

“I didn’t know anything about…” Aelita tried to rub her roommate’s shoulders.

“Everyone knows that _I_ should’ve been picked to be the opening act of the concert, and you two are bound to make total fools of yourselves tonight! Huh! Can’t wait to see that!” Sissi yelled.

“T-that’s not true…” Cassidy found herself calm. “Your DJ audition sounded as though you sampled sounds from a dying race car track combined with construction site machinery. Chris hated your work from the mere sound of it. If you grew a brain, as Aelita said before, then _listen_ to your made tracks, you would have at least scraped second place…”

Nicholas pointed a finger into the air. “And you will see it, Sissi! In fact, you’re gonna have plenty of time to watch from the audience, because it’s Aelita and Cassidy who will be on stage and not you!”

Sissi gaped at them and whacked the strawberry blonde on the head. “Idiot!” She turned and walked away in a huff.

Aelita and Cassidy looked at the floor before knocking on the door, simultaneously giving out a sigh. “Come in,” Jeremie’s voice sounded.

The pink-haired girl popped her head into the room, having opened it. “Are we disturbing you, Jeremie?”

He turned around in his chair, a smile on his face. “I just finished running my initial calculations.” Then he looked at the computer screen. “Thanks to my program, we’ll be able to find the last Replikas with no problem.”

Aelita seated herself on Jeremie’s bed, Cassidy on Patrick’s temporary cot. “Oh, that’s great.” The elven warrior set her bag on her knees. “Um…say, Jeremie, about tonight…”

“Oh, right, the concert!” Jeremie pointed. “I bet you ladies can’t wait to get on stage.”

“I’d rather be seduced by my XANAfied ex-boyfriend,” Cassidy trembled.

“What she means is ‘Not really.’ When we’re alone at our mixing tables, we’re fine. But in such a huge auditorium…” Aelita smiled, holding her hand.

“You’ll be great, girls,” Jeremie soothed, cleaning his glasses. “Don’t worry about it.”

“How come when you say ‘don’t worry about it,’ I get worried about it?” Cassidy increased her grip minutely. The pink-haired girl smiled, feeling a bit better.

“What’s more, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Patrick, and Kaitlyn will be cheering you on.” The genius put his glasses back on and turned around, fingers firing like pistons on the keys.

“Hm? And…what about you?” Aelita asked.

“Jeremie, please,” the psychic tightened her grasp. “We’d very much like it if everyone in the group showed up. Your cousins are coming. Sure, you can bring your laptop, but you cannot have it on while Aelita and I do our—gig.”

“Uh…I gotta wait until the calculations finish running, and then I’ve got a couple things to do, and—so I might be a little late.”

Cassidy bit her tongue into her cheek, as Aelita frowned.

“But I promise to come as soon as I’m done.”

“Uh--what? As soon as you’re done? We’re dying of stage fright, and all you can say is you’re going to be late to our concert?!” they said in dismay, the latter slightly louder.

He turned around, smiling with his eyes closed. “No! Um… that isn’t exactly what I meant… I meant to say that… if it’s really that important to you, well, then—”

Aelita stood up first, letting go of her roommate’s hand. “Important?! We’re standing here, telling you we may not be able to do it… isn’t that important enough for you?!” She dug around in her bag and threw the ticket on the bed where she once sat. “Here’s your invitation. You can always give it to someone else if you don’t find the time to come!” She turned and left the room.

“Jeremie, you can be too hyper-focused on Lyoko,” Cassidy growled, standing up and vacating the room. “Seems you don’t care about today.” She slammed the door.

Jeremie stared at the ticket on his bed. _Oh, no…_

Outside the room, the DJs’ eyes watered with tears. They didn’t open their mouths, but they thought in sync, _What will we do?_

\---

“And if I catch you groveling again in front of those stuck-up pink- and brown-haired mice, I’m taking back those comps!” Sissi yelled at Nicholas and Hervé.

“First of all, Cassidy and Aelita are not mice,” Odd cracked, remembering what his girlfriend showed him. “Second, you might need to check your _ratty_ behavior.” He winked.

“Moron!” she growled as she walked past the wildcard.

He smiled and raced off, taking care to make sure he didn’t lose Kelly’s ticket. He had to get to the rec room to wait for both Aelita and Cassidy. Odd passed by Emmanuel “Mike” Maillard and another of his classmates playing ping-pong and sat beside Yumi on the couch. “Cassidy is excellent; you know that?” he sighed happily.

“She doesn’t make you pay an arm and a leg for anything,” Ulrich quipped.

“She is unconditional, Ulrich,” Odd smiled.

Kaitlyn giggled. “She is very kind. Right, Patrick?”

Patrick nodded.

“Oh, there you are,” Aelita said as she and Cassidy walked to the group. “We came to give your tickets for tonight!”

Cassidy gave the two cousins their tickets. “I asked Sophie if I could get a couple more since you two came. I didn’t want to leave you two out. And in no way was I going to make a deal with that widow’s peaked principal’s daughter.”

“She called you both stuck-up mice, by the way,” Odd pointed.

“Isn’t that hypocritical,” Ulrich and Patrick cracked.

Aelita set the other three on the table.

“What’s wrong?” Yumi asked.

She and Cassidy blushed, realizing their eyes were a little puffy. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s—it’s on account of Jeremie.”

Odd placed his hands behind his head. “Einstein wins another first-prize in diplomacy?”

Both smiled. “Yeah, I guess you might say that.”

“Oh, relax, Princess and Cat-Lover-Girl. You’ll see. You both are gonna bring the house down tonight,” Ulrich smiled.

Yumi and Kaitlyn gave them thumbs up. “For sure!”

Odd and Patrick rang in, “Yeah!”

Aelita’s spirits raised a little higher. “Anyway, don’t get there too late. The crowd’s gonna be really big.”

Cassidy gulped. “I just hope my song will be okay. I _am_ covering a song that another band made famous.”

“I’m sure that it’s no big deal,” Aelita smiled.

Her ribs rattled.

That evening found the girls in the dressing room. Aelita dressed in a maroon halter top with a pink skull-and-crossbones combination across the chest and stomach. A pink choker collar surrounded her neck. She had a cinnamon brown skirt with light pink pleats, lace at the top, and a black belt with a strawberry-shaped buckle. Pink-and-black tiger striped leg warmers covered black flat shoes. Three bracelets encircled her left wrist.

Cassidy clothed herself with a pink tank top with a white unicorn with a two-toned cyan mane wearing headphones. She wore a necklace with a heart as the pendant. She had black thigh-high leggings loose enough for her to get on with a purple skirt. Purple and white dotted leg warmers covered pink converse.

Aelita finished applying some mascara, sitting in a wheeled swivel chair, when a knock on the door made them jump a little. “Huh?!”

It opened to reveal five people. “SURPRISE!” Odd yelled.

Yumi, Ulrich, Patrick, and Kaitlyn laughed.

Cassidy placed her toothpick down, seated next to her pink-haired roommate in another chair, turning around and smiling. “Guys! You made it.”

“We came to see our favorite stars before they get too famous to see us,” Odd said as Aelita picked up the powder for their cheeks.

“Don’t be so silly,” the elven warrior chuckled, gingerly applying the makeup on her cheeks. “We’re really glad to see you all.” She reached across the air to help Cassidy—the psychic girl truthfully never used makeup in her day-to-day life (other than a pedicure every now and then), and it was required for the concert. She paused, holding the poof to her friend’s cheek. “Um…didn’t Jeremie come?”

Ulrich raised a hand. “Sure he did! But we lost him in the crowd.”

Odd pointed a finger. “You know Einstein. A great head for math, but it’s always in the clouds everywhere else.”

Cassidy frowned but nodded. “I do know our local genius.”

Kaitlyn chuckled. “Of course he can be a bit of a dreamer.”

“Don’t worry. He’ll be out there listening and cheering you both on,” Yumi reassured.

“I hope so,” Cassidy and Aelita whispered.

 _“Aelita and Cassidy, you’re on in ten minutes,”_ a voice came on the intercom.

“Time for us to start concentrating,” Aelita said, gently patting Cassidy’s cheek with the puff.

“Okay, then, we’ll take off,” Yumi smiled as the five people left the room. She paused in the doorway. “You both look beautiful tonight.” She gave them a thumbs up.

Aelita and Cassidy beamed a little, the latter blushing harder than her roommate. “R-really?” asked the brunet.

“Yes. You’re gonna knock them out!” Yumi grinned and gently closed the door behind them.

Outside the dressing room, the crowd grew in number as Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Kaitlyn, and Patrick exited the VIP area. “ODD!” said a new voice. They turned to see a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with a black long-sleeved shirt underneath a white and dark pink striped crop short-sleeved one. She had a clip in her long hair that met her shoulder blades. The girl wore tan pants with dark brown pockets. She had a broad smile on her face as she waved. “Hi!”

“Ah, there you are, Kelly.” Odd gestured with a hand. “This is Yumi, Ulrich, Patrick, and Kaitlyn!”

Ulrich kept his hands to himself. “Hi.”

Yumi waved with an open hand. “Hello.”

Patrick saluted with two fingers. “How you doing?”

Kaitlyn smiled. “Hi, there.”

She waved. “Oh, hi!”

Odd walked to be beside his date, pointing with the tickets. “Let’s go.” And they walked into the auditorium.

\---

Another knock interrupted Aelita from applying some lip gloss on Cassidy. Without their consent, Milly and Tamiya walked in. “Aelita, Cassidy, can we ask you a couple questions for the Kadic News?”

It took all of the psychic girl’s wits to make sure she didn’t cry for security.

“Not now, you couldn’t have picked a worse time,” Aelita answered on their behalves.

Behind the reporters, an older woman came in. “Aelita, Cassidy, you’re on in just five minutes.” Sophie then noticed the two younger girls. “I’m afraid you’ll have to leave now, girls.”

“Thank you, Sophie!” Cassidy breathed.

In the Mountain Sector, a tower turned red.

Back at Kadic Academy’s boys’ dorm, a single light shined. Jeremie Belpois typed on the keyboard when his phone rang. He picked it up. “Hello?”

_“Jeremie Elvis Belpois!”_

“That’s not my middle name anymore. It’s Jeremie _Albert_ Belpois, Kaitlyn.” Jeremie blushed.

 _“Whatever!_ What _the hell are you doing?! The concert’s about to start! Aelita and Cassidy were really crushed not to see you,”_ Kaitlyn said.

He checked the time on his watch. “Oh, I didn’t realize how late it was. Just one more calculation to run. I’ll be right there.” He hung up and placed his cell phone to the side when a window popped up. “Not now!”

At the theater, Sophie walked by an electrical heater. It sparked green, and black smoke billowed, following the band manager. She turned around, it overshadowing her as she cried out.

In the auditorium, everybody cheered, waiting for the opening acts.

“It’s Aelita’s turn now. Then it will be Cassidy’s,” Odd smiled.

“Two opening acts, I wonder how that happened,” Kelly said. “I thought Chris was looking for one.”

“They were indecisive choosing one over the other, so Aelita and Cassidy shared the win,” Yumi informed.

In the dressing room, Cassidy’s eyes started to spark. Then she blinked. “Aelita, we might need to shift our plans for tonight.” A titter rose from her throat.

“Not you, too…” Aelita whined, finally done applying her roommate’s mascara. “If you were feeling sick, why didn’t you—”

“I’m not sick. XANA’s on the move,” she whispered.

The door opened. The pink-haired girl smiled. “Sophie, we’re ready.” She turned around, holding her roommate’s hand.

Sophie’s eyes turned to the eyes of their enemy. **“So am I!”**

Her eyes widened.

Cassidy let go of her hand. “Sophie, darling, you know we love you, but we can't possibly go on until we've been properly proposed.” She launched herself at the possessed band manager.

However, she lifted a hand and grabbed the younger girl’s wrist. **“Actually, the honeymoon’s gonna be a piece of cake.”**

Cassidy pouted and lifted a leg to kick. _Yumi, I hope you can be proud of me._ She followed through when electricity spiked her system. Tears welled in her eyes. _You are not making Aelita’s mascara work run!_ Admittedly, makeup around the edge of her eyelids itched like no other, but she cared when someone did it on her for her. “I don’t care if you brought the rings! I don’t think—” Cassidy’s foot connected to Sophie’s stomach. “—I don’t believe that you should wear pearls.” She turned to Aelita. “Aelita, run. Warn the others!”

The XANAfied band manager’s eyes pulsed as electricity ran through her wrist.

She squealed, eyes starting to close. _XANA…you won’t get us…I-I won’t let you, ya hear?!_ Her body fell to the floor.

\---

Backstage, Chris’s phone rang. He picked it up. “Hello?”

 _“Chris? Aelita and Cassidy are not at all well. They can’t do the first part of the concert. You’ll have to begin without them,”_ Sophie said.

He pressed a button on his phone. “Aelita and Cassidy are sick, guys. We’re going in cold without an opening act.”

Nico and Benoit cocked their brows. Then Benoit said, “That’s a real bummer. I sure hope it’s not serious.”

The golden brown-haired member of the band shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go get ’em.” He showed two thumbs up.

Chris frowned a little, but the corners of his mouth curled up. Maybe Aelita and Cassidy could be their closing act if they feel better.

Simon announced, _“Ladies and gentlemen, the Subdigitals.”_

Nico walked on the stage, followed by Chris and Ben. Applause wildly exploded. They tuned their instruments and started to play.

“But why didn’t Aelita or Cassidy go on?!” Odd demanded. “Did Cassidy get sick and pass it to her?”

Yumi turned her phone on. “Jeremie?!”

_“XANA’s just launched an attack!”_

“They just canceled Aelita and Cassidy’s opening acts!”

_We’re a new generation  
“That sounds like XANA! Check it out, and then meet me at the factory.” _

_Surfing on the web all night and day_

Yumi hung up. “XANA alert! Let’s go backstage and see if the girls are okay.”

Kelly reached out for Odd. “Where are you going? The concert’s just starting.”

“No time to explain, Kelly. I’ll see you later,” he smiled and kissed her cheek as he, Yumi, Ulrich, Patrick, and Kaitlyn walked away from the crowd.

_Always a celebration ’cause when I’m online, it’s time to play_

They ran backstage and paused. “There they are! Over there!”

Cassidy and Aelita hung motionless on XANA-Sophie’s shoulders. The band manager ran to their right.

_We can travel around the world_

_Share another family’s daily life_

The five raced forward when XANA-Milly and XANA-Tamiya stepped into their path, forcing them to back to the doorway slowly. “Are you thinking maybe they’re angry because they blew a scoop?”

 _For this world is no longer round,_  
and in every corner, I find  
friends of mine, such good friends

At the factory, Jeremie rose from the passageway and beat feet to the entrance.

_’til the end_

Backstage, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Kaitlyn, and Patrick backed away when the samurai spotted a cloth on a box.

_We’re going live_

_We’re surfing to these vibes_

_One brave new world to be uncoiled_

“I’ll try to distract them,” Ulrich said. “You guys go and get Aelita and Cassidy back.”

“Good luck dealing with the press,” Odd cracked.

_Are you there?_

Yumi nodded as Odd led her, Kaitlyn, and Patrick to the entrance.

He picked up the whitish gray cloth and threw it at XANA-Milly and XANA-Tamiya.

_I’ve got a message to send_

_Are you there?_

_I wanna find a brand-new friend_

Onstage, Chris, Nico, and Benoit kept playing their set, amidst the sea of adoring fans.

At the entrance, Yumi, Odd, Kaitlyn, and Patrick stopped, hearing the geisha’s phone ring. “Jeremie, a woman’s taking Aelita and Cassidy away. She’s probably heading for the factory.”

_“Okay. I’ll try to head her off. You guys better hurry it up!”_

In the factory, near the freight elevator, Jeremie hung up and adjusted his glasses.

On the bridge, XANA-Sophie raced across the bridge, launched herself off of the platform, and landed at the bottom. She traversed to the elevator.

Suddenly, Jeremie jumped onto her, making her drop her charges unceremoniously to the ground.

Cassidy moaned but didn’t move.

XANA-Sophie got up and grabbed the genius with both hands, throwing him into a pole. He fell to the floor like a sack of bricks. She picked up the cat warrior and Aelita, traversing to the elevator shaft. Pressing a button, she saw the metal lift descend to a close. The car went down to the scanner room.

Later, she sat in the chair across from the console. **“Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Cassidy. Virtualization.”**

Aelita and Cassidy, unconscious, landed in the Mountain Sector. Both grunted as they woke. “Ugh… I don’t know what kinda whammy Sophie did… It sure packed…a punch…” The cat girl struggled to her feet.

The elven warrior pulled herself to her hands and knees. “You okay, Cassidy?”

“I could ask you the same thing. I think I’m okay. Might have a burn scar if we don’t return to the past,” she said.

“Huh?” Aelita heard the tiny clunking of mechanical feet.

“Kankrelat.” Cassidy got her guns ready. She looked to their left. A Blok scuttled into view.

In the factory, Yumi, Odd, Patrick, and Kaitlyn swung down the ropes, entering the elevator shaft. Just feet away, Jeremie regained consciousness, holding his head. _Aelita and Cassidy…_ He couldn’t let them down.

Back on Lyoko, the Blok dug into the rock. Aelita and Cassidy swiped their hands over their bracelets, swooping up and away. The Kankrelat shot its laser a couple times before it blinked out. The two sighed and started to fly over the tiny enemy when a couple lasers hit their abdomen. Cassidy landed next to Aelita. “Ow…!” she growled. “Stupid blue Manta!”

“We’re surrounded,” Aelita moaned.

Cassidy cocked her gun. “Let’s try to defend ourselves!”

The monsters started to advance to them.

In the lab, the elevator opened, and Odd, Yumi, Kaitlyn, and Patrick walked out, seeing XANA-Sophie at the controls.

 _“Jeremie, if you’re there, answer me!”_ Aelita cried.

Odd looked at Yumi. “Lateral crossing pattern and pincer strategy.”

She smiled. “What’s that in English?”

“Let’s go!”

The two raced forward. XANA-Sophie fired green electricity from her hand at Odd, but he ducked and kicked her in the stomach. Yumi sprung off of the Holomap bowl and her feet connected to her jaw. “YES!” She looked back at them. “How was that for strategy?”

Odd, Patrick, and Kaitlyn smiled at her.

Suddenly, the elevator opened again, revealing a rope-carrying Jeremie.

“Guess we beat you here, Einstein, the King of Rock and Roll,” Odd cracked.

He looked at them all. “Where are Aelita and Cassidy?”

“They already got virtualized on Lyoko,” Yumi answered.

In the Mountain Sector, the Blok charged their laser. Aelita and Cassidy got to their feet and jumped over the Kankrelat, avoiding the fire. The Manta followed the girls.

“I’m sorry I thought you were sick,” Aelita said. “I should have listened to you.”

“It’s okay. I can understand nervous titters being misunderstood for sickness,” Cassidy nodded.

The Kankrelat turned around and followed the girls.

Aelita turned her head, the Manta flying by their left. They stopped half a mile from the activated tower. The flying fish monster got on the path.

 _“Aelita, Cassidy, are you okay?”_ Jeremie asked.

“Jeremie, is that you?” Cassidy looked up at the sky.

The Manta fired its laser, and the girls ducked as it connected to the Kankrelat.

“Jeremie,” Aelita said. “At last! This isn’t exactly where I was expecting you, but I’m happy to hear your voice—” She charged up two Energy Fields.

_“I’m sorry about the concert!”_

“We’ll talk about it another time,” the ladies chorused as the laser got absorbed into the mini-shield. The two backed up.

“I’m just glad you are helping us,” Cassidy felt an urge. “I would love to hug you, but later!”

Another laser connected to the shield, making them back into something solid and metal. “Mr. Hated,” Aelita whispered in fear as a third hit her feet and caused her to sprawl. “No!”

Cassidy growled looking up at him. “Too bad, Mr. Hated! You’re not invited.” Another laser connected to her chest, and she fell to the floor.

William conjured his sword as he flew past on his black Manta.

In the Lab, Kaitlyn and Patrick stood guard in front of the unconscious XANAfied victim.

“Are you ready?” Jeremie asked, typing on the Supercomputer. “Transfer, Yumi. Transfer, Odd.”

 _“Mr. Hated is here,”_ Aelita cried.

“I saw him. I’m sending in the cavalry!” Jeremie announced, snickering when he heard Cassidy imitating the Cavalry Charge as best she could. “Nice one.”

_“Might as well do it at least once.”_

“Scanner, Yumi! Scanner, Odd! Virtualization!” He pressed a key.

Back in the Mountain Sector, William’s Manta fired its laser, causing both girls to hop backward. They then ducked as the Blok shot its own.

A fan whizzed through the air and hit the XANAfied minion in the back. He looked back and saw two dots on a separate rock.

Yumi reached up and caught her fan.

“Nice one, Yumi,” Odd complimented.

She looked at him. “Thank you. Ready for the tall, dark bad guy?”

He turned around, and scratched his chin, eyes wide. “Uh…I think we have an audience.”

She looked up at the other path, where Aelita and Cassidy raced, using their weapons.

“Jeremie, we’re stuck here. No way to reach Aelita and Cassidy without some transport,” Yumi informed.

_“Okay, Yumi. You’ll have your vehicles in no time.”_

William and his pet floated overhead, getting closer to the two on the other path. He arced the Manta and it fired at them. Both of them split ways on the big and round path. Odd looked behind him, remembering the two Kankrelats behind them. One shot at him, but he flipped racing toward it.

Yumi unsheathed her fans, looking at the XANAfied boy and his black Manta. Giving a shout, she absorbed its laser. Then she back-flipped, throwing one of them. It missed him. A small noise caught her ear. She looked over and hopped onto her OverWing.

Odd ran in between the enemies and flipped behind them, hopping on his OverBoard. Ramping up on a rock, he turned around, facing his approaching Kankrelats. “Laser Arrow!”

One of them disappeared. Then he dodged four lasers before sending the other to its maker.

Backstage, XANA-Milly and XANA-Tamiya shot green lightning from their hands. Thinking fast, Ulrich grabbed a wooden pole, raced into the fray, vaulted, and kicked them in the face. “Awfully sorry ladies, but no interviews!” He smiled after his feet hit the ground, setting it in front of him.

In the Mountain Sector air, Yumi soared with her OverWing, avoiding the lasers. She arced in and charged by William, then turned to be behind him. He turned around just as she threw her fan. He ducked. She caught it, sheathing, then thought of an idea. Swooping low, Yumi entered a tunnel, kicking up dust. William followed. He reached the end, but didn’t see her anywhere.

Yumi unsheathed her fan and threw. He swung his zabanto, batting it out of the way. She caught it, eyes widening. _What will it take to get rid of Cassidy’s ex, huh?!_

The black Manta fired its laser, Yumi prepared to be hit when…

“SHIELD!” Odd cried and absorbed the blow with his lavender circular defense.

Back in the Lab, XANA-Sophie woke up, breaking the ropes. Kaitlyn and Patrick stood between her. “If you want to break our cousin, you’ll have to get through us first!”

\---

Yumi flew in beside Odd. “Odd, lateral flight pattern and pincer strategy!”

He looked at her, smiling. “Are you speaking English?”

William soared at them, firing a laser from his pet.

The two scattered, spiraling until Odd got into position. “Laser Arrow!”

The XANAfied minion brought his zabanto up and absorbed them. Suddenly, a he jolted forward and spun out-of-control on the black Manta.

Meanwhile, XANA-Sophie, having defeated the Belpois family, typed on the computer.

\---

“Great…” Odd smiled when his board started to vanish. “Huh? What’s going on?”

They flipped back to their original path. “That was a close one.”

“Jeremie?” Yumi asked. “Patrick? Kaitlyn?”

He turned around, hand on his hip. “This time we’re on our own. No help from the factory.”

The black Manta rose up, William as its rider.

Yumi threw her fan, wincing as a laser hit her arm. Odd ducked, missing its fin. Sitting down, he fired a Laser Arrow, but missed. The two turned tail and ran. “We’re bobbing on this one. We’re gonna have to change the music.”

\---

Ulrich landed hard against a crate. _Why didn’t I ask for back-up?_

XANA-Tamiya raised her hands, green electricity shooting from her hands.

He grabbed a full body mirror and held it in front of him. The lightning rebounded against the glass and into the attacker. Ulrich gaped, cocking his brows. _That worked?_

On Lyoko, Aelita and Cassidy raced away from the blue Manta—the cat girl finding to her horror that her guns had jammed up. The elven warrior raised a hand and fired an Energy Field.

The Blok fired at them, but they dodged, and Aelita shot another one at it. It hit the beast dead center, and it combusted.

“Nice one, Aelita,” Cassidy nodded, trying to unjam the squibs while racing down the path.

Suddenly, a laser connected to the pink-haired warrior’s back, sending her sprawling toward the edge of the lip, knocking her over. The brunette shrieked, “AELITA!” She got on her hands and knees, pulling her up. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay.”

“Thank you, Cassidy,” she smiled.

Yumi and Odd raced on their path. “Odd, trampoline spinning-top action!”

“Gotcha!” He raced ahead.

She slowed her running speed so William could pass.

Odd stood on his head and straightened his legs. Yumi hopped on, sprung off and bumped him off his pet, throwing her fans as she landed.

He dissolved into smoke and glided behind her, materializing back. **“It’s game over for you, Yumi!”** He sliced her in the middle.

“For you too, Ex-y!” Yumi said before disbanding into digital squares.

Suddenly, two fans hit him from behind, melting him into red and black smoke.

The ebony Manta arced around while Odd watched. “Oh, great. I was in the mood for fish today!” He turned around, racing. Then, when William’s pet was near, he jumped on, digging his claws deep into the flesh. The monster shrieked in pain, but followed his commands.

Backstage, seeing that her friend was down, XANA-Milly fired green electricity at Ulrich. He ducked, but the lightning went over the stage, creating a light show.

Instead of fear, the audience reacted with cheers and applause.

The band noticed, and Chris smiled. “Rock and roll!”

\---

Cassidy finished pulling Aelita to the land. “There… Whew. I’m glad Jim is still training Jeremie and me.”

The blue Manta swooped into the pathway again, intending to fire.

_They, told me that I was, no good at all_

_Such a waster…_

Aelita brought two energy fields together. It took two blows before disappearing. “Oh, no…”

Cassidy heard sickening clicks. “Darn it! They’re still jammed.”

_And, suddenly I was out of the cool…  
stuck with the fools…_

“Keep your distance from the sky, guys!” Odd cried, coming up from behind them. “Laser Arrow.” He fired, hitting the blue monster in the eye.

It shrieked before exploding in front of the girls.

“Odd!” Aelita cried in joy.

“Man, am I glad to see you,” Cassidy smiled.

_Not, that much I can do_

_I’m out of the crew…_

_Here, the lights go out_

 “Okay, let’s go, Princess and Cat Girl.” He led the way on the black Manta.

Aelita and Cassidy activated their pendants and flew to the tower, chuckling.

_What should I do, stuck to this chair?_

_And yet I know._

Back in the lab, Jeremie’s eyes widened. XANA-Sophie came closer. “NO!” Her hands glowed with green electricity.

_Gotta break away…_

_It’s not my style_

_I gotta get away…_

_Here and now today…_

In the Mountain Sector, Odd and Cassidy hovered around the activated tower while Aelita landed and entered.

_Here I am, as I stand_

_I can feel you_ think

_Such a waster…_

_It’s okay, I don’t care,  
didn’t want to stay stuck with the fools…_

Ulrich held his mirror in front of XANA-Milly, keeping the green lightning at bay.

_Skating down Park Avenue,  
I realize my time is now and here_

_Ready to go_

Aelita floated to the top platform.

_Being sensible is just not sensible!_

She walked to the center and placed her hand on the interface.

_Gotta break away…_

_It’s not my style,  
and I gotta get away…_

Milly collapsed, XANA leaving her.

_We’re in it all the way!_

The audience cheered.

In the lab, Sophie fell to the floor.

\---

“Tower deactivated.”

\---

Jeremie struggled to reach the arm of his chair. “Return to the past, NOW!” he rasped.

The white bubble covered all of Earth.

In the dressing room, Aelita reapplied some of the facial powder, then helped her friend’s makeup. After, Cassidy rechecked her teeth. This was it. They could have a second chance for the Subdigitals. Patrick, Kaitlyn, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi had already given them their “Break a Leg.”

There was a light knock at the door. Cassidy smiled. “It’s okay, Jeremie. We’re both decent.” She giggled a bit.

Aelita gave a slight stint of laughter, saying, “Come in.”

The door opened and Jeremie, slightly red-faced from what Cassidy said but smiling nonetheless, popped his head in. “I wanted to see how you two were doing, ladies.”

“Still nervous, I guess,” Cassidy shrugged, turning so she could face him. “A return trip didn’t change that for me, I’m afraid.”

Aelita looked back with a smile. “Well, I have less stage fright, but I guess it’s because we’ve already been here,” she then chuckled, “if you know what I mean.”

He walked forward. “In no way, I was going to miss the concert for the second time.”

“Or the fourth, I think. I tried turning off my powers today. It seemed natural for some reason,” Cassidy interjected.

She then frowned. “You know, I—I didn’t mean to blow up at you like that.”

Cassidy sighed. “Me, too, Jeremie. I’m sorry about that. I—” She grabbed some tissues to wipe her eyes, trembling in her chair. “I p-promised myself I wouldn’t yell at you again.”

“We put too much pressure on ourselves. It made us insane to want to do this concert,” Aelita concluded.

“Girls, sometimes the sanest thing is to be insane,” Jeremie soothed. “And it’s okay to get angry sometimes, Cassidy.”

The girls smiled, reassured. He would always know what to do.

_“And now, let’s put it together for our brand-new DJs—Aelita Stones and Cassidy McGuire!”_

Everyone in the audience cheered.

Aelita stepped up onstage first, a confident smile on her face. She took her turn on the tables first, pressing a MIDI controller up. Her music brought everyone dancing.

 _“Now Cassidy would like a big round of encouragement,”_ announced Simon. _“How about it?”_

Everyone applauded and cheered.

Cassidy placed the headset in her ear, backstage. She gave a nervous titter. “I hope I can wow the house.”

The audience laughed.

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere, somewhere_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_And somehow I'll return again to you_

Aelita turned the music as Cassidy came onstage. The brunette’s words were shaky, but meshed well from the original. The elven warrior smiled at her.

_The mist is lifting slowly_

_I can see the way ahead_

_And I've left behind the empty streets_

_That once inspired my life_

Cassidy looked behind her, as though seeing a phantom enter. She then turned back, feeling confident.

_And the strength of the emotion_

_Is like thunder in the air_

She waved her hand in the air, closing her eyes.

_'Cos the promise that we made each other_

_Haunts me to the end_

She smiled, eyes glistening with pride.

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere, somewhere_

_I know you're out there somewhere_

She paraded on the stage, losing focus on the audience, keeping herself on key.

_Somewhere you can hear my voice_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_Somehow, somehow_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_And somehow I'll return again to you_

She and Aelita met in the middle of the stage, both sharing beams.

_A: The secret of your beauty_

_C: And the mystery of your soul_

They both twirled each other around, careful not to make either of them fall on the equipment.

_A: I've been searching for in everyone I meet_

_C: And the times I've been mistaken_

Cassidy crouched on the floor, then stood up for the next lyric.

_It's impossible to say_

_And the grass is growing_

_Underneath our feet_

She tapped the floor of the stage, but stopped the motion, thinking that it would hurt the natural beat of the song.

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere, somewhere_

_I know you're out there somewhere_

She pointed out to no one in particular.

_Somewhere you can hear my voice_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_Somehow, somehow_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_And somehow I'll return again to you_

Cassidy and Aelita smiled, twirling during the slight instrumental break. They had this choreographed for months. Then Cassidy started up again, softly:

_You see I know you're out there somewhere_

_O yes I know you're out there somewhere_

Cassidy gently stomped her feet during the between.

_You see I know I'll find you somehow_

_O yes I know I'll find you somehow_

Aelita sung through a talk box, imitating a ghostly, angelic tone with a smooth vibrato. Cassidy beamed. _That was perfection._ When she imitated the tone again, the cat-girl warrior felt an unexpected, but pleasant, shiver down her spine. _Oh, wow… Jeremie must be having a heart attack right now…_

_A: The words that I remember_

_From my childhood still are true_

Cassidy shook out of her trance and started the next lyric:

_That there's none so blind_

_As those who will not see_

_And to those who lack the courage_

_And say it's dangerous to try_

She clenched a fist, a grin growing as she raised it.

_Well they just don't know_

_Aelita and Cassidy: That love eternal will not be denied_

Cassidy belted the next line.

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere, somewhere_

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere you can hear my voice_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_Somehow, somehow_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_And somehow I'll return again to you_

A shiver went up her spine, feeling prophetic.

_Yes, I know it's going to happen (A: I know it’s going to happen)_

_I can feel you getting near (A: feel you getting near)_

_And soon we'll be returning_

_To the fountain of our youth_

_And if you wake up wondering (A: If you wake up wondering)_

_In the darkness I'll be there (A: You know I’ll be there)_

_My arms will close around you_

_And protect you with the truth_

Aelita shared the mic with Cassidy.

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere, somewhere_

_I know you're out there somewhere_

_Somewhere you can hear my voice_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_Somehow, somehow_

_I know I'll find you somehow_

_And somehow I'll return again to you_

Cassidy panted, sweat glistening from her forehead. Applause wildly followed. She grinned. “Thank you, Aelita. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Aelita hugged her. “You’re welcome.”

“Please welcome Aelita as she gives you the best performance in the world!” Cassidy announced. “Thank you for the encouragement, and thank _you_ , Simon!” She exited, feeling herself being pulled into a group hug, hands ruffling her hair.

“That was incredible, Cat Lover Girl!” Odd squealed.

“There was nothing to worry about, huh?” Ulrich said.

“Guys!” Cassidy giggled. “Don’t let my performance take Aelita’s thunder.” She looked at Kelly. “Nice to meet you, Kelly.”

“Nice to meet you, Cassidy.”

They danced to Aelita’s remix.


	67. Aelita gets some Wrong Exposure

**Who sent this photo of a—oh… It was a mistake. I get it.**

**I don’t own Code Lyoko. Kaitlyn Belpois is © LongHairedAelita. Cassidy is the only character I own.**

“Are you sure we’ll find something useful in my father’s house? We’ve already got everything that seemed important,” Aelita said as Jeremie led her and Cassidy to the Hermitage.

The psychic held her stomach. “What’s more: I’m starving!”

“You never ate anything during the night of our concert,” she pointed out.

“We left everything behind that we thought was useless, and that was our mistake. We did find Franz Hopper’s notes thanks to your little Mister Pück!” Jeremie smiled.

The pink-haired girl laughed. “It’s just what I thought. You’re really desperate.”

“No. It’s just that I don’t want to leave anything to chance when it comes to fighting XANA,” he reassured.

Cassidy winced more at the sound of her gurgling stomach. “Why did you wrap me into this? You know that I’m not related to Aelita.”

“Because you know this place, even if you aren’t,” Jeremie informed her.

They opened the door.

“Well, where do we start?” Aelita asked.

“Try the living room, girls. I’ll look in the study.”

“Then after this, may we get something to eat,” Cassidy asked.

“Yes, Cassidy.”

Aelita and Cassidy walked over to their assigned task. In it, they shared a vision of how clean the place looked ten years ago. After it had worn off, the brunette shook her head. “There’s got to be a way to shut off vision sharing. I mean, I like you, but your mind is your business.”

“Your powers dictate what you see,” the pink-haired girl told her, “from what I know.”

She raised a hand, nodding. “True.”

Aelita walked over to a box and dug around. _Maybe I can find something in here._

Cassidy opened her mouth to speak but closed it. _She will find something useful._ She looked around another box.

Jeremie flipped through a book in the study when his watch beeped. _Time to pick up the ladies._

The elven warrior dug around until she picked up a photo, raising a brow.

“Aelita, Cassidy, have you two found anything yet?” Jeremie asked, walking into the living room.

“Yeah…my former life,” Aelita said sadly, looking at him.

He smiled. “What is it?”

“Nothing, just a picture of—of me and my father…” She looked at it.

“I think you finding a picture of you and your father is a blessing,” Cassidy smiled. “I couldn’t encounter anything.”

“You and your father? That’s so cool that you found it! Can I see it?” The picture exchanged hands. He looked at it—Franz Hopper sitting in a chair in what was the library, Aelita, in a maroon blouse, standing beside him. “You look so happy…” Jeremie frowned in contemplation.

She glanced up at him. “I was. It must have been one of the last pictures taken with Daddy just before… I mean, you know…before…”

“Before you two disappeared for a decade,” Cassidy realized, an electric feeling buzzing in her body.

She nodded.

Jeremie looked into the photo a little more. “What’s that there behind your father?” He stared at it a bit more. “Bingo! Those formulas… I can read some of them! It’s a rough draft of a programming code. We have to blow up this photo.”

Aelita smiled in disbelief. “Hang on! It’s a one in a billion chance those formulas have something to do with the Supercomputer.”

He grinned. “Great! I love challenging the law of probability!”

“You always love doing that,” Cassidy scoffed, smiling.

“Besides, you said yourself that I was desperate, right? So what do we got to lose?” Jeremie continued.

Later, he typed on his computer in his room, scanning the background of the photo. A dorm had opened up so Patrick had gotten his own. He zoomed into it and changed the background to grayish silver. Right away, figures made relieves. He pumped a fist across his chest. “I was right. It _is_ a program!”

At lunch, Odd picked at his food. Yumi looked at him with a raised brow. “Odd, you only took two rounds of seconds, are you sick?”

“No, I’m okay.”

“Is this about Anaïs Fiquet by any chance?” Ulrich challenged gently.

He looked at the blond girl in the pink vest over a black short-sleeved shirt and sea blue skirt. “Incredible, I can’t get her to notice me whatever I do!”

“You could grow a few inches!”

“You wanna try wearing today’s lunch?!” Odd threatened.

Yumi glanced up and saw her Savior and Aelita power-walking to their table. “Oh, here come Aelita and Cassidy. So, is Jeremie still at the Hermitage?” she asked as they sat down.

Cassidy dug into her meal, eating her chicken as hungrily as her boyfriend on spaghetti and meatballs night.

“He’s in his room. He’s not hungry,” Aelita answered.

“Guess that means you struck pay dirt while you were all there,” Ulrich smiled. Then he groaned. “Cassidy! Why are you picking up Odd’s eating habits?!”

“I didn’t eat for twenty-four hours, Ulrich, because of nerves from the concert,” Cassidy blushed, wiping her already-empty mouth with a napkin.

 “I have no idea. He thinks there may be something useful in an old picture we found,” Aelita said, in response to Ulrich’s former statement.

Odd popped his head off his hands. “A picture! Now why didn’t I think of that before? Right, I just have to send Anaïs my best photo—the one with my killer smile—and she’ll be eating out of my hand!” He took his tray and walked away.

“If you ask me, you’d be better off sending a picture of Kiwi, she loves little dogs!” Ulrich cracked.

Yumi got up in his face. “How do you know that?!”

He turned around and gulped.

Aelita chuckled, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

Cassidy went up for seconds.

\---

Jeremie finished typing on the keyboard and pressed a button on his computer. A CD popped out, and he carefully took it into its case. A knock made him turn around.

Odd walked in. “Einstein, I need your computer.”

“Yeah? What for?” he asked.

“To send an important message.” He lifted a flash drive to his face. “I just need to log into my email.”

He furrowed his brows, thinking for a moment. “Okay, I’m finished anyway. I’m going to go eat. Let me know when you’re done here, and don’t touch anything else.” He made his way to the exit.

“No problem, you know me!” Odd placed the flash drive into Jeremie’s computer, sitting where the genius once resided.

“I do. That’s the problem.” He shut the door.

Odd rubbed his fist, smiling confidently, then typed on the keys. “If you don’t fall head-over-heels for me this time, Anaïs, then my name is not Odd Della Robbia.” He pressed the enter key.

In a room on the girls’ floor, Sissi read a magazine in her bare feet when a window popped up on her computer. She walked over and saw an envelope pulsing until she clicked it. A message opened in front of her eyes. “A new message—from ODD?!” She scoffed. “I wonder what that dork wants!” Sissi leaned in, clicking her mouse. “Well, let’s have a look. Let’s see now…” A new window loaded a photo of Aelita and a gray-haired man. “A picture of Mrs. Einstein? That’s a pretty dumb thing to send!” She stared at the man a little longer. “Hm…that guy…I’m sure I’ve seen him before…!”

In Jeremie’s room, Odd put his flash drive into his pocket. “And that’s what I call a job well done. Tonight, I’ll be out with the prettiest girl at Kadic, by the name of…” He looked at the email address. “SISSI DELMAS?! WHAT DID I JUST DO?!” He brought his fists to his jaw. “How could I have done that?!” His eyes widened. “Oh…and I even sent the wrong photograph!” Odd slapped his forehead. “Oh…I can’t believe it. I’m such a computer lame-o, and Einstein and Cat Girl are gonna kill me for this!” He lowered himself to the table, moaning in dread.

\---

The principal held the photo in his hand. “I cannot believe this! I had no idea that Franz Hopper had family connections with Aelita Stones.”

“And who is this uh, Franz Hopper guy?” Sissi asked, sitting on his desk.

“A former teacher here at Kadic who disappeared one day without a trace. Suzanne Hertz took his place. You were much too young at the time to have known anything about it.”

She smiled. “Not really. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought you the picture!”

He looked at her. “Hm…and where did this photo come from?”

She frowned. “It was in an email that I just got today from Odd Della Robbia.”

“Della Robbia? Isn’t he Aelita’s cousin? So then he’s related to Franz Hopper too, very interesting. I think I had better call the two of them in here for an explanation!”

“Very good idea. Make them tell the truth and give you a clear explanation. And if they don’t, make sure they get a really hard punishment,” Sissi agreed.

He returned his gaze to her. “Mm…shouldn’t you be in class now, Elizabeth?”

She gaped at her father. Then she tittered and left his office.

Mr. Delmas looked at the photo. “Hm…” Something about it unsettled him.

Later, the Lyoko Warriors walked under the arches. “I didn’t find anything useful in the photo. Just a setup program to reboot the Supercomputer—nothing to write home about.”

“Even though we can’t write home about any of our adventures?” Kaitlyn and Cassidy chorused at Jeremie.

“Exactly. But it could come in handy one day.”

The electric sensation in her system made Cassidy wince. “I feel weird all of a sudden.”

“What’s wrong?” Patrick asked.

“Like Sophie’s attack is buzzing at me from the inside,” she shivered.

“So I guess the picture’s not so top secret after all?” Odd asked.

Jeremie looked at the wildcard. “No, but we’d better keep it a secret. I wouldn’t want a picture of Aelita with her father to fall into the wrong hand!”

“Uh…you mean like Sissi’s hands?”

Aelita stopped in her tracks, looking at her “cousin” wide-eyed. “Oh no, Odd, you couldn’t have!”

“Yes I could,” he answered in a small voice.

Jeremie glared at him, a deep sigh exiting through his nose.

“ODD!” Cassidy panicked.

Jim hopped in front of the eight. “Hey! Stones and Della Robbia, the principal wants to see you in his office on the double. And uh…while we’re at it, Belpois family, Stern, Ishiyama, and McGuire, you all go with them! I’m sure that Mr. Delmas has a bunch of questions for you, too.”

The brown-haired girl gulped, the buzzing increasing its intensity.

Yumi’s brows rose minutely as she smiled uneasily. “But, uh…we’ve got a class right now.”

He glared at them for half a second. “You heard me. Get going!” Jim pointed over.

“Oh…I can’t believe this,” Odd moaned as they walked in the direction he indicated.

\---

“You heard the principal, young lady! No more fun and games! I’ve had a whole lot tougher nuts to crack than you! So, last name, first name, occupation!” Jim demanded.

“Well um…Stones, Aelita, um…a girl?” Aelita answered shoulders slumped, brows raised.

Cassidy meekly squeaked, trying to suppress.

“Huh, you think I’m an idiot, don’t you, huh?!” he yelled, pointing at the pink-haired girl.

The psychic’s heart raced. “No, um…Mr. M-Morales…”

Mr. Delmas looked at him, composed. “Calm down, Jim, there’s no need for the third degree. I’ve just a few questions to ask, that’s all. Plus, Miss McGuire doesn’t seem to like you yelling at one of her roommates like that.”

“Sorry, sir.” He patted his cadet on the shoulders. “You and Mr. Jeremie here are excused from next week’s session.”

The principal gently slid the photo on his desk toward the gang.

Aelita’s brows raised and her eyes widened, looking at it. _Odd, if this blows over, you are going to be in so much trouble!_

Mr. Delmas held a steely gaze, clearing his throat. Then he turned his attention to it. “What intrigues me about this photograph is the presence of both Franz Hopper and Aelita Stones, and they seem to be very close, too. And so the obvious question is whether your name is really Aelita Stones.” He then raised his eyes at her.

“Yes sir, Aelita Stones is my real name. I’m the daughter of uh…Franz, uh…and Anthea Stones!” Aelita answered, heart hammering.

Patrick, Kaitlyn, Ulrich, and Yumi looked to the genius of the group, who closed his eyes.

“And are you really Canadian?”

“Yes, I am.”

“And are you really an orphan?”

“I am.”

“And is Odd Della Robbia really your cousin?”

“Yes, sir.”

He looked to Jim, who glanced back, scratching his chin.

Jeremie stepped forward. “With your permission, Mr. Delmas, on the photo, Aelita looks about twelve or thirteen.”

“Yes, and what of it?”

Cassidy twitched, eyes turning copper.

Yumi turned her head and gasped. “Jeremie…” she whispered.

“Please, hold your tongue, Miss Ishiyama,” Mr. Delmas said.

“Well, you said that Franz Hopper taught here at Kadic about thirteen years ago? So if that’s really Aelita in the picture, she would be twenty-six years old now and not thirteen, but as you can see, Aelita is thirteen years old, and not twenty-six. So that can’t be Aelita in the photo! We can thus conclude that Aelita is not related to Franz Hopper, that she is telling the truth about being Canadian, an orphan, and the fact that she really is Odd’s cousin!” Jeremie then turned around.

Cassidy’s eyes turned white, suddenly speaking as though she had been possessed by XANA, **“AELITA! JEREMIE BELPOIS! ULRICH STERN! YUMI ISHIYAMA! ODD DELLA ROBBIA! THE TRUTH OF THE PAST SHALL BE REVEALED!”**

Odd rushed over and whacked her on the back of the neck. “Snap out of it!”

She staggered around, eyes back to a chocolate brown. “Did a flamboyance of baby flamingoes pass by here?”

Jim shook his head, wide-eyed.

“Good…” She flopped on the floor, eyes closing.

Jean-Pierre Delmas sat whey-faced, unsure what to make of the situation.

“Um…she’s the lead in one of my new short films,” Odd smiled uneasily. “She gets into character way too quickly.”

“U-um…v-very interesting,” the principal stated. “So then, while I’m checking out this identity business, you’re all confined to the library for the rest of the day, under Jim’s supervision. Miss McGuire included.”

Ulrich and Yumi creased their brows, while Odd, Aelita, and Jeremie’s rose. The genius, male purple cat, and elven warrior’s jaws dropped. Patrick and Kaitlyn tried to pick Cassidy off the ground but gasped as they heard the sentence.

“Wonderful,” the physical education instructor’s voice cracked, despite his efforts to keep calm.

Mr. Delmas glared at him.

In the Forest Sector, a tower turned crimson red.

Back in the office, after everyone had left, Mr. Delmas stayed on the phone with someone. “I see… So then the Canadian consulate has no record whatsoever of an Aelita Stones in its birth records? Yes, I’ll definitely keep you informed. Thank you, uh, goodbye.”

Just as he put the phone back in its cradle, purple electricity jumped from the sockets and into the principal. He cried out, dropping the pen in his hand. He clenched a fist. Then he raised his head. The eye of XANA pulsed through them.

In the library, Cassidy moaned as she woke up, looking around. “Weren’t we in the principal’s office?”

“We were, but we’re confined here for the rest of the day,” Ulrich said, holding his knee. “You had a vision there. You should have gone to a private place.”

“I would have, but Jim had his hand on my shoulder.”

Yumi read up on her homework.

Aelita laid her head on her arms. _It’s the end of my Kadic life!_

Odd ate a candy bar, reading his textbook.

Jeremie typed on his laptop. “You did say something interesting.”

Kaitlyn and Patrick nodded, reading books.

“‘The truth of the past shall be revealed.’ Do you have any idea what that means?”

“I—don’t know.” She rested her head in her arms. “I can’t believe that happened.”

“It did, kid,” Jim interrupted. “Are you okay?”

“I-I think so,” Cassidy blinked.

He patted her shoulders. “Just give us a little warning next time you try doing your method acting.” He walked back to read his comic book.

“Method acting?” she whispered.

“I had to think of something,” Odd kept his voice low.

She nodded. “My secret psychic life as I know it is over…!” she whisper-whined.

A window popped up on Jeremie’s screen. His eyes widening, he murmured, “Huh?! Oh, no, an activated tower!”

Odd looked at him. “Huh?!”

Ulrich leaned over the purple-wearing boy. “What?!” he whispered.

Yumi’s jaw dropped, pausing in her work. Aelita rose from her position. Kaitlyn and Patrick shut their books. Cassidy gulped.

Mr. Delmas walked in.

Jim threw his comic book over his shoulder. “Anything wrong, Mr. Delmas?” He jumped out of his chair, upending it, and rushed to his side.

“Uh, Miss Aelita Stones, I’d like to have a word with you and Miss Cassidy McGuire alone. Jim, make certain no one leaves this library.”

Cassidy and Aelita gasped, but stood up from their chairs. They turned to leave.

Jeremie glared. Something was not right here. Why would he take Cassidy, as well? Mr. Delmas looked back, his eyes pulsing with the sign of their enemy. His eyes widened and he sprang off his seat. “Huh?! Aelita, Cassidy! NO!” He raced for the entry.

Jim jumped in between him. “Where do you think you’re going, Belpois?!”

“It’s Delmas! He’s been XANAfied! Aelita and Cassidy mustn’t go with him, Jim,” the genius rattled.

“Well, I don’t know if I would go so far as sanctifying him. And by the way, it’s not Delmas. It’s Mr. Delmas to you.” He glared at the young cadet.

Outside the campus, Aelita and Cassidy walked with the principal. “Aren’t we going to your office, sir?” the pink-haired girl asked.

“No, I’d rather stay on the campus!” Mr. Delmas let go of their shoulders, leading the way.

The psychic blinked, eyes sparking. “Oh, no.” She flipped around.

“And I’d rather we went to your office!” Aelita protested, stopping in her tracks.

“Aelita, let’s run for it,” Cassidy grabbed her roommate.

Mr. Delmas turned, his eyes pulsing, and raised a hand filled with purple electricity.

They gasped, turning around and running.

\---

“Get back to your seats! No one’s going anywhere!” Jim ordered.

“But, Jim, Aelita and Cassidy are in danger.” Jeremie raised his fists.

“So…you want to play hardball! You want to get through, you’re going to have to use what I taught you in my commando camp!”

“If you say so!” he smiled in determination.

“ATTACK!” Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Jeremie charged at him at once.

In the next moment, Ulrich held down Jim’s legs. Yumi stood over them all. Jeremie sat on the burly teacher’s butt, holding his hands behind his back, while Odd did the same, squatting over the older man’s head. “Touchdown!” the samurai said.

“Hurry, guys! Tie him up!” Jeremie ordered.

In the sewers, XANA-Jean-Pierre walked through with his charges. Later, he pressed the button on the elevator to go down.

In the forest, Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd raced through, Patrick and Kaitlyn promising to guard the tied-up physical education teacher.

“Just think what’ll happen if the return to the past doesn’t work. Jim will kill us!” Odd fretted.

“We’ve got a bigger problem to deal with first. Compared to that, Jim’s a piece of cake,” Jeremie smiled.

In the Scanner Room, XANA-Jean-Pierre set the unconscious girls into the cabins, then set off for the freight.

\---

The Lyoko Warriors raced through the sewers, hoping to head the possessed principal off.

In the Lab, XANA-Jean-Pierre typed on the computer.

In the Scanner Room, the doors to Aelita’s and Cassidy’s cabins closed around them. Soon, they landed on their backs in the Forest Sector.

On the bridge, Ulrich climbed out of the passage, charging for the entrance. Jeremie came next. Odd followed them. Yumi rose out last. They grabbed the ropes and landed near the entrance to the freight elevator. Ulrich pressed the yellow button. “Come on…!”

The car came up, revealing a possessed Mr. Delmas.

“Huh! He looks like he looks when he’s had a fight with his daughter,” Odd noted. “Go and find Aelita and Cassidy!”

Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie ran off in another direction. “Okay, good luck.”

Odd grabbed the principal around his middle. However, he grabbed him and threw him across the cathedral hall. He rose to see the three race down the stairs.

XANA-Jean-Pierre walked to stop them when he fell to the floor.

“Ten-point conversion,” Odd smiled, holding the principal’s legs around the knees.

The opponents rose to their feet.

In the lab, Jeremie raced to the hot seat. “He’s virtualized Aelita and Cassidy. They’re in the Forest Sector.” He turned to his two friends. “I’m sending you two in right now.”

Yumi and Ulrich nodded and ran for the elevator.

In the Forest Sector, Aelita and Cassidy woke up and rose to their feet. “Jeremie?” the elven warrior asked. “Are you there, Jeremie?”

_“I’m with you, Aelita and Cassidy. Hang in there. Ulrich and Yumi are on their way.”_

Aelita and Cassidy heard a couple of low growling noises. They turned around to see a duet of jellyfish-like monsters. Their eyes widened. The purple cat female pulled out her tubes and turned them into guns. “I’m not afraid of you and your brother!” One of their tentacles slapped her wrists, causing them to fly over the edge of the sector into the Digital Sea.

Her eyes widened. “Uh, okay. I see you aren’t into a gun show.” She smiled nervously.

 _“Huh?!_ Two _Schyphozoas?!”_

“Hello, you slimy…ugly…jellyfish…!”

The monsters tried to reach at them, but they ducked and ran away.

In the Scanner Room, Ulrich and Yumi stepped into the cabins.

_“Hurry up! Two Schyphozoas are after Aelita and Cassidy—and our psychic friend just lost her weapons!”_

“We’re ready,” Ulrich said.

The scanner doors closed.

_“Transfer, Yumi. Scanner, Yumi. Transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization!”_

Yumi and Ulrich landed onto the virtual grass, watching Aelita and Cassidy race along a path with two of the jellyfish-like monsters chasing them.

“Ugh! I forgot how ugly it was!” the samurai groaned.

She looked at him, smiling. “I thought you liked seafood!”

“Not the nasty type! Ready to go?” They rushed along the path.

Suddenly, red wireframes materialized and two Krabes filled in, landing in front of the two warriors.

“XANA’s sent us some visitors,” Yumi said, “but they’re not gonna stop us.” She threw her fan, it going between the crustacean-like monsters.

Ulrich ran in front of one and jumped, flipping a bit until he was on top, stabbed it in the eye (“IMPACT!”), and sprung away from the explosion. “I don’t like jellyfish, or shellfish!”

In the cathedral hall, Odd backed away from the possessed principal, whimpering in low-pitched fear. Then XANA-Delmas pulled some karate moves.

“Oh, all of a sudden our principal’s a ninja,” Odd muttered to himself as he posed in the same way. _This reminds me of the times I was a ninja on Lyoko._ His opponent raised a foot to kick him, but he bent backward, it not even close to hitting him. He tried a couple times, failing both, then moved to punch, to which Odd jumped back, landing next to a stick. He looked at it, then back at the principal. “Pretty good, there, Jackie Chan. Let’s see how good you are at baseball!” He took it in hand and palmed it, then held it out in front of him.

XANA-Delmas growled as they stared each other down. Then he chopped the wood in half.

Odd chuckled nervously. “Whoops. Why don’t we talk this over, okay?” When he got nothing but growling, he smiled more, uneasy. “I guess that’s a no.” Throwing the piece away, he jumped and kicked his chest. “BANZAI!”

The opponent lay on his side and fizzed.

The wildcard grinned wider, chuckling confidently.

In the Forest Sector, Cassidy and Aelita ran for their lives away from the Schyphozoas. Just as they reached an expanse of land, the pink-haired Lyoko Warrior turned around and charged two orbs in her hands. She fired them at the two jellyfish-like monsters.

_“Bad news, Cassidy. XANA’s locked my program to give you back your weapons!”_

“Well, that bites!” Cassidy snapped. “Do you even know what the hell this means?!”

_“No, but if I were you, I’d avoid it.”_

_Thanks for nothing, Einstein!_ She would have yelled, but she knew that Jeremie was doing his best.

“This can’t be happening,” her roommate moaned as she raised her hand, an Energy Field in it. She posed to fire when a tentacle slapped her wrist.

Cassidy kept on running, then dug her feet into the ground, looking at how her pink-haired friend stopped. “Aelita, no!”

However, it was too late for both parties. The array of tentacles surrounding them both as the Schyphozoas lifted them up. Three of each appendage attached to their heads.

Cassidy struggled in the grouping. Suddenly, the tentacles glowed red.

_“Aelita! Cassidy! Oh, no! Those awful monsters are implanting data in Aelita and Cassidy’s brains. Yumi, Ulrich.”_

Yumi looked up in the sky. “Yes, Jeremie.”

_“What’s going on? The Schyphozoas have caught Aelita and Cassidy. They’re not too far from you. Why can’t you get to them?!”_

“We’re taking a nap, Einstein! What do you think? We’re up to our ears in shellfish!” Ulrich replied sarcastically, racing across the land to the last Krabe. He threw his katana. “Take that, you clammy monster!” It skewered into a tree. “SUPER SPRINT!”

The crustacean-like atrocity turned its attention to him. Then Yumi pounced up, giving a cry of anger, and threw her fan. It turned around, but it was too late. The fan cracked its shell, and the Krabe combusted.

Ulrich retrieved his katana, landing beside his girlfriend. “Krabes might just become my favorite dish.” They rushed across the virtual grass.

In the cathedral hall, XANA-Jean-Pierre leapt to his feet. Odd’s brows rose to his hairline as his jaw dropped. “Oh, you know, you really oughta be on _Dance Fever_ , Mr. Delmas. Well, I’d hate to fight and run, but…” He turned and sprinted away from the possessed principal, who ambled behind him.

In the Forest Sector, the Schyphozoas finished their work and let go of the girls. They glided to the floor.

“Too late,” Yumi shouted. “Aelita! Cassidy!”

The girls lay on their backs in the virtual land.

\---

Odd grabbed a metal bar, hiding behind a post. “Oh, I don’t believe it! That guy’s a tough cookie. He’s gotta be out there.” He looked in front of him and ran, dropping his weapon as a sheet of iron came his way.

\---

“Aelita, Cassidy,” Ulrich asked as he and Yumi approached.

The girls had their hands on their heads, as though they had migraines.

She touched one of their shoulders. “Aelita, Cassidy, are you two okay?”

They growled, waving their hands out. Yumi and Ulrich backed away, seeing the eye of XANA in their friends’ eyes.

 **“We’re fine!”** Aelita answered on their behalves.

Ulrich held his katana out in front of him, trying to decide who to take out first. Yumi held her hand up to her mouth.

Aelita held an energy field in front of her and fired.

He pushed Yumi out of the way, sword cutting through the pink orb. Now on her rear, the geisha looked to the sound of clunking. “Ulrich!” Two Tarantulas converged to their location.

Ulrich drug another one of his katanas out.

XANA-Aelita and XANA-Cassidy smiled as though their birthdays both came early.

The two arachnid-like monsters sat on their “haunches” and fired away.

Ulrich and Yumi absorbed blows when Aelita and Cassidy turned around and walked.

“Aelita, Cassidy!” their Japanese friend cried, avoiding the lasers. “Where are they going?! They’re crazy.”

“XANA used the Schyphozoas to brainwash Aelita and Cassidy. They’re heading toward the Digital Sea to throw themselves in! Make them stop!”

“Oh, yeah?! How do you expect us to do that?! You can devirtualize them! Why don’t _you_ bring them in?!” Ulrich protested.

_“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?! But I can’t! The pair of Schyphozoas must’ve implanted some sort of inhibitor in their brains. You have to attack them!”_

Ulrich hopped behind a tree. “You’ve gotta be kidding!” he sat down.

_“You heard me. I’m telling you to devirtualize Aelita and Cassidy.”_

“Okay, I’m on it!” He rose to his feet. “Super Sprint!” He raced toward the possessed girls.

They turned around, grasping both the samurai’s katanas out of his hands. He reached behind him and grabbed another one—thanking his personal deity that Cassidy had the foresight to ask Jeremie to program four of them instead of two.

XANA-Cassidy and XANA-Aelita grinned and chuckled sadistically. They lowered their free hands down to their chests.

Ulrich poised to strike. “Ah, okay! Let’s even the playing field. Two against one aren’t very good.” A pair of clones stood by the original, one of them fusing back. He held his katana in front of him.

Aelita and Cassidy brought “their” swords level to their chin, swaying their hips and sliding one of their feet behind them so they could lean back on their right leg. Their left legs glided in front of them. Their left hands raised in the air. Their weapons glowed bright red.

Both Ulrichs brought their katana in front of their chests, then away, bringing it to rest a couple feet away from their right feet. They folded their core, about to strike, their swords glowing blue. Their left hands made fists in front of their face. Then they brought their weapon in front of them.

Aelita and Cassidy flung themselves from their left foot. They hopped off of their right into him. The males brought their katanas up next to their faces. The females aimed for their chests. The samurais leaned back on their right foot, lifting their left, slinging their weapon back. Standing on their toes, they lowered their left. Aelita and Cassidy missed. The males pushed them with their left arm, swinging with their right hand, trying to slash.

They landed behind Ulrich and his clone. The males bent their right knees down to the virtual grass, but raised it up. Their left knee met the ground. Aelita and Cassidy twirled around. The males brought their katanas around their waist to defend against the brainwashed females behind them. They looked behind them. Then they slashed in front of themselves, causing the females to back away. The four separated and side-stepped into a semi-circle, swords at the ready.

Yumi twirled around, fans out, absorbing the lasers from the two Tarantulas. She then sheathed and avoided every laser. “Jeremie, things are getting complicated over here. How’s Odd doing with Delmas? We could use a little backup.”

\---

Odd backed away from the XANAfied principal, then hopped to the side as he threw the sheet of iron again.

Back in the Forest Sector, Ulrich and his clone backed away, ducking a katana.

 _“Ulrich, stop everything. And whatever you do, don’t devirtualize Aelita or Cassidy!”_ Jeremie ordered.

“Don’t worry. We weren’t even close! What’s up?” They dodged blows from them, landing next to a tree.

_“Odd’s getting walloped by Delmas. We have to get Aelita to deactivate the tower!”_

“Yeah, why don’t you just _ask them?_ I’m sure they’d be happy to accommodate!” the original bit sarcastically.

_“Oh, I don’t know what to tell you, either we lose Aelita and Cassidy or we lose Odd!”_

Meanwhile, Odd raced down the cathedral hall when he tripped over his own feet. He held his ankle.

XANA-Jean-Pierre picked up the sheet of iron.

“This guy’s out of his mind!” he protested.

He raised it high above his head, and above the teenaged boy.

“I’m not getting any better either.”

In the Forest Sector, Ulrich held his katana onto Aelita’s, having had tried to bring his down onto her. His clone did the same onto Cassidy’s.

Aelita and Cassidy held theirs in front, unwilling to give up.

The males pressed against them, and the females pushed back. The Ulrichs forced more, and the brainwashed girls receded. They raced forward against them, bringing the katanas to their heads. The males defended by using theirs. The females flung them down against them, but they pulled it up again. They thrusted their swords, but Ulrich and his clone backed away, landing on their left knees. The males then brought their katanas in front of their chests and rushed into the action.

Aelita and Cassidy skipped backward from them, ending up a couple of feet away. They brought their swords up next to their chins again.

Ulrich and his clone brought their right feet forward. They glared at them, their katanas raised, then relaxed their arms.

The girls kept theirs poised, then ran after them.

The males pressed on their forearms when they got close, bringing their katanas close to their faces.

The girls spun around, slashing with their sabers.

The boys hopped back, dust kicking up around them as they landed. They rose to their feet and aimed their katanas.

With a cry, Aelita and Cassidy rushed up to them again.

Ulrich and his clones bent at their cores, then ducked as the girls slashed above their heads. As they rose, they winced as elbows connected to their eyes. They staggered backward, holding their faces. “Hey, _I’m_ the one who taught you that!” the original protested.

Aelita charged an energy field and fired. Ulrich raised his sword and absorbed the blow.

With only a katana, Cassidy wore a scowl, as though XANA just told her that her cooking stunk.

The girls charged at the boy and his clone, leaping into the air.

Ulrich and his clone watched, slightly stupefied. Then the girls landed on the virtual grass, smiting. They brought their own up to defend themselves.

On their knees, Aelita and Cassidy brought one foot up and kicked them in the back.

They staggered forward a couple paces, the girls following them. They twirled back around and carried their katanas up. The girls leapt into the air, spinning and trying to smash them. They landed on their feet and flung them down again. The males brought their swords up again, deflecting the blow. The females slashed again.

The force brought them down to the ground.

In the Lab, Jeremie held his hands to his head. “I don’t believe it. If only I could erase everything and start all over.” He lifted it, suddenly smiling. “But—why not?! I can do that!” He reached into his pocket and fished out the CD from earlier, inserting it into the drive.

On Lyoko, Yumi back flipped to avoid the lasers. Then she unsheathed her fans and threw them. The first Tarantula ducked, but combusted with the second fan.

In the Lab, Jeremie typed away at his computer.

In the Forest Sector, Yumi sprung behind a tree, dodging more lasers from the now-lone Tarantula.

 _“Yumi, Ulrich, get ready. I’m going to reboot the Supercomputer with my new program,”_ Jeremie announced.

She looked around it. “Huh?! But couldn’t that bug up the whole system?”

_“Yeah, maybe, but it just might give us the kind of electroshock we need to free Aelita and Cassidy from the Schyphozoas’ controls.”_

“You sure you know what you’re doing?!”

 _“Well, we don’t have much of a choice, do we?”_ he asked in a low voice.

Aelita and Cassidy landed on their left legs and swung their katanas, dislodging them from their opponents. Then they kicked them in the stomach.

Cassidy rolled her symbol-laced eyes and slashed at the clone’s neck, getting rid of him in a wire-frame of squares.

They turned their attention to the lone samurai on the ground, approaching with their katanas raised.

In the Lab, Jeremie pressed a button. “Here we go.”

The screen turned black for a couple of seconds. Then popped back up with a loading bar. The windows with Aelita and Cassidy’s mental activities opened again. Jeremie pressed on the keys, then stopped when the computer turned purple and fizzed in the manner that Aelita’s did when XANA pretended to be her father. “Huh?!” His brows creased.

\---

The Forest Sector started to rumble.

Aelita and Cassidy almost lowered their swords when they noticed it.

The Tarantula and Yumi looked in an array of different directions.

All of a sudden, a blue orb pulled in and exploded, sending a cyan wall through the Sector. Yumi turned, but found she couldn’t move. The spider-like monster ended up frozen as the wave swept over it. She brought her hands up, but ended up held in place.

Aelita and Cassidy brought their katanas down and almost hit Ulrich in the head. He held his hand up, suddenly halted as the wall moved through.

A second orb, brighter than the first one, combusted as a new wave traversed through.

Yumi fell to her hands and knees. Her opponent clunked back to a basic stance.

Aelita and Cassidy’s eyes rolled to the back, their bodies falling on each other to the virtual grass.

“It looks like it might have worked, Jeremie,” Ulrich said, finding no need to protect himself, looking at their unconscious forms. “But I think Aelita and Cassidy are almost out of life points.”

_“Aelita will regenerate herself as soon as she’s in the tower. I don’t know about Cassidy.”_

“Maybe it’s best if she goes in, too.”

“Anyway, it didn’t put the Tarantula in a better mood,” Yumi growled, avoiding the lasers again.

A moment later, Cassidy rolled off of her roommate. The psychic shook her head, trying to ward off her vertigo. “Ow…”

Aelita turned to her side, letting out a dazed moan as she rose to rest on her hip. “W-what happened?”

_“Aelita, Cassidy, you two can rest later. There’s a tower to deactivate. Odd is in danger. I’m sending you the OverBike and OverDrive.”_

“I don’t feel so good,” Cassidy whimpered.

“I could take them both,” Ulrich suggested. “I just need to hold one of them in front of me.”

_“That sounds like a better idea.”_

“Roger,” Aelita sighed tiredly.

In the cathedral hall, Odd held his stomach in pain. XANA-Jean-Pierre lifted an I-beam high above his head. The teenager screamed and rushed out of the way.

In the Forest Sector, Ulrich held the girls’ arms over his shoulders. They hung limply, but followed his gentle steps to the materializing one-wheeled motorbike.

On the other hand, Yumi defended herself from the Tarantula with her fans.

Ulrich held Cassidy in front of him, Aelita in back, as he raced away to the vicinity of the activated tower.

Yumi dodged another laser, then looked as her boyfriend took the ill girls away. She then brought her fans up, but dissolved into digital dust.

The Tarantula followed the OverBike.

Ulrich braked a couple feet from the tower. Both girls started to fall off when he gently held them up. “Come on, Princess and Cat Girl. This is no time to go to sleep.”

They opened their eyes.

“I’m so s-sorry, Ulrich…” Cassidy muttered.

He helped Aelita to her feet first, then gently grasped the purple cat girl to dismount. Both groaned weakly.

A roar alerted the three. Ulrich held his katanas out.

Cassidy and Aelita held their stomachs, walking toward the activated tower. He swiped left and right, keeping the Tarantula’s laser away from his tired teammates. They stopped inches from the tower, panting heavily, then entered.

The Tarantula growled.

“Too late…” Ulrich sang.

It fired two blasts and he disappeared in a cloud of blue and white squares.

In the cathedral hall, XANA-Jean-Pierre cradled another I-beam.

“Okay, Jean-Pierre. You win. I give up. Why don’t you just give me detention on Saturday instead of…?”

\---

Aelita rose to the second platform, leaving the psychic to rest on the first.

\---

“What if I do your dishes for you and all the cleaning up?!”

He raised it above his head.

\---

The pink-haired warrior placed her hand on the interface panel, entering the Lyoko Code.

\---

Mr. Delmas fell to the floor, dropping his weapon.

“Oh, you disappoint me, you know, Mr. Delmas. I thought you were stronger than that,” Odd quipped.

\---

“Tower deactivated.”

\---

Jeremie let out a sigh of relief as he pressed a button. “Return to the past, now!”

The white bubble covered all of earth.

The Lyoko Warriors stood under the arches. “So Mr. Delmas doesn’t know you?” Yumi asked.

“No, Delmas couldn’t possibly know me. My father may have been a teacher here, but I studied at home, so I never attended Kadic!” Aelita answered.

“Ugh…” Cassidy shook her head. “I still can’t believe that XANA pulled two Schyphozoas out…”

“So no chance of finding Aelita Hopper,” Yumi said, patting Cassidy on the shoulder.

“No, none. Especially since my real name isn’t Hopper!”

Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Kaitlyn, and Patrick gasped. “Huh?!”

Aelita smiled. “Schaeffer is my real name! When we moved to the Hermitage my father wanted to make a brand new start. Franz was his middle name, Hopper’s my mother’s maiden name!”

“Aelita Schaeffer? That is really incredible! You knew that, Einstein and Cat-Lover-Girl?” Odd asked.

Jeremie shrugged. “Yeah, but it makes no difference! As far as everyone’s concerned, Aelita’s name is now and forever Aelita Stones!”

“Yep,” Cassidy smiled. “Otherwise, connecting all the identities she’s been under, she’d be Maya Aelita Lyoko Stones Hopper Schaeffer. That’s a mouthful to say.” She giggled, tensing as the bell rang.

“Time for class, Lyoko Warriors,” Yumi announced.

“I still don’t know why XANA attacked me.” The brown-haired psychic followed them. “I’m not Aelita’s sister, you know.”

Aelita watched them walk off, then fished the picture from her bag, smiling at it. She remembered when they looked at each other before the photo was taken.


	68. Odd has a Bad Connection with his parents

**Odd, I think we hit a connection snag.**

**I don’t own Kaitlyn Belpois or Code Lyoko. Kaitlyn is © LongHairedAelita. I’m calling Odd’s father Alberico and his mother Odette. Also, since it doesn’t sound to me like they are possessed, all XANAfied people’s quotes are going to be without the bold font.**

**Yes, Patrick and Kaitlyn go to Lyoko, but it’s more between the episodes. I’m trying to make a balance.**

Ulrich banged on his door in nothing but a towel. “Come on, Odd! Knock it off and open this door right now!” He tried a couple times.

“Stern! what do you think you’re doing walking around half naked?!” A deep voice made him jump. He turned and laughed. The genius of the group walked toward him with the girls in tow. Patrick was off to the library. Aelita, Yumi, Cassidy—who looked whey-faced and shaky—, and Kaitlyn looked off in every other direction but to the samurai.

“Ha, ha. Very funny. That’s a pretty awful imitation of Delmas!” he told Jeremie.

“It wasn’t Delmas, it was Jim!” the blonde genius muttered.

All the girls laughed.

“But, what are you dressed like that for?” He raised his brows.

Ulrich turned to the door. “I’ve been stuck out here for fifteen minutes. Odd refuses to open up!”

Aelita looked at him. “But how come?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? He won’t even answer me!”

“I bet I know…” Cassidy yawned, “but you probably don’t want to hear me.”

Jeremie pointed his finger up. “Let me handle it.” He hit a fist once at the door. “Odd, if you don’t open up this door right now, you can forget about my portion of meatballs!”

The samurai shrugged. “Nice try but it’s not gonna work.”

A second later, Jeremie smiled at the click of the door lock. “Hm. Never fails.” He pushed the handle down and opened it. “After you, sir.”

Inside, Odd sat on his bed with his eyes narrowed, knees up to his shoulders, arms hanging on them. His chin slumped to his chest.

“What’s wrong with you, Odd?” Jeremie asked. He hadn’t seen him in this bad of a mood since the time he had a low score on Lyoko. “Is it because of your film?”

“Yes—I mean, no.” He checked his nails. “It’s not the first time that a film of mine will be screened for an audience of ignoramuses!” He brought his index and middle fingers together.

Cassidy collapsed to the ground in disbelief.

“Well, then, what’s wrong?” Aelita asked.

“My parents are in town and they’re coming to see my film,” Odd said in a low voice.

Yumi leaned forward. “That’s really nice of them.”

“No, it stinks!”

Jeremie looked to Ulrich, who sat beside his roommate, clearing his throat. “You didn’t have a fight with them?”

He rose from the bed. “No. Just the opposite.” He walked to a table.

“What is it then?”

He held his right wrist in his left hand. “A weird relationship problem. Teenagers are always having lots of conflicts with their parents. A generation gap. Except for one—me.” He cocked a brow, then his head lowered. “My mother and father are always cool, supportive, understanding—in fact, they’re just perfect.” Odd turned around.

“Bummer. I’ll trade yours for mine any time,” Ulrich scowled.

“Ulrich, you’re still in your towel.” Cassidy averted her eyes, still uncomfortable with the human anatomy.

“I’ll get dressed soon,” he protested.

“If there was only something that we could fight over, so I could finally be a normal adolescent.” Odd placed his hands on the table.

Jeremie raised his nose. “What a major drag. I really feel sorry for you, Odd.”

“We can really feel your pain,” Yumi said.

“That’s right. I wouldn’t want to be in _your_ shoes,” Aelita quipped.

Cassidy kept quiet.

Odd smiled. “I knew I couldn’t expect you to understand.”

Later, they walked down the steps.

“Cheer up. With a little luck, they’ll hate your film!” Ulrich smiled.

Odd stopped at the landing, in front of the admin building. “Yeah, that would be too good to be true!”

A black car drove up in front of them. “How’s it going, kid?” Odd’s dad asked.

“Couldn’t be better,” he said in a low tone.

A brunette man popped out of the driver’s seat, wearing a navy blue T-shirt and jeans. He wore dark blue shoes. Several tattoos covered his arms.

A violet-haired woman came out of the passenger. She wore a deep red dress with pink lining, dark-emerald green pants, and brown shoes. Wrapped around her neck was a long light pink scarf. Another one, hot pink for the head, held her hair. A green poke clip held some of her hair up.

They walked around to their son, the mom kissing him on the brow.

“Odd, it’s really so good to see you,” Alberico said.

“And you look wonderful. You still have that great appetite, don’t you?” Odette smiled.

Odd gave a half-hearted sound.

“And these must be your friends. Odd talks a lot about you.” Alberico bowed to them.

“How do you do?” Aelita smiled.

Jeremie lowered his head, but kept a small beam. “Hello, sir.”

“Hello,” Yumi said.

“Uh, hello!” Ulrich smiled.

“Great to meet you,” Kaitlyn grinned.

“And this must be your girlfriend. Odd’s talked a lot about you, too,” Odette smiled, giving Cassidy a kiss on the temple.

She blushed. “Uh…hi, there,” she squeaked.

Alberico came over and picked her up, squeezing her gently before placing her on the ground. “You are always welcome at our home, Sweetie.”

She grinned, raising a brow. “Thanks?”

They nodded. “We’re really delighted to meet you all at last.” Odette revealed a box wrapped in orange paper, tied up with a light pink ribbon. “Here, this is a present for you. You can wear it to the screening, son. Why don’t you try it on?”

“Okay, but later! I’m much too busy right now,” Odd grumbled, turned around, and raced up the stairs.

Odette and Alberico watched as he did, then glanced at each other.

The gang equally stared at each other.

“Guess he’s still upset because of the screening.”

“That’s understandable. After all, it is his premier.” Odette pressed the present to her chest.

Cassidy looked at them, blinking. “I-if you want me to, I could put that in Odd’s room.”

“Oh, Sweetie, you don’t have to,” Alberico smiled at her. “Besides, you have yet to receive yours.”

She blinked. “Huh?”

Odd’s mom dug out a purple-wrapped box tied with a golden ribbon. “Here.”

She opened it. “Wow…a hand-knit sweater with my first initial—in my favorite colors.”

“Odd always loved to mention every detail about you, Cassidy.”

She smiled happily as she put it on.

Later saw the parents in Mr. Delmas’s office. “You’re absolutely right, of course. Odd is undeniably talented. He’s very creative and intelligent. He participates well in class, but…”

“It’s true, he is intelligent. You know, when he was barely two years old, he managed to completely take apart his uncle’s stereo!” Alberico smiled confidently.

“And I’m sure that if he’d been four at the time, he would’ve been able to put it back together again!” Odette said.

“Is that so? I happen to be quite an electronics buff myself, and uh, well I, uh…ahem! Anyway, as I was saying, your son has many fine qualities, but—” Mr. Delmas said.

“Oh, you needn’t tell us that! He’s got qualities coming out of his ears! He eats well, he has a wonderful sense of humor, he loves a good joke!” she beamed.

“Even when it’s not funny!” Alberico pointed.

“He’s a daredevil on his skateboard, and he has an excellent ear for music too!” Odette continued.

“Yes, undoubtedly…no doubt about it. Though, uh, however…” The principal tried to get back on track.

“If he wanted to, Odd could be at the head of his class! But he’s just too modest for that.” Alberico kept his arms crossed, but a grin stayed plastered on his face.

Mr. Delmas sighed.

“You were saying, Mr. Delmas?” Odette asked.

“No…nothing…”

“Oh, you’ve been very reassuring. You know better than I do that young people don’t work hard enough at school.”

“It’s true. They have trouble concentrating.” Alberico stood from his chair.

The principal once again sighed. _Is this why Odd is who he is? The poor kid’s been smothered with praise his whole life._

“Well, we don’t wanna keep you any longer, Mr. Delmas. You must have a lot of work to do.” The proud parents left the room.

“Yes,” Mr. Delmas said.

“Good-bye,” Odette smiled.

“Bye, now!” Alberico followed his wife.

The principal groaned. _I need to get Odd into Hans Klotz’s therapy. His behavior sounds like a cry for help._ He tapped at a key on his computer and played his favorite game. _Maybe this can calm my nerves._

The door opened and he averted his gaze. “Oh, what’s the matter with this piece of junk?!”

Sissi marched in.

“Something wrong, Elizabeth?”

“Yes, it stopped working.” She held out her cell phone.

He cocked a brow. “It did? I paid a lot of money for that.”

“I told you to buy the higher price model.” She tapped her foot.

“Hm…” He adjusted his glasses. “Now, now, Elizabeth. Let me take a look at it. I’ll fix it for you in no time at all.” He reached into his inside jacket pocket.

“You know how to do that?” Sissi asked, giving him her phone.

“Why, of course I do. I have a true gift for delicate work like this.” He gently placed the screwdriver into a crack. “When I was your age, my nickname was ‘Mr. circuit breaker’ uh, ‘Fixer’ that is…” His tool broke the phone, to Sissi’s disappointed cry. “Hm…is this thing still under warranty?” She raced out. “Sissi! Hold on!” The door slammed.

\---

Alberico and Odette walked into the auditorium. Jim saluted them. “Good evening. There are some empty seats in the first row.”

He put a hand on his shoulder. “Uh, we’ll have a large popcorn, please.”

“Oh, sorry, I don’t have any, but I might just have half-a-box of Nibble Jacks lying around somewhere in my room.”

He passed the gym teacher, a grin still etched on his face. “I was only kidding.”

“Uh, yeah, uh…sure! So was I.”

Jeremie opened his laptop, but pressed only one button. “I’m putting it to sleep. Odd would kill me if the Super-Scan went off in the middle of his film.”

“At any rate, there’s not much chance that XANA would launch an attack during the three minutes that the film lasts!” Aelita said.

“I’d say about 60%,” Cassidy blinked. Invisible electrical sensations popped aboard.

“Why sixty?” Yumi asked her.

“Not as equal as fifty, but still slightly higher.”

A couple rows behind them, Sissi groaned in worry.

“Hey, Sissi, what’s the matter? You don’t look so great,” Hervé asked.

“Odd has made fun of me in almost every single one of his films.”

Nicholas started laughing. “Yeah…”

“Keep laughing, Nicholas, and the whole school’s gonna find out what happened to Mrs. Hertz’s hamsters!”

He stopped. “Okay. I’ll stop.”

Odette stood up. “But where is Odd?”

“I have no idea,” Alberico answered.

Ulrich stood up. “I better go see if I can find him.”

“May I come along?” Cassidy asked.

“Sure.”

They walked out of the auditorium as Jean-Pierre passed them.

“Very well, now we can begin,” Chardin said. “Welcome, students…” something “…to the special screening of _Mandibles and Purple Mauve_ , the latest creation of our own Odd Della Robbia. Please do forgive me for not having seen this work yet, I understand however, that the film cleverly combines fiction with documentary. Truth, in short, but, in the end, what is truth?”

Ulrich took out his cell phone. “Where could he go?”

Cassidy closed her eyes. “Found him!” she smiled, still feeling out of it. “Look up.”

He did. “What are you doing there?!”

“Sh…quiet or you two will give me away!” Odd bit into a fingernail.

“This is ridiculous. Your parents are looking for you.”

“I know, I’m already stressed out enough,” he whined quietly.

Cassidy walked up the stairs. “I think I know something that might help.” She smiled.

“W-what?”

“This!” She brought his face to hers, and kissed him on the lips.

His eyes went wide, but he then closed them, relaxing to her rubbing his back. She purred as he ran his fingers through her long brown hair. She smiled and broke the kiss. “Feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Odd grinned.

They walked into the auditorium with Ulrich stumbling behind them. “How—?”

“A little thing called ‘incentive,’ Ulrich. You get butterflies, I’ll tell Yumi to give you the same,” she giggled. “Of course, results may vary. Aelita once froze Jeremie for three days, trying to help him find her father.”

He chuckled. “Thanks for the tip.”

“But why don’t we all listen now to the filmmaker himself about his latest work. Odd, you have the floor.”

Odd smiled confidently as he walked up to the stage, Cassidy ambled to her seat.

“What did you do to him?” Yumi asked.

“A little ‘incentive,’ Yumi. If Ulrich gets nervous, I can give you some tips.”

She chuckled.

In the Mountain Sector, a tower turned crimson red.

Outside the science building, a ghost popped out of the satellite box.

In the auditorium, Odd spoke into the mic. “Hello, first of all, I would like to…” A buzzing sound caught his attention. He gently glared in the general direction. “Hm…?”

Alberico stood up, showing his phone, and walking into the hallway.

“We’ll start the screening as soon as the director’s father returns,” Mr. Delmas said, standing up.

Outside, Alberico answered the offending device. “Hello? Is this some sort of joke?” He held it to his ear. The screen showed static, flashed the eye of XANA, and an electric shock entered his ear. The ghost exited his nostrils, but he growled. He trudged back to his seat.

Odette looked at him. “Who was it, Darling?”

“Why don’t you keep quiet and stop batting your eyes at that old goat?”

Mr. Delmas stood up. “What? Let’s not fly off the handle here!”

“ _You’re_ the fly who needs handling. I’m onto your game!” XANA-Alberico yelled.

Odette looked at him, a bit concerned. “But—have you lost your mind, Darling?”

“I prefer losing my mind to having yours!” He lifted the phone, putting it to her ear. “Here! It’s for you.”

The phone sparked, causing her eyes to roll into the back of her head.

Suddenly, several phones started to ring, and students and faculty alike answered them. Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, Ulrich, Kaitlyn, Patrick, and Cassidy crossed their arms.

Jim woke up. “Since when do you uh…keep your cell phones on in a movie theater. Huh? Hey! Take the wax out of your ears and listen!” His phone rang, and he picked it up nervously. “Mommy, is that you?” The phone flickered.

“If it’s okay with everyone, we can begin.”

XANA-Odette looked at him. “What does that little brat want?”

“Maybe he wants us to shut his trap for him,” XANA-Alberico answered.

“It wouldn’t do him any harm.”

Odd looked at his friends.

“Something is going on, and I don’t like the looks of it,” Jeremie said.

“I’m thinking we are leaning into the 60% chance of XANA,” Cassidy whispered.

Jeremie opened his laptop and pressed the button. A window popped up and a square held a tower in place. “It’s just what I’m afraid of. An activated tower.” He shut his laptop and placed it in his bag. “Looks like XANA is using cell phones. If you get a call, whatever you do, don’t answer.”

Everyone rose to their feet, except for Cassidy. Ulrich gave Odd a wink.

He smiled and backed away, running through the auditorium after his friends had left.

“Look at that coward, slinking away like a little rat!” XANA-Alberico looked at the wildcard.

XANA-Odette got up on stage. “Are we going to let that ungrateful snot-nose take off like that?!”

Everyone voiced disagreement, except for Sissi, who jumped, realizing something was wrong.

Someone jumped into Odd’s way. “Hey, it’s not very polite to sneak off like a thief of the night, ya know!” XANA-Jim said, grabbing Odd’s wrist.

“He needs to learn a little respect whether he likes it or not!”

The XANAfied auditorium voiced their agreement, trudging toward him.

Sissi rose to her feet, unsure of what to do. Cassidy followed her, keeping quiet.

“There’s no need to get all worked up. I’ll give each of you an autograph!” Odd protested meekly.

“He deserves to be taught a lesson, doesn’t he?”

Sissi looked at him, amidst the sea of possessed minions.

XANA-Jim let go of his hand, pointing his own. “I vote for—voting against him!” He looked, hearing footsteps. His charge had run. “Oh, man.”

Sissi smiled in glee. Cassidy grinned.

“Don’t just stand there like a bunch of houseplants. Go on. Hurry! After him!” XANA-Odette thrust her fists forward, the eye symbols pulsing in hers.

\---

Odd raced through the park, then stopped, seeing XANA-Milly, XANA-Tamiya, and XANA-Mrs. Hertz standing in front of the entrance to the sewers.

“Well, are we looking for a little spanking?!” XANA-Suzanne asked, holding a metal rod.

XANA-Milly wielded a similarly-made pole, while XANA-Tamiya handled a garden scythe and a trowel.

“There he is!” the redhead said.

“That little rat is not going to get away!” the Afro-French girl growled.

Odd panted, then turned around.

A crowd of XANAfied people raced toward him, holding various weapons or toys.

“Keep up the pace,” XANA-Odette yelled. “We’re going to get him this time!”

“What’s wrong with everyone? Is it something they ate?” Odd turned and raced through the trees.

Yumi walked down the rungs of the ladder, followed by Jeremie, then Aelita, then Ulrich, then Kaitlyn, and finally Patrick. They traversed through the sewers with their skateboards or scooters. Ulrich ground the rail.

Odd raced to the boiler room. Right away, XANA-Fumet and XANA-Rosa stood, holding an umbrella and a giant circularly-slotted spoon respectively.

“Odd, my boy, how would you like a loving _spoonful_?” she asked.

“Uh, thanks Rosa, but I’m not very hungry!” Odd smiled uneasily and exited the room.

In the Lab, Jeremie tapped on the armrest. “What are they doing? Where are they?!” He looked at Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita. Kaitlyn and Patrick sat in one corner, panting and wheezing.

“I thought they were behind us. They must’ve been held up by Odd’s fan club,” Ulrich held the bar behind him.

“I’ll check out what’s happening by scanning the location of their cell phones!” Jeremie pressed on a key. A map popped up. Cassidy and Odd’s pictures swept through. “Okay, I found them.”

“Where are they?” Yumi asked.

“Take a guess.”

In the lunch room, Odd hid under a table, Cassidy having found him. “Odd, sh… It’s me,” she whispered.

“How do I know you’re not a part of the crowd?” he hissed.

“I never answered my mobile. Jeremie told us not to. And nothing gets you happier than meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes, French fries, and spaghetti—not in that order,” she deducted quietly.

“Good point.” He sniffed the air, following his nose to a pot. He lifted a lid and smiled. “Mm…meatballs. Come to think of it, I _am_ hungry! Do you want some, Cat Girl?”

In the Lab, Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “It looks pretty bad for them. They’re totally surrounded.”

“We gotta rescue them,” Ulrich said.

Aelita gestured at the floor. “But how? The whole school’s out to get them!”

“It’d be faster if we deactivated the tower,” Yumi answered.

“That’s what we gotta do. Go on, head for the scanner room. You’re going in right now.” Jeremie typed at the keys. “Let’s hope that Odd and Cassidy can play for time.”

In the lunch room, under the table, Cassidy and Odd ate from a couple spoons. He looked inside the pot. “Hm…gravy! There isn’t enough gravy!”

“Stop complaining. I sense them getting near,” she whispered.

In the Scanner Room, Aelita, Ulrich, and Yumi walked into the cabins.

_“Scanner, Aelita. Scanner, Yumi. Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization.”_

They landed on a path in the Mountain Sector.

_“The tower’s in front of you, at the end of the path.”_

The Lyoko Warriors raced through, but stopped at seeing the tower too far away from them. “Any suggestions, Einstein, like a ladder, maybe?” Ulrich asked. “Without vehicles, forget about it!” He put his hands akimbo. “You could’ve virtualized us at the summit.”

_“Sorry, but there’s a bug. I couldn’t do any better. Ugh… And now I can’t even bring up your vehicles. XANA threw a virus into the program! All I can get you is the OverWing.”_

“Send it anyway. It’ll have to do.”

_“Coming up.”_

The OverWing materialized beside them. Yumi hopped aboard, then looked back and winked. “’Wanna keep me company, _anata_?”

Ulrich jumped on and held her sides.

Aelita smiled, swiping a hand over her star-shaped pendant, the wings unfurling. After a quick flap of them, she said, “Okay, let’s go,” and hopped into the air. They soared higher and higher up the summit. Suddenly, a laser caused them to scatter. A flying Manta came into view. Yumi and Ulrich gasped and ducked away from it. Then a second one joined its comrade, chasing behind the couple. Ulrich grabbed one of his katanas from his backpack and swung it to defend them against the intense laser fire. Suddenly, one hit him in the leg, causing him to fall off his girlfriend’s vehicle.

“ULRICH!” Yumi cried.

He flipped for his feet to be facing the sea.

She swooped in to help him when a laser hit her vehicle, and she fell, screaming.

Aelita stopped flying to see what was going on.

Ulrich dug a sword into the summit, grabbing Yumi as she passed him. “Just in time. Thanks, Ulrich!” She reached up to hold onto him, but another projectile flew in between them, causing them to jolt a bit.

“Energy Field!” Aelita said, launching her weapon.

The first Manta rose into the air, but the second took the hit in the eye, combusting it. The now lone monster swooped away.

In the lunchroom, XANA-Nicholas kicked the door open, holding a rubber dustpan above his head. XANA-Hervé stood right behind him, carrying a push broom. “They gotta be in here somewhere…” the acne-scarred possessed teenager growled.

Odd and Cassidy paused their eating, blinking at each other.

The strawberry blonde boy held his dustpan in front of his face, pacing the cafeteria tables. “Don’t worry. Watch! I’m going to sweep them away!”

“Yeah, they’ll be biting the dust once we get through with them,” XANA-Hervé agreed.

Odd swallowed his bite. Cassidy wiped her mouth on the inside of her pink shirt underneath the one Odette made her.

Just as one turned the corner, XANA-Hervé pointed with his push broom above his head like a pool cue. “Hey, Nicholas.”

XANA-Nicholas bent over to look. “Thought you could hide from us?! Huh?”

“Lunch time!” Odd sang as he threw plates like tessen fans.

Nicholas deflected using his dustpan. “You can’t touch me. I’m invulnerable thanks to my shield.” He stopped. “Go on, keep on trying!”

Odd then pushed the pot of meatballs in front of him. Nicholas waggled his finger and held his shield in front of his face. However, he slid it into his adversary, knocking him into the wall, making an impression into his dustpan. “That is really awful wasting perfectly good food on a vegetable like him!”

“Oh, I agree.” Cassidy flipped her hair. “It was actually getting me into a good mood.”

“Aha! Alone at last—” There was a clang, and XANA-Hervé fell like a rock.

Sissi stood, holding a frying pan.

“Incredible, huh?” Odd asked Cassidy.

“This may be the only time I say this, but Sissi, am I glad to see you,” the psychic sighed in relief.

“What is happening? It looks like everyone at school has gone crazy,” Sissi asked.

“It’s because of the cell phones. How come you haven’t gone bananas, too?” Odd looked at her.

“Because my phone’s a broken-down piece of junk,” Sissi answered.

“We better get out of here,” Cassidy breathed. “If we stay, it’ll be worse than ever.”

A voice startled the raven-haired girl into dropping the pan. “The one place we haven’t checked from top to bottom is the lunch room!”

“Oh, no. It’s too late. Jim,” Cassidy whispered.

“Let’s split!” Sissi announced.

XANA-Mrs. Hertz growled, looking off to the side. “There they are!”

XANA-Jean-Pierre pointed, holding a ball-and-cup toy. “But…what is my daughter doing with those little scoundrels?!”

“They must’ve forced her to be on their side!” XANA-Odette carried a straw broom.

“Children become monsters when they’re not instilled with a sense of discipline.” XANA-Alberico pointed with a metal crowbar in hand.

The three jumped off the steps and raced away, the crowd chasing behind them.

In the Mountain Sector, Ulrich and Yumi hung off the summit. “Jeremie, what are you waiting for?!” she asked. “Reprogram the OverWing!”

 _“It’s not working. I’ll try the OverBoard.”_ A second later, Jeremie came back online. _“I’ve got a problem.”_

“You’re not the only one. Hurry up!”

Ulrich dodged another Manta laser.

Yumi ran slightly up the rocky edge to keep herself from losing life points, then unsheathed her fans as the monster turned back. She shielded them from another attack.

Aelita swooped in front of the stingray-like creature. A pink ball charged in her hand. She flipped, a cry exiting her throat, then hit the Manta while it flew close. It combusted.

“Nice one, Aelita,” Yumi smiled.

Ulrich’s fingers slipped off his katana. “I can’t hold on any longer!”

They fell through the air, screaming.

Aelita gasped, held out a hand, and concentrated, a pink flash stayed in place.

A new rock structure materialized several feet below. Seeing this, Ulrich flipped and landed on top of it. Yumi landed on her hands and feet. They shook off the impact of the fall.

Aelita pumped both her fists. “Yes!”

Meanwhile, Sissi, Cassidy, and Odd raced for the garden shed, entering the open door. He closed it behind them. “Whew… Well, here at least, we’ll might have a little peace.”

Cassidy turned to her left, eyes widening. “I wouldn’t say that if I were you.”

“Peace, huh?! A bunch of pieces is what you’ll get!” XANA-Rouiller came out of the shadows, brandishing a rake.

Sissi put a finger to her mouth, teeth gritting, letting out a distressed moan.

“Cassidy, head for the abandoned factory!” Odd winked.

“Are you nuts?!” she blinked.

“I read up in your vision journal that we’d _hang out_ at the top of the science building! Run!” Odd shouted.

She raced out of the garden shed as though a snake slithered behind her.

Odd and Sissi ran in the opposite direction, him screaming at the top of his lungs, and her panting.

On the Mountain Sector, Aelita landed on the formation she created, wings disappearing. “You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks, Aelita,” Yumi smiled.

Ulrich walked over and looked at the path they had been on before. Everything swirled around, and he backed away, shuddering. “This is great!” he muttered, then looked up. “Jeremie, what’s happening with Odd’s ’Board?”

_“It’s loading, but it’ll take a little time.”_

Yumi looked up at the summit thousands of feet up. “We could try to climb up.”

Ulrich immediately shook his head, rubbing his arm. “The rock face is much too smooth. We’ll never make it.”

“Still scared of heights, huh?” A laser came in between them. Up above, on the summit, a Krabe had positioned.

The three raced behind the hard shield Aelita unintentionally made.

Meanwhile, Odd and Sissi raced right into the crowd of XANAfied people, still brandishing their weapons and toys. They tried to back away, but their rears touched the rake. “You just can’t get good gardeners nowadays,” Odd quipped.

“I do not think it is a very good idea to frighten these poor children with your gardening tools, sir,” XANA-Odette said.

XANA-Rouiller lifted his rake. “Well, that’s a pity!”

“Rest assured, we’re not the type of parents who would ever shirk their responsibilities.” She, XANA-Delmas, and XANA-Jim surrounded the two. “We promised you a fitting punishment, and you’re going to get it!”

Sissi held back a scream of fear, letting out another distressed moan instead.

“I promise to never complain about not having conflicts with my parents again,” Odd deadpanned.

“Where is the third?!” XANA-Alberico asked.

“Here she is!” a new voice came in. XANA-Yolanda walked into the scene holding an unconscious Cassidy over her shoulder. “She tried to refuse treatment!”

“How could I have forgotten about the nurse,” Odd sighed.

Sissi trembled in terror.

On Lyoko, two Krabes shot their lasers. Aelita activated her wings and soared into the air.

“Looks like shellfish are back in season,” Ulrich quipped, keeping his back to the rock. Yumi did the same.

“Yeah, welcoming us with open claws,” she said.

“Okay, I’m on it!” Aelita boosted herself through the air and level to the enemies. She shot an Energy Field, only for one of them to scuttle to the side, missing. The crustacean-like monster fired at her. She moved out of the way.

Yumi unsheathed her fan. “I’m going to try something!” She raced off the edge, and hopped off, throwing her fan.

“Oh, YUMI!” Ulrich cried.

She landed on the stony path beside the rocky creation. Then she looked up.

The fan cut the leg off the Krabe. The monster fell off the edge and into the drink, but not before firing its laser a last time. It connected to Yumi’s shoulder, and she cried out in pain.

 _“Yumi! You just lost forty life points, you hear me?!”_ Jeremie asked.

She grabbed her throbbing arm. “Yeah, and I can feel it too. I’ll try my best not to take another hit.” She cried out as another hit her other shoulder. She disappeared in a cluster of white squares.

Out of the shadows, a Kankrelat scuttled.

In the scanner room, Yumi banged her head against the wall of her cabin. “Oh, what _an idiot_ I am!”

Meanwhile, Ulrich stood in between the crossfire of both the Kankrelat and the Krabe, holding his katana out. Then Aelita appeared to him and aimed a pink ball at the enemy above. She threw it, saying, “Energy Field!”

Unfortunately, the crustacean-like monstrosity moved out of its way and fired lasers.

Aelita swooped, trying to avoid them. “I don’t believe this…”

She then soared slightly down to the middle.

Ulrich stood so the lasers wouldn’t hit him. “Jeremie, we’re not getting anywhere here!”

 _“I’m almost there.”_ A second later, Jeremie said, _“Yeah. Ulrich, OverBoard in two or three seconds.”_

Ulrich somersaulted to avoid another few projectiles. “Huh… It’s about time!” To the side, Odd’s vehicle materialized. He sidled over to it, avoiding another round of fire, then jumped aboard. “Here I go!” Right away, a feeling of unbalance washed over him. He clumsily maneuvered it around, being slow to get his bearings. Carefully, Ulrich avoided the lasers. He turned it around, passing Aelita. “Whoa, how does Odd manage to pilot this thing?!” He asked, stopping in the air.

Aelita flew to his level. “He’s not afraid of falling.”

\---

“I’M AFRAID!” Odd yelled as he and Sissi stood on the edge of the science building. “Oh, no! Anything but this!”

Cassidy sat in a wheelchair, bound by her wrists. “Odd!”

XANA-Alberico stood behind the pack of possessed people. “Trust us, kid. It’s for your own good.”

“Just a little step forward and you’ll won’t be afraid anymore,” XANA-Odette yelled.

“Obey for once in your life!” XANA-Jim said.

“Don’t we get our last request?” Odd looked behind him.

XANA-Delmas stopped playing his ball and cup game. “It’s true. They do have the right to that.”

He turned around. “I’d like one last club sandwich with organic mayo.”

Sissi squawked in disbelief. Cassidy growled, “Odd, you are not a prisoner on death row! You should have chosen a smarter option.”

“Okay, one club sandwich, but forget the organic mayo!” XANA-Rosa said.

“And I would like a purple parachute to go with my top.” Sissi smiled.

“And if I’m next, I’d like a pink one!” Cassidy yelled. _Sissi, you are so intelligent at this time._

XANA-Alberico growled, then made his hands into a T. “Okay, okay, time-out. Last requests are going to have to wait until later.”

The two standing faced the edge of their doom, Sissi wailing in terror.

In the Mountain Sector, Ulrich grabbed the tip of his roommate’s OverBoard and brought it up to face the Krabe. Then he ducked as a laser almost grazed him. He moved around and around, avoiding them.

Aelita flew up behind it and charged a pink orb in her hand. Unfortunately, the beast turned around, then moved out of the way as she fired. She moved around to feet away from the Krabe, dodging another laser and charged another Energy Field. Just as she swooped to fire, the monster fired back, it hitting her in the chest. The pink-haired girl landed a yard from the tower.

“AELITA!” Ulrich cried, bringing the OverBoard around.

The Krabe advanced over to the elven warrior. She rose to her hands. It raised a leg, about to strike.

Ulrich soared into the action and threw his katana.

It turned around and fired at him, making him disappear in a cloud of squares. The katana flipped into the air, hitting it into the eye, causing it to combust.

Aelita rose to her feet.

_“Hurry up, Aelita. The coast is clear!”_

She raced and entered the tower. She slowed at the center of the first platform. Aelita started to rise.

At the top of the science building, XANA-Odette said, **“I think these children could use a little parental guidance.”**

“Absolutely,” XANA-Delmas agreed.

Odd and Sissi stayed frozen to the edge.

XANA-Odette and XANA-Delmas walked forward.

She closed her eyes, hands covering her face, and whimpered. He shut his, taking a deep breath.

Cassidy tried to break free from her bindings.

\---

Aelita rose to the second platform, placing a hand on the interface.

\---

“Okay, let’s get this over with!” XANA-Alberico turned his thumbs down.

Sissi and Cassidy squealed in fear. Odd stood, staring straight ahead.

XANA-Odette and XANA-Delmas raised their hands.

\---

Aelita entered the Lyoko code.

\---

The eye of XANA disappeared. Alberico looked around, disoriented. “But what are we doing up here?”

\---

“Tower deactivated.”

\---

Odd’s mother and Sissi’s father grabbed their children off the ledge. At first, they tensed, fearing the worst, then looked at their parents. “You know better than get so close to the edge, don’t you?” Odette asked her son.

“Oh, yeah? I wonder who could have pushed me to the edge,” Odd joked.

She cocked a brow and turned her head to one side. That didn’t make much sense.

Yolanda untied Cassidy. “I wonder how you got tied up in the first place.”

“I don’t know. The details are a little fuzzy to me at this point,” she confessed.

\---

“Return to the past, now!” Jeremie pressed a key.

The white bubble gently covered all of Earth.

Back in time, Odd stood at the lectern with a big smile on his face. “And here we have a splendid specimen of a dung beetle!”

On the film, Jim tried to push a soccer ball out of the mud, but got nowhere, collapsing on his front. Outside it, the real Jim woke up and chuckled at it.

“And now we have a magnificent field grasshopper!” Odd continued.

On the film, the ball got loose from Mr. Delmas’s game and dropped on his foot, causing him to hop uncontrollably. The students outside it laughed, but the principal glared, unamused.

“Oh, look, a horse is running away from a dog.”

On the film, Cassidy galloped away from a glaring Ulrich. The two guffawed, remembering that fateful day, holding each other.

Then the film showed a bundle of sheets in Sissi’s room.

“Oh, he’s saving the worst for last,” Sissi moaned.

“But what could this strange creature be? A spring roll? No, no! It’s an enormous larva!” Odd announced.

The sheets bunched and opened, just as the audience laughed. Odette and Alberico chuckled, enjoying it.

Sissi, on the film, stretched in her new one-piece pajama outfit. “A caterpillar! Metamorphosing into a lovely butterfly!” Odd said in a warm tone of voice, winking at her.

She cocked a brow, giggling uncomfortably.

\---

After the film, Cassidy staggered around the hall leading to the infirmary, but fell asleep in front of the door.

Yolanda opened the door to her office, but looked down, seeing her. “Oh, no, Cassidy! Jim, help!”

Jim gently picked her up and set her down on the bed. “Do you think it’s stress from all the school activities?”

Cassidy opened her eyes. “What am I doing here?” she whispered.

“You fainted in front of the infirmary.” Mr. Delmas walked into the room. Yolanda followed him straight after. “You must’ve been so stressed about your school activities, Miss McGuire.”

“She has been looking pale,” Jim noted. “Maybe my training also caused this.”

She gasped. “No. It’s not that.” She stood up on her feet, but a spark fizzed into her brain and she fell to the floor, eyes closing.

“It must be. I’m putting her on academic leave until her energy improves. She can go out for food or recreation, but no schoolwork or classes.” Mr. Delmas exited the infirmary. “I’ll leave it to you to enforce it onto her, Jim. I need to inform the staff.”

“Yes, sir.” Jim nodded.


	69. Cassidy's sweating Bullets

**Well, I’m neither sweating, nor cold.**

**You know the drill to this already. I only own Cassidy, and Kaitlyn Belpois belongs to LongHairedAelita. Be sure to check her stories out, too.**

Hiroki and Yumi walked to the gates. “ODD DELLA ROBBIA, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

He flinched while her eyes went wide. “Oh, no…” They raced through the campus, a pink-sweater-wearing brunette coming into view. She paced up and down in front of them, seething in rage. “He has gone _too far_ this time!”

“Odd?” Yumi asked.

“YES, YUMI!” she growled. “WHEN HE COMES MY WAY, OH, MAN, HE’S GOING TO BE IN _SO MUCH_ TROUBLE!”

“What did he do, exactly?” She creased a brow and raised the other, reacting when Cassidy grabbed her by the hand and ran through to the courtyard.

“Get your Kadic News here hot off the presses! Rosa and the tuna salad caper! Jim Morales, a former professional athlete, tells us how to throw a shotput without breaking a toe! Mrs. Hertz reveals how to make a volt meter out of your MP3 with just a few simple operations! Plus, an exclusive picture of the secret past of Cassidy McGuire!” Milly called, waving copies of the _Kadic Herrald_ around for anyone to read.

Cassidy quickly grabbed a copy for Yumi to see. Her eyes went across the article a couple times, scanning all the information, then looked at her. “But, where did you find this picture?”

“Sorry, Yumi, Cassidy, but we never reveal our sources,” Milly replied. “It’s an absolutely fundamental rule of journalism.”

Tamiya closed her eyes. “All we can tell you is that it’s one of your best friends, and at this very minute, he’s in the rec room.”

“I KNEW IT! ODD IS SO DEAD!” The psychic raced to the rec room. “WAIT UNTIL I GET MY NAILS INTO HIM!”

The redhead gave the Afro-French girl a glare. “How could you do something so lame?”

“What’s wrong? I didn’t say his name! It’s not my fault Cassidy has psychic powers!”

“Hey! That had never been proven!” Milly protested.

In the rec room, Odd and Ulrich played foosball. “It’s the Champion’s Cup Final! The favorite, Brazilian Coffee Beans, leads six to five against the German Liverwurst. Tension is high. You can hardly hear a pin drop as Walter Brennan…” Odd’s phone rang, causing him to pause in his commentary.

The samurai smiled. “Another one of your girlfriends, I’ll bet.”

“Hello?” He paused. “Oh, hi, Milly. Yeah, what’s happening?” There was another pause when Odd’s eyebrows cocked sky high. “What?! But why’d she have to that? That’s the last time I’ll ever give _you_ a scoop!” He hung up.

Ulrich glared at him with a gentle grin. “Can we play now?”

“Yeah, sure, right away.” Odd paused in putting the ball in the slot. “Uh, Ulrich, I’ve got a little problem with Cassidy. You really have to bail me out this time.”

“What did you do now, Odd?”

“A little practical joke, nothing at all, but you gotta say it was you.”

The samurai cocked a brow.

“I mean, please?”

“I asked what you did, Odd,” Ulrich said.

“Please, in the name of our friendship.”

“I’m going to regret this, I know it,” he muttered, looking off to the side.

“You mean you’ll do it? Lyoko Warriors’ honor?” Odd pointed at him.

Ulrich bent over the table. “Yeah, okay.”

The door banged open, and a brown-haired girl walked in, carrying the newspaper to the foosball table. “YOU DID THIS, DIDN’T YOU?!”

“Why are you angry? You look adorable.”

Sissi walked in, but before she could say anything, Cassidy roared, “BACK OFF, SISSI. YOU DON’T HAVE A SAY IN THIS. NOW GO AHEAD AND BEAT HERVÉ AND NICHOLAS AT PING PONG!”

Sissi winced and gently led her gang over to the table.

Odd’s eyes widened. If she could do that to her, he might as well confess. Cassidy glared at him. “YOU ARE SO GETTING TOLD TO THE PRINCIPAL. HE’LL BE GLAD TO HEAR ALL THE PRANKS YOU PULLED OVER THE PAST YEAR AND A HALF!”

“You’re wrong, Cassidy. I gave the picture to Milly and Tamiya.”

The psychic gasped and looked at Ulrich. “Oh, so putting me in the newspaper _once_ wasn’t _enough_ for you! Oh, no, you thought you could capture me in my PJ’s singing Randy Travis by picture _and_ by video. Well, I got news for you! Don’t talk to me for FOREVER! I wish I knew your middle name so I can throw your full one to you!” She stormed to the door. “Jerk!” The door slammed, and Ulrich flinched.

Odd smiled at him. “You really are a good buddy. Thanks.”

He glared at him. “Don’t bet on that.”

He looked off into the distance.

\---

Cassidy walked under the arches, a bright fuchsia on her face. Why would Ulrich do such a thing. She passed by two girls, who laughed as she passed by. Anaïs covered one side of her mouth. “Cassidy, lend me your PJ’s sometime.”

Pricilla giggled. “Maybe she should change her name to Brandi Travis.”

“WHY DON’T YOU TWO JUST LAY OFF, TAKE A WALK AND,” using hissing sounds, changing notes slightly, she said, “ _seek bitter-tasting water and sink like rocks.”_

“Are you okay, Cassidy?” A calm voice asked her.

She looked ahead as Jeremie and Aelita approached. “You look upset. Is anything wrong?” her roommate asked.

“Something Stern did. I’d rather not say for the moment. What’s the news on Lyoko? _Please_ tell me there is a Replika.” She pleaded.

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Aelita smiled. The psychic sighed in relief. Finally, a distraction from what her anger had wrought.

“We’re going to destroy it, tonight. See you at the factory later,” Jeremie said, abeam.

The bell rang.

“I can’t wait to annihilate it. Well, I might as well head to my dorm. Jim would hate it if I was in class.” No thanks to him and Yolanda finding her passed out in the hallway leading to the infirmary, Cassidy was banned from classes. They overreacted, thinking she was over-the-top with homework. She tried to defend herself, but after passing out in front of the principal, she sealed her fate. They disallowed her from any classes. The only times she could be out and about were when she wanted fresh air, to have fun in the rec room, or to have meals. She walked to her dorm.

Once the psychic was out of her sight, Aelita fished out the paper. “Let’s face it; she does rock pink pretty well. But the color looks really great on you, Aelita,” Jeremie said, the two’s cheeks reddening.

Later, Cassidy sat one one corner of her dorm room to wait out her wannabe fan club. Granted, she had a good fan base now that she became a super star with Aelita. However, she didn’t want them to crowd her because of her alone time. She heard a knock on the door. “If you are a fan, don’t come in! If you aren’t, come in,” she ordered, throat a bit sore from yelling her head off.

The door opened, and her eyes widened. “Oh, Kaitlyn. It’s you.”

“Yeah, I’m just checking in on you, girl. You okay? I could hear you yelling a whole nine yards or more away, even while I ate breakfast,” Jeremie’s cousin chuckled.

“Something I thought Odd did, then it turned out to be Stern.” She sighed at her second roommate.

“What did Ulrich do again?” She creased a brow in confusion.

“He put me in the paper again, and also put a video of me on Milly and Tamiya’s website.” She growled.

“Again? This happened before?” Kaitlyn asked.

“That happened about three months before you came. Milly and Tamiya were going to quit the paper, according to Jeremie. Then Yumi rejoiced that the news would be folded. Odd protested that he wouldn’t know who’s going out with whom. And I did the same, griping about not finding any new knitting patterns. I said, ‘I guess I’ll just look in the knitting books again.’ Then Stern said something about me being psychic, and I tried to get him to shut the hell up. Despite reassuring me that soon ‘it won’t matter anymore,’ the next day, I was in the paper because Sissi overheard and brought Milly and Tamiya together to process that story. I got my revenge by having Stern dress in my clothes for three days.”

Kaitlyn laughed, trying to picture Ulrich in pink and purple.

“They were my old tiger-stripes, too.”

“You wore tiger?” Kaitlyn shuddered.

“No, it was only a cloth pattern. I wouldn’t wear fur. As for Stern, though, he went too far this time!” Her ribs burned in fury. “Now it’s on Milly and Tamiya’s website.”

Kaitlyn put an arm around her. “Hey…I’ve been on the news once, if it makes you feel any better.”

Cassidy looked at her. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I was in the area the tornado hit. But luckily, I’m here,” she smiled gently.

“But have you ever been publicly embarrassed? That’s what Stern did!” She looked away. “Even the older girls are thinking I should change my name to Brandi Travis. I have no desire to—”

“I know you don’t, honey.”

“Cassidy René McGuire is my full name. I love it just the way it is.”

“I know.” Kaitlyn sighed. “As for public humiliation by news, no, I haven’t.”

Cassidy looked at the corner she hid herself in, closing her eyes.

“I think you sang like an angel,” Kaitlyn confessed.

“I said—”

“I know what you said, but I’m not that way, Cassidy.”

She looked at her, creasing a brow. What is she getting at?

“I promise, Cassidy. I’m not a fan, but your friend and roommate. And friends/roommates don’t break rules.” She smiled, petting her hair.

That night in the Ice Sector Replika, Aelita smiled. “It’s okay, Jeremie. The Skid is docked.”

They heard Jeremie sigh in relief. _“That’s great. I’ll activate the tower.”_

A few moments later, the tower Aelita docked the Skid with turned into a dark emerald green.

_“Well, who’s going to get teleported tonight?”_

The elven warrior smiled. “I vote for Ulrich, Yumi, Cassidy, and Kaitlyn. They’re good together on a mission.”

“Sorry, Aelita, but I’d rather not go with Stern!” Cassidy growled, looking in the general direction of Ulrich’s NavSkid. “I want Odd to take his place.”

Ulrich shrugged. “I don’t believe it!” She used the proactive approach, not to upset Aelita’s feelings, but she still held a grudge against him. She also dropped the pretense to call him by his first name, he noted.

_“Whoa, whoa, chill out, Cassidy. If you want Odd instead of Ulrich, then so be it.”_

“Sounds like a plan,” Kaitlyn smiled.

“Same here,” Cassidy nodded.

“Well why not with me?” Ulrich asked.

“Odd wasn’t estúpido enough to throw me into the world of public humiliation in my school career,” she growled. He broke the rule that he shouldn’t talk to her.

“Odd, we gotta talk. I just changed my mind.”

Odd smiled. “Ah, too busy for that. Sorry. Teleportation time, Jeremie. Come on, will you? Wake up.”

“Jeepers, Odd. I told you the day we rebuilt Sector 5 that patience is a virtue and that you should _never_ waste it,” Cassidy yelled.

_“What Cassidy said. Why is everybody so wound up today?”_

“Ask Stern!”

_“Energize, Odd.”_

Odd flickered and disappeared.

Yumi pulled down the interface screen. Ulrich signed his name on the side indicating that he would stay. She wrote hers on the side that said she would go.

_“Energize, Yumi.”_

She vanished, while Ulrich remained.

_“Energize, Cassidy. Energize, Kaitlyn.”_

The girls flashed and disappeared from their shared NavSkid.

In a snowy area, four multi-colored flashes occurred. One hot pink, one purple, one Yin-Yang colored in the former and latter colors, and the last one in a Bubblegum shade. They then formed into the manifestations of Kaitlyn, Odd, Cassidy, and Yumi respectively.

_“Where are you?”_

Cassidy looked through the blizzard. “If my enforced visions are correct, we should be in Siberia.”

“Uh…in the middle of a snowstorm.” Yumi held a hand up, trying to keep the flakes away.

_“That’s, like, any one of a thousand areas.”_

Yumi looked from the snow. “I think I can see some kind of a base. We’ll go check it out.”

_“Gotcha. Okay.”_

She pointed in the general direction. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Not a problem, Yumi.” Cassidy smiled, glad to be away from Ulrich for the moment.

They raced across the snow.

_“Be careful, guys.”_

Back in the Skid, Aelita asked, “Tell me, Ulrich. What did you do to Cassidy to make her so mad at you?”

Ulrich scratched the back of his head. “It seems I gave that picture and video file to the Kadic News and its website.”

_“That sounds more like the idiotic stuff Odd would pull.”_

“Funny you should say that.” He shrugged.

“Cassidy must really hate you. Got any ideas how to get back on her good side?” Aelita asked.

“The only way is to tell her the truth.” Ulrich turned his head.

\---

Odd, Kaitlyn, Yumi, and Cassidy made it to the structure. The first two Lyoko Warriors defended the position while the other two looked at it. “Well, what do you know?” the psychic whispered in awe. “I was right.” It stayed in the same pitch.

“Jeremie, I think I found a clue,” the geisha said. “It says Union Base; position 63 degrees, 16 minutes north. 143 degrees, 15 minutes east.”

Odd and Kaitlyn dropped their stances and walked up to them.

_“You’re in Siberia.”_

“Déjà vu, Jeremie,” Cassidy and Kaitlyn chorused. Jeremie had been telling his cousins their adventures, with Cassidy helping out. However, since most of the events had been altered, she had to give recounts of her own.

They realized what they did, looked at each other, then giggled. _That was ridiculous_.

_“At a scientific base that XANA’s taking control of. I’ll see if I can download a floor plan. Go on inside in the meantime.”_

A door opened and Odd, Yumi, Kaitlyn, and Cassidy walked inside. The geisha shut the door, closing them from the storm outside. The cat female smiled. “At least we can’t feel warmth or cold in our specter forms.”

“True,” Kaitlyn said.

Odd scratched the back of his head.

Cassidy growled, unable to hold it in anymore. “Stern had _no right_ to do what he did! How could he have done such a thing?! Except for Sissi, I’ve never been this mad at anyone in my entire life.”

Kaitlyn whistled, admiring the fact that she had gotten mad at her.

“Even the day I threw two or three pages of your vision book into the incinerator?” Odd asked.

Cassidy and Kaitlyn glared daggers into him. The psychic did manage to redraw those couple of pages, but those were very important pages in her journal. They had words and drawings of Aelita’s father. Odd thought they were of her interpretation of Mr. Delmas with thick glasses. It was fortunate her visions never forgot all the words and details of her pictures.

Odd laughed. “It was a great gag, though.”

“Are you trying to get on the same list Stern is or what?” Cassidy stomped up to him when she felt hands grip her tail.

“Cassidy, no! Odd’s not worth it!” Kaitlyn protested.

Cassidy sighed, understanding where she came from.

Odd patted her shoulders. “Oh, come on, relax, Cassidy. After all, you gotta admit, the photo and video thing was funny, wasn’t it?”

She chuckled sarcastically, then flatly said, “No!”

Odd drew his paws up. “Ah, yeah, sure it was.” He smiled, then frowned at the glare on her face. “You don’t think so?”

“It was dirty, mean, really low, and nasty!” He groaned at her. “I don’t think I can call Stern a friend right now after what he did. What do you think, Odd?”

He turned his back, then blinked at his girlfriend. “Uh, nothing. Why don’t we concentrate on the mission?”

Suddenly, Cassidy’s eyes flashed. She shook her head rapidly. “No, impossible. Not him!” The virtual hairs on the back of her neck rose. “Please, don’t tell me today is the day!”

“What day?” Kaitlyn asked. “Who?”

“The Lady Killer!” Cassidy’s eyes widened more and more.

“Jeremie, check her vision journals. It might be important,” Kaitlyn ordered.

_“Important?”_

“Don’t question it, Jeremie. Please do it for Cassidy’s sake,” she pleaded.

In the Lab, Jeremie grabbed an old, red, college-ruled, multi-subject notebook and flipped through the drawings and pages. “I don’t know what to find.”

 _“First find the picture in Milly and Tamiya’s newspaper, and go on from there,”_ Kaitlyn said. _“If my hunch is correct, she might freeze in the mission.”_

He saw a pink post-it note on the edge of the leaflets. Fingering it opened the vision journal to the picture. His eyes scanned through it, but when it came to the Siberian base, the pictures stopped and so did the words. “She doesn’t have anything else other than Odd and Yumi making it to the base.”

 _“Her notes can be all over the place, like yours, Jeremie,”_ Yumi said. _“Check if there are any notes out of place.”_

He flipped through the journal quickly, reading only important details, until he turned the page to a big, bold, black X on the next one. Looking at it, Jeremie deducted that she did the mark two months ago. It showed a bit of the Siberian base, however, whoever or whatever it was had been hidden behind the letter. “I don’t think it might be him.”

In Siberia, Kaitlyn held her hand. “It’s okay, Cassidy. It might not be today.”

She looked at her, almost as though she was studying her. She then nodded, heart still jolting in fear.

Odd then turned his head to the ceiling. “Hey, Jeremie, how’s the floor plan coming?”

 _“It’s coming.”_ A few seconds later, Jeremie came back. _“Okay, now I’ve got you. Head for the staircase at the end of the corridor. It’ll take you right down to the basement.”_

“We’re on our way, Einstein!” the wildcard and Jeremie’s cousin chorused as they led the geisha and cat girl to the staircase.

The brunette smiled. _Maybe XANA will be different this time. Just follow your boyfriend and your second roommate. Don’t worry._

In the Lab, Jeremie kept typing at the keyboard when he saw a window pop up. He cocked a brow. “Rats. An activated tower. Yumi, XANA’s counterattacking.”

“Roger,” Yumi said.

“Why is it always like that?” Cassidy sighed in annoyance. “For once, could he just leave us alone while we take care of one of his Replikas?”

“What kind of attack?” Odd lifted an arm and cocked it. Yumi brought arms around to unsheathe her fans. Kaitlyn and Cassidy raised their rifles. The cat female’s heart hammered in rapid-fire, eyes widening.

_“Search me. Surprise.”_

As soon as the door shut behind them, a flash of black-and-green struck down. White light blinded the four. Even through an improvement in Cassidy’s lenses to transition when exposed to dark light on Lyoko. Once the sphere vanished, a figure with a zabanto appeared. He wore a black and red battle suit. The eye of XANA appeared on his chest and forehead. Two straps attached to one leg. He had dark bluish-black hair. He spun around with a wide smile on his face, sword scraping the ground.

Cassidy opened her eyes, then they widened at the sight. “No!” _I should have trusted my instincts… Now I’m worse than dead!_

“William,” Yumi whispered.

Cassidy gulped, backing into the door. Memories of the nightmare the time she, Jeremie, and Aelita helped create the Skid ran rampant through her mind. _Not today. Not now!_

“No, William, not me!” she whimpered. “God forbid, not the hair…”

Kaitlyn turned to her, placing her guns in the holsters. “What is she talking about?”

Yumi shook her head. “I don’t know.”

She slid down the doorframe. “William, not the face…” She shook in riddled fear. “Please don’t…no flirting…”

Then Yumi’s eyes widened. “I think it has something to deal with a nightmare she had a few months ago. Problem is we thought it was due to the past.”

“Do you think she had a vision of the future? And in that one, you three were here and this dumbass flirted with her?” Kaitlyn asked.

“It seems so,” Odd answered.

“Did you get that, Jeremie?” Yumi stared at the newcomer. “XANA’s managed to teleport William.”

 _“That is a pretty awful surprise,”_ Jeremie deadpanned.

“’Sure is!” Odd quipped. “This might be a good time to deactivate the tower.”

 _“I’m on it,”_ Jeremie said. _“You four head to the door on the other side of the room. Aelita, activated tower east of your position.”_

In the Ice Sector Replika, Aelita typed on the keys. “We’re on our way. Disembarking.” She faded out of the Skid.

Ulrich faded out of his NavSkid and onto the virtual snow with Aelita. They briefly looked at their bodies, comprehending that they had materialized safely.

_“Here come your vehicles.”_

“Thanks, Jeremie,” Aelita said as both the OverBike and OverWing were uploaded. They hopped on and sped off toward the activated tower.

In Siberia, Kaitlyn bent to Cassidy’s level. “Come on, Cassidy!”

However, she sat frozen, shaking in high concentrations.

Yumi unsheathed her fans and threw. William swung his zabanto in a wide arc, deflecting them from hitting him.

Odd smiled and said, “Laser Arrow!”

William easily repelled four of the projectiles, but dropped his zabanto when a fifth grazed his arm. The cat boy kissed his fists. Kaitlyn put Cassidy’s arm around her shoulders. “Come on, girl!”

She clung to her, legs tightly bent. Yumi joined her other side. “Come on, Odd.” They rushed Cassidy to the door. “Hurry up!”

Odd ran on his hands and feet. “I’m coming.”

Suddenly, the door on the other end slid shut. William’s eyes flashed with the XANA symbol. On the other side of it, a light on top of a panel turned from green to red, a pneumatic hiss coming from it.

Odd, Kaitlyn, and Yumi looked at William. His zabanto flew back into his waiting hands. Cassidy squealed, eyes wider than dinner plates.

“Jeremie, William has blocked the door,” Yumi said.

“ABRE LA PUERTA, JEREMIE!” Cassidy yelled, her claws scraping the metal on the door.

_“I will, Cassidy. Calm down, please. I’ll take care of it in no time.”_

Kaitlyn looked up. “Don’t tell her that right now, cuz! She’s panicking.”

_“Okay.”_

“Just try to work on the door.”

_“Okay, I just need to crack the code for the electromagnetic lock. Can you hold on that long?”_

“I’m not sure about Cassidy, but the rest of us will try.”

Odd cocked his arm. “LASER ARROW!”

William ran toward them, bringing the zabanto up to cover his face, the projectiles hitting the blade. Then he swung into the door, missing him by feet. Odd flipped behind him. Then he slammed down on Yumi, to be met with the wood of her tessen fan.

She bent down, trying to keep a hold.

“LASER ARROW!”

William flinched as a sharp pain burst into his back. His zabanto clattered to the floor as he disappeared.

Odd walked through, holding his fists out.

_“There you go. Open sesame, guys!”_

The door opened and Cassidy raced into the corridor. “Thank you!” she panted.

Odd, Yumi, and Kaitlyn backed into it next, holding their fists at their side. “Nice one, Einstein.” The cat boy aimed his arm. “LASER ARROW!” The projectile soared to the panel. The door slid closed, shielding them from the downed possessed boy.

“Jeremie, which way do we go?” Yumi asked.

Cassidy hugged Kaitlyn.

_“Take the second hallway on your left.”_

“Okay, we’re off!” Jeremie’s cousin patted her roommate on the shoulder.

In the Ice Sector Replika, Aelita flew on the OverWing.

_“Ulrich, Aelita, how’s it going?”_

“We can see the activated tower,” she replied, squinting a bit.

_“Good. From this end, everything’s cool for the moment. Go for it.”_

She took the lead, slightly ahead of Ulrich, the tower above them. Suddenly, a dark gray spherical monster rolled into view. It opened its shell and charged its laser.

Aelita gasped and soared above. Ulrich jumped from his OverBike, avoiding the circular wave of heat and energy. She then charged a pink ball and fired. It covered the MegaTank, and it combusted.

Ulrich landed on his girlfriend’s vehicle. He looked at her. “That’s what I call coordination.”

They sped off.

_“You’re gonna need it. Two Tarantulas at eleven o’clock.”_

The two arachnid-like monsters stood guard at the tower, firing their lasers at the two. Aelita turned the OverWing around. “Strategic retreat.”

At a farther end of the path, the projectile connected to the vehicle and both fell, landing on the ice. They turned to face them, who raised their arm cannons and fired away. The two Lyoko Warriors ran to a floe.

Back in Siberia, William bent the metal door, opened it, and growled, looking around. He took the corridor to the left.

 _“Odd, Cassidy, Yumi, Kaitlyn, Mr. Hated is on your tail!”_ Jeremie warned. _“Hide somewhere until Aelita has deactivated the tower.”_

“Okay, we’ll hide in the room just in front of us,” Odd announced. “We’ll keep Cassidy safe.”

She trembled. “I hate this…”

They walked in. Odd looked around the material. “Wow… This looks like Dr. Shrank’s laboratory.”

Yumi walked down the steps to three cylindrical tubes. “What’s this stuff, I wonder.”

Odd walked to join her. “Beats me.” He put his hands akimbo. “It looks like some kind of soup.” Then he looked inside. Brains hooked up to wires stayed inside the green goop. “And it’s beginning to look like brain soup.” He groaned.

Cassidy gagged slightly, finding a spot to hide from Mr. Hated. “As if Emily’s nightmares weren’t scary enough.”

In the Ice Sector Replika, Ulrich and Aelita hid behind the floe.

_“Listen, Ulrich. Odd, Cassidy, Yumi, and Kaitlyn have William to deal with. I hope Aelita’s already in the tower.”_

The Tarantulas looked around, trying to find the enemy.

Ulrich pressed his back to the wall. “We’re nearly there. We’ll have to force our way through.”

“Have you got a better idea?” Aelita asked.

“No.” He held her by the stomach gently.

“Do you think it might work?”

Ulrich shook his head, lowering his hand slightly, smiling. “No. SUPER SPRINT!” He raced around the floe and down the path, avoiding the intense laser fire. Then he jumped and threw his katana into one of the Tarantulas’ eyes. It combusted. He landed on the ice, looking up just in time to see a pink sac surround the other one, exploding it.

He glanced back to see Aelita on the end he left her. Smiling, he said, “Well done, Princess.”

She raced down the path, passing him.

“I’ll wait out here for you.”

She entered and rose to the second platform.

In Siberia, a noise made Yumi and Odd turn around. Kaitlyn and Cassidy tucked away into a corner. William stood in front of them.

“He never gives up,” the geisha cried. “Jeremie, Mr. Hated is here!”

 _“Don’t sweat it. Aelita’s already in the tower,”_ Jeremie said in a relaxed tone.

\---

Aelita’s feet gently touched the floor. Then she walked to the center of the tower. The interface popped up, and she raised a hand to touch it, when she stopped. “Uh…Jeremie?”

_“A problem?”_

“This tower commands William’s teleportation, so the interface must contain the protocols and programs that XANA uses to control him.”

_“Yeah, so?”_

“So if we hack into the data, maybe we can find a way to free William!”

A few moments pause occurred. Then Jeremie yelled, _“THAT’S RIGHT! AELITA, YOU’RE A GENIUS!”_

Aelita hovered her fingers over the screen. “I’ll send you the programs.” She touched it and set to work.

In Siberia, William roared, swinging his zabanto around. Yumi and Odd hopped back. He waved at him. “You-who! William!” He cocked an arm.

He whirled around and threw his sword. The cat boy leaped into the air, the weapon skewering into the wall. He then landed.

Yumi’s fan whipped through his leg, then flew back to its owner’s hand. He stood, unable to move.

“Laser arrow!” He chuckled, but frowned, hearing empty clicks. “Oh… I’m out of ammunition!”

William’s leg rematerialized. Then he lifted it, bringing it down onto him. The cat boy flew against the wall, next to where Cassidy hid.

“Jeremie, it’s no picnic around here. Is Aelita going to deactivate the tower or not.”

_“Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Hang on a minute.”_

In the tower, Aelita nipped a few windows to the side, making sure to send them to Jeremie.

_“Okay, Aelita. I got what I need. You can enter the code Lyoko.”_

In Siberia, Yumi landed against the half wall.

William raised his zabanto high above his head.

Kaitlyn held Cassidy, stilling any storms of panic.

The geisha held herself in a fetal position, bringing her arms together. “NO!”

\---

Aelita entered the Lyoko code.

\---

William brought the sword down but stopped, disappearing until he was gone.

Odd rolled onto his back as Yumi rested on the wall. “Nap time.”

Cassidy lounged her head on the female assassin’s lap.

\---

“Tower deactivated.”

\---

Ulrich looked up at the tower, seeing it turn a snowy white.

 _“Whew! Odd, Cassidy, Kaitlyn, and Yumi, go back into the hallway,”_ Jeremie ordered. _“The supercomputer’s not too far away. Nap time is over.”_

Aelita exited the tower, smiling. “That takes care of that.”

“Now we can go home to get some sleep,” Ulrich agreed.

_“Not yet.”_

“What do you mean, not yet?” he protested.

_“Mr. Hated is back, and he’s heading straight for the Skid. He could still wreck our mission if he enters the code XANA in the tower.”_

William raced down the path, pausing half a mile near the tower. He grinned, a distorted chuckle escaping his throat.

“You can always count on Mr. Hated to mess everything up,” Ulrich cracked.

“Any vehicles left for us in your garage?” Aelita asked.

_“Odd hates lending out his equipment, but anyway, here’s the OverBoard!”_

“I’ll take care of it. I promise, now that I know how to use it!” The samurai raced across the virtual snow with the elven warrior. They hopped on to Odd’s vehicle and sped back to the Skid.

In Siberia, Odd, Cassidy, Yumi, and Kaitlyn raced down the corridor.

_“STOP!”_

Ten pairs of limbs screeched across the floor, crashing against the wall.

_“Head to the right!”_

“Thanks for nothing, Einstein!” Cassidy yelled.

They stopped just short of the door.

“It’s locked, Jeremie,” Odd said.

_“Okay, I’ll hack the lock. Just give me a couple of seconds.”_

Cassidy growled again. “Odd, you know Stern pretty well. Why did he do this to me? I know he has hated my powers for quite some time.”

“Oh, are you still hung up on that dumb photograph and video footage?” Odd sat on the stairs, hanging a leg over his knee.

“I wanna know the answer. That’s all.” Her eyes narrowed.

He sighed at his girlfriend. “I don’t know why. Maybe he, uh—maybe it’s because he wanted you to notice him?”

“Not the best way to notice him.” She pouted.

He rested his elbow on his knee. “Well, he’s not always that bright, and besides, they say a quest for forgiveness can make you a little crazy.” He chuckled a little.

She cocked a brow, crossing her arms and bending over her boyfriend. “What did you just say?”

“That Ulrich isn’t always that bright?”

She pointed a finger at him. “No. After that.”

The light next to the door turned green. _“It’s open. Get going.”_

“Sorry. No time to chat, Cat Girl. Let’s go!” He got up and raced up the stairs.

“I swear my boyfriend is so weird,” she muttered.

“And you’ve known this how long?” Yumi smiled, patting her on the shoulder.

In the Ice Sector Replika, William raced close to the tower. He paused to catch his breath.

“Hey, William!”

He turned around.

Ulrich jumped off the OverBoard—Aelita activating her wings. Odd’s vehicle swerved violently to their adversary. The minion stepped out of the way. It crashed into the tower, and exploded in red sparks.

“Oh, no. Odd’s precious OverBoard,” Ulrich regretted dryly.

Aelita stayed in the air.

William conjured up his zabanto in a cloud of black smoke, then rushed toward him. Ulrich got his katanas out and deflected his blow. Then he tried to swipe at him. The minion dodged and slashed at him. The samurai flipped into the air and landed on his feet. William then tried to stab him, but the weapon landed in the snow. He rose up, and pulled at his zabanto, but it stood firm in the ice. He moved it several times, when a blast of pain rang through his body.

Aelita flew into the area, another pink orb in hand.

In Siberia, Odd looked up into the air. “Jeremie, what do we do with the supercomputer? Should we fudge everything or finesse it?” He cocked his arm, now full of arrows. Yumi unsheathed her fans. Kaitlyn and Cassidy got their guns ready.

_“I think finessing it would be a safer bet. Describe the thing to me.”_

“Well, there are a lot of wires and a ton of electric thingamajigs?” Yumi looked at it.

“It almost looks like an upside-down colander with wires in the holes connected to several screens?” Cassidy winked an eye.

 _“Thanks, that’s a big help,”_ Jeremie said sarcastically. _“You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”_

“I’m just a beginner in writing! So sue me,” the psychic growled.

In the Ice Sector Replika, William finally dug out his zabanto. Aelita threw two of her Energy Fields. He dodged the first one pink ball, but disappeared into red and black smoke.

“All clear, Jeremie,” the pink-haired angel said. “We took care of William.”

_“Perfect. It’s smooth sailing from now on. Yumi, Odd, I think the supercomputer is based on a Russian M13 machine!”_

In Siberia, the four Lyoko Warriors stood in front of it. Odd looked at the ceiling. “Da, if you say so, comrade!”

_“Give me a couple minutes and I’ll tell you how to destroy it.”_

In the French Lab, a window popped up with several spheres being targeted at once. Jeremie looked up at the ceiling. “What do you know?” he whispered.

In the Ice Sector Replika, Ulrich sheathed his katanas.

“Jeremie, what’s going on?” Aelita asked, concerned.

_“XANA’s consolidating the energy from all of the Replikas.”_

She jumped, looking to Ulrich, who glanced right back.

_“And—I’m not talking about just two or three.”_

“Why is he doing it?”

_“I wish I knew.”_

Suddenly, a quake made them jolt. Then another came in.

“What was that?” Ulrich asked.

“I have no idea.” The pink-haired Lyoko Warrior cried out as another tremor whirled through.

A gigantic monster, measuring twice the height of a tower, possessing a body as solid as a rock encrusted with lava, armed with a sword arm certainly capable of piercing the Skid’s shield with one hit, stomped onto the scene.

Aelita looked at Ulrich. “What is that noise?”

Another jolt made him cry out. “It’s coming from—behind us.” They turned to face it, finding the massive beast. “Oh…that’s incredible.” The two backed away from the monster. “Oh, wow. Jeremie?”

_“Ulrich! I’m getting something on my screen! What is it? Ulrich?! Aelita?!”_

“We’ve got a new monster to deal with, Jeremie, and he’s gigantic! Any idea how to get rid of it?”

 _“Sorry, guys, but I don’t—not for now!”_ Jeremie said. _“There’s only one solution—RUN!”_

Aelita and Ulrich ran for their lives, throwing their weapons at it. However, it did nothing to break the skin of the monster. It instead swung its massive sword-arm into the ice and dragged it in front of their path, instantly making them disappear in a cloud of white squares.

They appeared in the scanners. “Jeremie, XANA’s created a new kind of monster, and he’s gigantic. He could destroy the Skid in a fraction of a second!” Aelita cried.

In the Lab, Jeremie blinked.

In the Ice Sector Replika, the new massive beast marched forward toward the tower.

\---

Jeremie sat in his chair, then pressed a button.

\---

_“Yumi, Kaitlyn, Cassidy, Odd.”_

“Do you got any info?” Odd asked, leaning against the upside down colander-like mechanism. “Not that we’re bored or anything, but uh…”

_“I’m going to bring you in!”_

“Huh?” Yumi and Kaitlyn chorused. “We’re so close now!”

_“We have no choice. If not, you could stay virtualized forever!”_

“I should have stayed home,” Cassidy moaned.

_“So let’s not waste any time. Energize, Odd. Energize, Cassidy. Energize, Kaitlyn. Energize, Yumi!”_

Odd materialized in the cockpit, then looked to his left, flinching as he turned to his right. “Oh… Wow, what’s this chunky hunk doing here?”

“Retreat!” Cassidy howled, reemerging in the double with Kaitlyn.

“He’s probably as mean as he is ugly.”

Yumi came back in the single. “Uh! Jeremie, major trouble. Get us out of here, NOW!”

_“You got it! Docking release!”_

The massive monster touched the tower just as the Skid was taking off. It slammed its sword-arm into the ground, missing it by mere feet.

“Close one. Good work, Einstein!” Odd said.

In the lab, Jeremie placed the headset on the keyboard.

“He’s a mountain of a monster,” Aelita noted.

“I can’t wait to see what Odd’s gonna call him,” Ulrich smirked, “if Cassidy hasn’t found a good one for him already.”

Later, Odd thought on it, back in the lab. “The Kolossus, with a K like in KO!”

“Perfect name.” Cassidy then shuddered. “That was one heck of a scary monster!”

“I don’t know who’s gonna get KO’d,” Ulrich told him, “but the name sure suits him.”

Cassidy glared at him.

“We’ll never make it now,” Yumi said. “As soon as we set foot on a Replika, he’ll be there to devirtualize us before we can say ‘Lyoko.’”

“May I sleep over with you tonight, Yumi,” Cassidy asked. “Seeing my ex on the Replika is still scaring me.”

“Gotcha,” she smiled.

“One thing is sure, we gotta change our strategy, because right now, XANA controls hundreds of supercomputers all over the world.” Jeremie held his chin. “We’ll never be able to destroy all of them.” He shook his head.

Aelita raised a brow at her sweetheart. “Got anything in mind.”

“No,” Jeremie said. “Nothing yet.”

She sighed in disappointment.

He then mimed typing, a smile on his face. “But I’m working on it.”

Odd yawned. “Stick with it. But I’m ready to stick to my pillow right now, if not, I’ll sleep through my math test tomorrow!”

Later, he walked beside Ulrich on the bridge—Jeremie, Aelita, and Kaitlyn ahead of them. The samurai looked at him. “I’m warning you, Odd. If you don’t tell Cassidy the truth about the picture and video file, then _I_ will. You understand?”

“I want to, but I can’t. I’m too chicken.” He gasped in surprise when his roommate grabbed his hood and pulled him up beside his mouth.

“Do it if you don’t wanna get plucked,” he hastened as Yumi walked up with Cassidy beside her.

“Okay, okay, but let me think it over a little.”

“Yeah, how long?”

“Mm…a hundred years?” Odd asked.

Ulrich growled, about to throw him over the edge and into the water.

“Can I talk to you for a bit, Stern?” Cassidy asked.

He let go of him, and he scrambled for the sewers. “Well, I’m off to bed! See you, guys! See you. Try to have good dreams, Cat Girl.”

She scoffed. _He knows I have the same darn nightmare._ “Yumi, wait for me, okay?”

Yumi nodded and walked off.

“I had a conversation with Odd about what you did.”

Ulrich looked at her.

“And I think I understand why you did that.”

“But there’s something you oughta know. I—”

“Let me finish, please. You wanted to get my attention because you haven’t antagonized me in a while. You thought that if we had an argument about something, then I would start thinking about you all the time,” she sighed.

“Huh?”

“It wasn’t so pleasant, and sure not conventional, it sure as hell wasn’t normal, but you really didn’t have to do that to get my attention.” Cassidy hugged him. “Next time, talk to me. It’ll set your secrets free.” She walked away. “Good night, Ulrich. Yumi loves you.”

He blushed, then waved as she did so. “Uh…um…good—good night, Cassidy.”

She met up with Yumi at the gate when her phone rang. “Hello? Odd?”

_“Cat Girl, you see, I can’t go on being such a coward. I wanna tell you the truth. The photo and video file prank was me.”_

She staggered with her words. “WHAT?!”

_“Ulrich took the blame to cover for me, but he’s innocent. You’re not still mad are you? I understand if you want to break up with me. Let’s forget about it and start from Square 1 tomorrow, okay?”_

She turned her phone off and punched the gate open. “HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO _STUPID_? WHAT A PAIR OF DORKS!”

In the park, Odd stayed on the line. “C-Cassidy? Are you still there? Cassidy?”

Ulrich came up from the sewers. “Odd, something wrong?”

He pressed a button on his cell. “No, you?”

The samurai replaced the sewer cap. “No. I’m cool.”

They walked off to their dorm room.

The next morning, Tamiya waved around the newest edition of the _Kadic Herrald._ “Get your Kadic News here. Extra!”

“The Kadic News: how to be first in line for your medical check-up, another easy, quick recipe – liverwurst pancakes, and exclusive pictures of Odd and Ulrich, that you’re definitely not going to wanna miss! We even have the link to our website,” Milly announced.

Jeremie adjusted his glasses at the article. “What did you, Photoshop this thing and animate it using Sony Vegas?” He looked at Cassidy.

“Nope. I snuck around the dorms after that awful bet at the Amazonian Lab. I ended up catching them singing songs sung by women in their underwear on a sugar high,” Cassidy giggled. “Heck, I can tell you which songs they sung. ‘I Won’t Kneel’ by Groove Armada, ‘Rhythm of the Night’ by Corona, ‘Be My Lover’ by La Bouche, ‘Love is a Sweet Thing’ by Faith Hill—on that one, though, Ulrich took the vocals—, ‘Níl Sé'n Lá’ by Celtic Woman, ‘Love is the Groove’ by Cher, and ‘Whole Lotta Trouble’ by Stevie Nicks.”

Aelita giggled.

Suddenly, Odd rushed by, Ulrich at his heels. “You told me to tell her, didn’t you?” the wildcard panicked.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” the normally-stoic boy yelled.

The purple cat male screamed.


	70. William comes Down to Earth as a good guy

**I don’t own _Code Lyoko_. I do own Cassidy. This is The Final Chapter, and my next new fic will be the new ending for this one. This won’t end in tears. I as the author promise you that. With that in mind, I thank you as my fans and my readers for sticking by me through the years. I love each and every positive review given to me. You kept me afloat. I also want to thank the Facebook group Code Lyoko Fans, the original members. Without you, I would’ve given up on this years ago into Season 2. However, you gave me the confidence to keep going, no matter how dwindling the numbers became. At the end of this chapter will be the names of the reviewers and people who favorited and followed me throughout the years, both former and current. R and R their stories as well as mine. I love you and thank you for all the support. Some nights, I don’t know what I did to deserve all this.**

**And with that, on with the show.**

“Hang on! Let me get this straight. You, Cat Girl, and Einstein spent an entire weekend together, and all you did was—was work?!” Odd asked under the roof of the vending machines.

Aelita held out her hands. “Well, we had to work on the Super-Scan.”

“Yeah, right. You three are worse than Yumi and Ulrich.”

Yumi felt her eyebrows hit the ceiling. “Uh!”

Ulrich creased his. “HEY!”

“Well, it’s true. You’re always trying to convince us that you two are boyfriend and girlfriend and all that stuff.”

They turned to each other, cheeks heating up red.

“By the way, speaking of Cassidy, where is she?” Ulrich spoke as though nervous.

Aelita giggled, a little more than usual. “She had some knitting to do at the factory. It is a big project.”

Odd pursed his lips, cocking a brow. “Knitting at the factory, huh, where it is cold at night when the lights are off?”

“Well, she is on academic leave for until she gets her energy up.”

Ulrich blinked. “We better see the project on the floor when we get there.”

“Also, where _is_ Einstein?” Odd asked.

Aelita frowned. “I don’t know. I’m a little worried about him. Ever since he found out that XANA had infected hundreds of supercomputers around the world, he’s always at the factory, here in his room, and—” A low-pitched ringing sound emanated from her pocket. She picked up her cell phone. “Ah, that’s him now.” She put it up to her ear. “Yes, Jeremie. Oh, I was beginning to worry. Where are you?”

A voice made her stand pin straight, if only for a moment. “Right behind you.”

She turned around and smiled. Her knight in glasses stood before her. “You’re so silly!”

Ulrich grinned. “Einstein the comedian? Hm… You were right to be worried about him. I don’t think he’s all there!”

Aelita chuckled. The samurai could be funny some days. Especially when he didn’t make Cassidy out as a demoness with evil powers.

“Got some good news, Jeremie?” Yumi asked.

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “Just a little. I finally figured out a way to wipe out XANA!”

Everyone cocked brows, and Yumi and Odd dropped their jaws. Did he just say that? Who was he and where did he put the real Einstein? And did he do any damage to Cassidy, too?

In his room, everyone had an inquiry.

“Huh? Are you absolutely sure? A multi-agent system?” Yumi asked him.

“Yep. That’s it! I decided to go over all of Franz Hopper’s notes again, as well as the data he sent from the network when he was escaping from Lyoko. And of course, the data you gathered when you were traveling on the Skid. And that’s when I realized that if we want to get rid of XANA, it’s through a system of multi-agents.”

Aelita removed her hands from her knees, sitting on the floor. “It sounds pretty dangerous, don’t you think? I mean, because XANA himself is a multi-agent system, and don’t forget what happened with the Marabounta.”

“Yeah, Aelita’s right!” Odd stood beside her and pointed at the genius. “You know, Frankenstein, that was a pretty creepy invention…”

“Will you stop worrying?! I’m not going to launch my program until I am sure that it’s going to work…” Jeremie reassured. “Right now, all that I can destroy are two or three MegaTanks. On the other hand—”

“Go on, we’re listening,” Ulrich raised a hand, sitting on Aelita’s other side.

“XANA made a really big mistake when he teleported William during your last mission to the Ice Sector Replika.”

Aelita smiled. “And the data I found in the tower—was it of any use to you?”

“Was it ever! Thanks to that data I was able to imagine a program for freeing William.”

Yumi’s brow rose higher. “Hm? You mean for good?” It sounded like a dream come true, but knowing XANA, he might do something to thwart it and have the gang start all over again. She only wanted to live a normal life as a teenager should, but fate’s cards had not been kind to her so far—or so she thought, considering that she (and some of the gang) had a guardian angel in the form of Cassidy.

“You bet for good! And it’s so simple. All Aelita has to do is get to the Supercomputer that corresponds to the Ice Sector Replika and run the program at the exact moment one of you devirtualizes William.”

Aelita’s eyes widened as she frowned. That was a hefty duty Jeremie just placed on her shoulders. Sure, she was used to her other priorities—deactivating the towers, the Subdigitals contract that she and Cassidy would sign at the right age—but this was even more for her. She hoped she was up to the task.

Yumi walked behind her, Ulrich, and Odd. “Oh, that’s simple, alright! A piece of cake!”

The geisha’s boyfriend raised his hand even higher. “And you think that William’s going to twiddle his thumbs while Aelita enters the program?!”

Jeremie shrugged uneasily. They had a point. “I said it was simple, not easy.”

Odd frowned. “You forgot one little detail. What if XANA sends us King Kong like he did last time?! Cassidy is still unsure if she will still be alive or not.”

“Oh, the Kolossus? Think of him as just another one of XANA’s monsters that you’ve got to fight against.”

Ulrich rose to his feet. “Maybe we should introduce you to him, then you would understand.”

“Hey! Fighting happens to be your job. Mine happens to be programming. You all know that,” Jeremie smiled.

“If there’s a chance at bringing the real William back, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Aelita asked excitedly.

Jeremie put a finger to his jawbone. “Yeah, no reason to wait! Everyone, to the factory! With Kaitlyn and Patrick out shopping for more morning outfits, this could be a special surprise for them.”

Yumi and Ulrich smiled, looking to each other. The nightmare would soon be over. And maybe Cassidy could get her answer today, too. Maybe they could find a solution for her nightmares rather than praying for the Dream Barrier Destroyer to last more than a day afterward. They could think of several possibilities.

Odd watched his friends leave the room in shock. “What?! Like, now?! But they’ve got tuna casserole, sauerkraut, and sausages for lunch today!”

Jeremie stopped to look at him. “You can eat lunch tonight. Let’s go!”

He raced after him. “’Anyone ever tell you you eat dinner at night?!”

Meanwhile in the courtyard, Jim yelled, “WILLIAM!”

The clone stood motionless in the crowd, then moved toward the bumbling gym teacher. He towered over him. “Didn’t you hear me calling you, Dunbar?”

“No. I’m sorry, but I don’t have a phone,” Clone William said dimly.

Jim bent lower. “Trying to be clever, huh? I’m not that dumb. If you think you can pull the wool over my ears, you’re wrong! Your parents are here to see you.”

“My parents? But who are they?”

He straightened his back. “Hey! Would you stop acting so stupid, Dunbar? They are waiting for you in the principal’s office, so get going. Go on, now.”

\---

“I’m certain William will be delighted to see you. He’s changed quite a bit, as you’ll see, especially since that trip you all went on.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar looked at each other, then looked back at Mr. Delmas. “What trip?” he asked in a calm voice. “We didn’t go on any trip.”

James Dunbar stood a full foot taller than his wife, black hair combed back in a tidy manner. He wore a walnut brown coat over a burgundy sweater over a white dress shirt. He had grayish blue pants on.

Lily Dunbar’s forest green messy hair met to her jaw bone. A beauty mark had settled under her right eye. She wore a darker brown jacket over a dark crimson button-up shirt. She had opened one button, having been through the heat of the office. She wore darkish gray pants. Over her shoulder, she carried a mini duffel bag purse.

A clunk at the door brought Mr. Delmas’s attention. “Ah, yes. There he is now. Come in!” He stared at the door. “Come in, I said.” The door handle didn’t move. He walked around and opened the door. “What’s the matter, William? Didn’t you hear me tell you to come in?”

“I did, but the door wasn’t open,” Clone William said obliviously.

Mr. Delmas’s brows rose for a second. “Oh, well, your parents are here.”

He walked into the room.

“Is everything alright, Darling? You seem to be a little out of sorts.”

Clone William raised his hand slightly. “That’s right, but I never had any sorts, to begin with.”

Mr. Dunbar looked to the principal. “You’re right. He certainly has changed.”

At the factory, Jeremie pressed a key, typing on others. “Holoweb system online. Aelita, I’m sending you the Ice Sector Replika’s coordinates.”

In the digital sea, Aelita drove the Skid out of Lyoko. “Alright, Jeremie.” She moved a lever. “Rotation.” It moved from a vertical position to a horizontal. The propeller on the back of the vehicle rotated, breaking it free of Lyoko’s gravity. “Here we go.”

In the cafeteria, Rosa looked at Mrs. Dunbar. “So what will it be? Tuna casserole or sauerkraut and sausages?”

“Oh, um…you wouldn’t, by any chance, have anything lighter?” Mrs. Dunbar wanted to watch her figure. She had already lost several pounds.

“Sauerkraut’s light, you’ll see.” Rosa put a serving on her plate.

She winced, hoping the cafeteria worker was right. She walked away. Then Clone William walked up.

“So, William, my boy, how’s it going?” she asked.

He moved his tray to the left and the right. “It goes in any direction I want it to.”

She started to laugh. “You kill me, William. What a cut-up. Here…” she shoveled a portion onto his plate. “Have some of this. This’ll stick to your ribs!”

He looked at her. “I can’t eat it if it’s on my ribs.”

Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar looked at each other in worry.

In the Digital Sea, the Skid hovered over a Hub. “High-speed acceleration in three seconds.” Ribbons of white wrapped around the vehicle and tugged it into the fiery vortex with a small splash. They sped through the tube and out the other side.

Back at the cafeteria, Jim walked over to the Dunbar’s. “Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar, hello. I’m very glad to meet you. You know, that son of yours, he’s really quite a piece of work.”

Clone William regarded him. “I’m not just any piece of work. To be specific, I’m a digitally-generated random polymorphic energy field controlled by a basic, non-evolving behavioral program.”

William’s mother gritted her teeth nervously, then let her hand fall beside her tray. Was this her child, or was William joking around with his gym teacher? And since when was he into tech speak?

Jim stared blankly at him. “Uh…chip off the old block, huh? Heh… Well, I’ll leave you now.” He smiled. “I’m sure you have lots to talk about together, huh?” He walked away.

She looked at him. “Your father and I were wondering, William, why you don’t call us much at the moment.” Ever since he started the school year, his letters, phone calls, emails, and texts had gotten to be less and less. William often talked about his friends, new skateboard tricks, and how he broke up with the girl he fell in love with because of a falling-out. In some of his letters, he sounded infuriated at her for cheating on him, but Lily knew that even though he held grudges for a long time, love softened some of them.

He smiled. “You’re right here in front of me. If I called, you wouldn’t be home.”

She grunted apprehensively. That was technically correct, but it sounded a bit dumb. She held a hand to her teeth, nervously hissing.

James cocked his brows.

In the Digital Sea, Aelita glided the Skid to the coordinates. “I’ve got a visual on the Replika.” She pulled on the lever again, changing its position for the third time, then placed a hand on a mini-scanner. “Digital key activated.”

A white light connected to the center of the eye-door.

 _“Good work, Aelita!”_ Jeremie complimented. _“I’ll let you in.”_

In less than a second, the light disappeared, and the claws opened, letting the Skid into the Replika. It emerged from its own Digital Sea.

 _“Okay, no sign of any activated tower. There’s a tower south-southwest of your position. You can dock the Skid there. I’m gonna teleport you with Odd,”_ Jeremie announced.

“Gotcha.” She flipped some levers up and down. _Time for the signal._

“Aelita, are the Skid’s lights malfunctioning?” Yumi asked.

“Um…they must be. I guess we forgot to add ‘Check lights’ on the list.” Aelita shrugged with a slightly sheepish grin, cutting off the lights.

In Siberia, Odd and Aelita landed in the snow. They had their objective. Odd sped through the ice, his friend at his heels, toward a sign that said Union Base. Aelita looked through the window, ready for any opposition, and then opened the door. Odd walked in first.

Aelita looked down a corridor. “Jeremie, everything’s cool. We’re inside the base.”

_“That’s great. Make it fast. XANA’s bound to rear his ugly head pretty soon.”_

Odd nodded and gestured. “Mm-hm… After you, Princess.”

She giggled and walked through the entrance, going down the corridor to the left.

\---

“Are you trying to tell me he isn’t your son? But you are the parents of William Dunbar…?” Mr. Delmas had a hard time wrapping his head around what Mr. Dunbar said.

“Of the real William Dunbar! Our son is a dynamic and rebellious youngster, who was expelled from the last school he attended for gluing stickers all over the school, including on the principal’s windshield!” James Dunbar roared.

He creased a brow. He didn’t remember that at all on the application. “I don’t recall you ever telling me that when you enrolled him here at Kadic.”

James looked up. “Well, uh…”

Lily Dunbar creased her brows. He told her that the principal kicked William out because he fought with another student who was after his girl’s affections.

“Well, what if I didn’t?! That’s not the point!” He tapped his fists on the desk and pointed behind him. “I’m telling you that this child is not my son!”

Mr. Delmas clasped his fingers together. “Hm… Well, while it’s true that your son has been behaving somewhat strangely these past few weeks, I can reassure you that this is the one and only William Dunbar we know.” He pointed at him.

James looked at the clone and then back at the principal. “Tell me, sir. You said earlier that William had taken some sort of trip. What trip were you referring to?”

“Oh, well, of course, the trip he took overseas with you just before he came down with that terrible flu.”

Lily spoke up. “What flu?!” Were there any more lies that her husband had fed her? If he kept this up, then she would file for divorce.

Back at the Ice Sector Replika, Yumi and Ulrich guarded the tower. “It’s crazy. I can’t believe we’re actually going to bring home the real William. Cassidy’s finally going to have her answer for sure.”

Ulrich shrugged. “Yeah, but in the meantime, let’s hope his clone is keeping out of trouble.”

She looked away. “Ulrich, I hope—that when we set William free, you won’t be jealous if he starts hanging around Cassidy and me again.”

“Uh, no… Why should I? There’s no reason to. After all, we are boyfriend and girlfriend.”  
Suddenly, a flash of purple raced across the corner of Yumi’s eye. “Huh? Jeremie, did Odd get sent back from Siberia?”

_“No.”_

Her eyes widened. “Didn’t you and Aelita say that Cassidy was knitting near the control room?”

“She must’ve stowed away while we were gone!” Ulrich said.

She saw Cassidy reverberate with excitement. She cackled madly, her body contorting while she laughed. Thanks to Lyoko’s design, her hair stayed as straight and long as it always did, not a strand out of place. It was as though someone came in and set off a fireworks display in her. Her complexion had also stayed the same, no matter what happened on Earth. “It’s done! It’s finally done! Now it’s time!” She looked back at her friends, feet firmly on the ground. “Oh, hi, guys. That was so funny what Odd said this morning. And Jeremie was funny, too.”

“B-but how did you get here before us?” Yumi stuttered.

“I took the Shark here. No, I took the Skid and sent it home using the remote control feature.”

 _“Cassidy, don’t you remember you can’t go off all half-cocked on Lyoko?”_ Jeremie sounded as though scolding, but he sounded stilted in some areas.

Cassidy chuckled. “Oh, come on, Jeremie. Y—I mean my blood was surging for a little undercover work on the Replika. Wouldn’t you do the same if you had the fighting job?”

_“Maybe, but you could’ve consulted me first. Anyway, now that you are here, speaking of William, the radar shows him coming in dead ahead.”_

They all looked ahead, Cassidy bending her knees with a cocky grin. “Bring him on!”

Ulrich’s eyes widened. Was this the braver side of her peeking out? If so, will it stay or will it go away as fast as it came? It’s been so long since she had been brave against him that stayed longer than thirty seconds—he had counted one time. Then he looked in front of him. “Uh-huh. Speak of the devil.”

Yumi looked at her boyfriend with a smile on her face. He hadn’t changed his attitude about William. And Cassidy sounded as though she had recovered from all the damage she had taken from him.

He pointed upward. “There he is!”

Atop a Manta, William stood, holding the reins with one hand.

_“Try and slow him down. Here come your vehicles.”_

“Thank you, amigo,” Cassidy smiled. _He’s so going down._

“Okay!” Ulrich growled.

The OverBike, the OverWing, and the OverDrive materialized in front of them in the form of wireframes filling in with the necessary components. Immediately, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy hopped on and charged into battle. Time for him to pay.

In the lab, Jeremie typed on the keys. On the screen, a window popped up, showing a vast multitude of spheres. He cocked his brow and adjusted his position on the chair. “What bothers me most is that XANA is drawing energy from all the Replikas, and I’m sure that means trouble.” His fingers went back to the keys. “Aelita, Odd, how’s it going?”

In Siberia, another metal door opened. “We’re coming into the main room and—WOW! It’s a lot more crowded than the last time we were here.” Odd looked over the bar.

_“Why? What do you see over there?”_

“Jeremie, there are dozens of robots in here, all lined up like an army waiting for orders,” Aelita said.

 _“So that could be XANA’s secret plan, to use an army of robots to enslave all of mankind! Get to the Supercomputer Room as fast as you can!”_ Jeremie ordered. _“Oh, and also, Aelita, do you know that Cassidy became a scanner stowaway again?”_

Aelita gasped, a little too much, even for her. “Cassidy! Hmph! She knows better than to go on Lyoko Replika Missions alone. I mean, William could come out and flirt with her prematurely.” She folded her arms over her chest, eyes closed. Inside, she hid some giggles.

“Yeah, Einstein. Princess and I already learned our lesson about stowing away.” Odd shrugged.

“And we are on our way.”

The two Lyoko Warriors silently trekked across the catwalk, their footsteps being the only sound.

Back on the Ice Sector Replika, Ulrich, Yumi, and Cassidy swerved on their vehicles to avoid the lasers. The Japanese warrior sped ahead, leaving her boyfriend and her best friend to drive beside each other. “Leave Pretty Boy to me, you two!” Ulrich ordered.

“Don’t forget, we’re just supposed to slow him down,” Yumi softly reminded, her hair flying in the air.

He nodded and sped off. “No problem.”

“And I can’t wait to see his face when my plan comes to fruition!” Cassidy snickered.

“What plan?” Yumi asked.

She shook her head. “’Can’t tell you. Otherwise, XANA will find out how it’s done, obliterating my chance.”

She rolled her eyes. If Cassidy had a plan, she could have told somebody. It wasn’t like her to keep an entire schematic—as she put it—to herself. “I won’t say anything.”

“I just can’t divulge. It’s a super duper surprise in triple meter! If I did, I’d ruin it for you,” Cassidy kept a big grin.

She sighed, giving up the fight. She had a point. However, she nearly said something to Jeremie that sounded like she knew something more than what she was saying. She shrugged it off, avoiding another laser. _Forget it for now. This day’s been weird enough already with her stowing away on Lyoko._ The three Lyoko Warriors made figure eights to dodge.

William watched from his aerial view, then waved an arm. **“Go on!”**

The manta on his right swooped into the fray.

Meanwhile, at the naval base in Siberia, Odd and Aelita walked down the stairs to the center room, where so many robots stood, lifeless, unmoving. If the cat boy had to count, there had to be more than a thousand of them. “Hi, guys!” He greeted, as though they were his friends, or even his action figures (if his sisters didn’t steal them away from him, that was). He cooed at them. He could see his and Aelita’s reflections in the shiny armor as he pointed back at them. “They’re not big on conversation, that’s for sure.”

They walked up the stairs leading to the code module. “Open up Grandma, it’s little red riding hood!” Odd then looked back at Aelita and smiled. “Uh, pink, that is.”

Aelita gave a wan little grin and giggled. Even if Odd dated Cassidy, his jokes had some level of cuteness.

_“I’m working on the door.”_

She looked back at the army of robots. “It’s scary, looking at all those robots standing at attention.”

“It sure is,” Odd said, pacing a few feet from her. “Cassidy would hate being here. I’m sure her psychic senses would be going off the charts.” He scoped out at them. “Hey! One of them just moved!” He pointed.

She whipped around. “Where?! Which one?”

Odd grinned widely. “Will you relax? I was just kidding!” He put his paw to his mouth as he chortled.

Aelita turned back around, crossing her arms. “OH! Dumbbell!” She learned that one from Cassidy when she showed her one of her vision books. It was of her and Odd fighting, but she learned it all the same.

Something caught his eye. “Huh? Hey, one of them just moved!”

Aelita squeezed her eyes tighter. She had read _The Boy who Cried Wolf_ with her father. She wasn’t going to fall for it a second time, as the adults did in the fable. “It’s not funny this time either.”

“Only it’s no joke, this time!”

She looked back.

The whirring of metal arose, and the legs stomped forward with heavy steps.

“Uh, Einstein? Tell us you found the right key because things are getting kinda weird around here.”

Back on the Ice Sector Replika, William’s black Manta charged up its laser, firing once it was done.

Ulrich and Cassidy did figure eights to avoid getting their vehicles hit. “I feel a storm brewing,” he said, his voice steady despite the fray. He unsheathed his katana.

“You know? I’ve been feeling strange since Delmas put me on academic leave. Like there might be a bigger storm brewing soon. How it connects to my nightmare, I do not know.” She quickly swiped left, away from him. “I wish Princess Luna could help me.”

“It’s gotten to wishing that a pony princess could obliterate your nightmares?” Yumi called from above.

“Yes. She is a dream-walker after all, as well as a moon-raiser.”

“Well, ladies, put the brony stuff to the side for now,” Ulrich ordered as he planted his feet in the seat. Springing upward, he slashed underneath the monster’s “blubber.” “IMPACT!”

Instantly, it combusted, dropping William onto the ice.

Ulrich landed feet from him. “Last stop. Everybody off!”

In a show of smoke, William materialized his zabanto and glared at the samurai. He had cost him his ride. Now it was time for him to pay.

In Siberia, the robots stomped forward with such speed, moving for Aelita and Odd. Their arm-cannons charged up lasers.

Thinking fast, Odd thrust his hands forward in a show of electricity. Unlike Lyoko, where his shield was small and a lavender-like color, his shield was large and more rouge. “SHIELD!”

The robots fired, but the protection held up. Aelita ducked behind it. “Jeremie, hurry up! The robots are firing at us!” she cried.

_“I’m almost there. Hang on!”_

“Easy for you to say!” Odd protested. Holding his power steady required concentration.

Suddenly, she had an idea. Giving out a scream, she threw an energy field. Some of the robots in front of them collapsed. More stomped forward.

In the lab, Jeremie typed on the keyboard. “I got it.”

Back in the lab approximately four thousand miles away, it was a madhouse. “LASER ARROW!”

“Energy Field!”

Behind them, a red light flashed green, and the door opened.

Aelita turned and ran from the fray. “Odd, let’s go!”

Odd stopped firing his laser projectiles from his arm and followed her through to the next corridor. The robots followed behind them.

“Jeremie! It’s a nightmare!” Aelita called.

 _“Try to go to the supercomputer room!”_ Jeremie ordered. _“I’ll see what the others are up to.”_

They hit a fork in the road. However, since Odd had been in Siberia before, he grabbed Aelita by the arm. “This way.” He pointed to his right and led her, laser fire raining around them.

Back on the Ice Sector Replika, a lone Manta floated until a fan whizzed up and hit it in the eye.

Yumi whizzed around and caught her fan.

Cassidy sighed in light relief, hopping out of her vehicle. “That’s all the monsters so far.”

 _“Cassidy?!”_ Jeremie’s voice clipped, as though he put the mic sensitivity on high. _“What are you doing?! Remember, William is over there!”_

“I have such a great plan!”

Yumi’s virtual heart did flips. When someone said that, it came from Jeremie’s clone before she agreed to initiate William into the group. “You’re not—”

“Easy, Yumi and Jeremie. I ain’t going to do anything that might sabotage the mission.” She sat on the ice, crossing her legs next to her vehicle. “Now to wait for the big one.”

Ulrich crossed his katanas in front of him. “You’re crazy, Cassidy. You can’t take the Kolossus on your own!” He gasped, holding his strength against William’s zabanto. “I admit I peeked into your vision journal the other day.”

“I’m not talking about taking him on my own, silly!” she smiled. “I just know he’s coming.” She took a deep breath. “Also, my vision journals are only public to the gang. They’ve been free to use all along.”

William pulled up on his sword, swiping at him again. It barely nicked the metal. He brought it around and swung.

Ulrich held up one katana, then the other, keeping him at bay. He couldn’t let him devirtualize him. Then Cassidy would be left with Yumi, or if he got rid of his girlfriend early, then she would be left vulnerable. A side glance showed that she sat on the virtual snow, a confident and soft smile on her face.

Was she waiting to off William herself? _That’s suicide!_

Was she hoping to face the Kolossus? _Again, that’s suicide! Does she want another existential crisis on her hands or what?_

Or was there something that he missed when he peeked?

Ulrich dropped down and hooked William’s feet, throwing the possessed boy to the ice. His zabanto landed a couple of inches from his hands. The other swiped, aiming for his neck, but he flipped back, gathering his sword. He landed on his feet and jumped, dissolving into… **“SUPER SMOKE!”**

Ulrich gasped as the smoke whizzed into the Digital Sea. “Jeremie, you see that?”

_“Yeah, and I don’t like it at all.”_

The ice shook all around the warriors. “So much for bringing him home.”

“Don’t be such a downer, Ulrich,” Cassidy said wickedly. “We will bring him home today. You probably didn’t peek hard enough at my journal.”

Horns rose out of the water. _“That’s it! The Kolossus._ That’s _why XANA was drawing energy from all of the Replikas.”_

Upon the monster’s shoulder, William stood like a tick bird on a gigantic, rocky, lava-veined rhinoceros. Ulrich looked up at it overshadowing him, unable to move.

Back in Siberia, Aelita and Odd dodged lasers as they entered a fork. He pointed, knowing which way to go since the last adventure. “That way!” They turned and raced to the right stopping. “Hurry, Einstein. Open up the door!”

The robots advanced.

_“Hang on! I’ve got an emergency on the Replika.”_

Odd turned around as they armed their weapons. “SHIELD!” he cried, materializing a ruby red circular armor. The lasers absorbed into it, keeping the cat-boy and elven warriors safe.

Back on the Replika, Ulrich backed up a few paces. “Super Sprint!” he shouted as he raced toward the monster, a golden trail in his wake. He sped past Cassidy, still sitting motionless, and jumped. He landed on the demon’s arm and began the long climb up. Resting in a crevasse for a second, he noted the sword’s many eyes. _How can Cassidy remain so calm about a monster that gave her an existential crisis for a week?_

From the air, Yumi halted her OverWing in front of the monster. Unfurling a fan, she announced, “I’ve got you now!” and threw it into the eye. It made its mark but disappeared. Her face fell. _Now, what?_ She zoomed off, hearing William’s evil chuckle. Yumi came close to the arm Ulrich was perched.

“You’re not going to bring him down that way!” Ulrich yelled to his girlfriend.

“I don’t get it! I was right on target! He should’ve been destroyed!” Yumi shouted.

“No, I saw another target on his arm! It’s not going to be easy getting rid of him,” Ulrich noted.

Yumi sped away as the Kolossus took a step in the digital water.

 _“Concentrate your efforts on William. I’m going to try to give you a hand with the Kolossus, okay?”_ Jeremie told them.

“How are you going to do that?” Ulrich asked.

_“I’m gonna launch the multi-agent program.”_

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “It’s not going to work, Jeremie.”

 _“And you stowing away was an even better plan? You even have your big shawl project to knit,”_ Jeremie scolded.

She smiled, somewhat noting a light tone. “It can wait. If it’s between knitting a beautiful pattern and a XANA attack, the latter’s going to take top priority every time.”

Ulrich jumped to the next dip in the monster’s arm, trying to hold on despite his vertigo telling him to get off. He crossed over the lava vein, keeping his footing. “Will it destroy him?!”

_“No, the program isn’t finished, but it might immobilize him long enough to devirtualize William.”_

Like clockwork, the water formed fractals of virtual ice, surrounding the gigantic beast and locking it in place. It hit a fist on the ice that materialized around it. **“NO!”** William shouted.

“Looks like it’s working, Jeremie. He doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere.” Ulrich smiled.

“Fantastic, Jeremie. The Kolossus is paralyzed!” Yumi cheered.

In the Lab, Jeremie smiled, then typed on the keys. “Odd, Aelita, I’m back to you now.”

 _“It’s about time!”_ Odd protested.

He pressed a key. “Open Sesame!” he said in a satisfied tone.

Back in Siberia, the door to the lab opened, and Aelita looked at Odd. “Come on, Odd.”

“No, I’ll hold them off. Get William home!”

She nodded to her “cousin” and raced into the next room.

As soon as she was clear, Odd erased the need for his shield and shot three laser arrows. All of them hit their marks, and the robots went down like dominoes.

In the next room, Aelita sidled along the wall.

 _“Aelita, there is a terminal next door!”_ Jeremie ordered.

She raced to the door, it opening when she was close, and she was in the computer lab. “Alright, Jeremie. I’m there!”

_“Okay, now, listen up. I’m going to dictate the program. Enter it word-for-word, and we’ll be just fine.”_

Aelita ran to a chair and sat down, fingers at the ready. “I’m ready, Jeremie. Go ahead!”

Back on the Ice Sector Replika, Ulrich pounced over the next lava vein. “It’s just you and me, William! And it seems that Cassidy’s not afraid of you anymore!”

In dark purple smoke, William materialized his zabanto.

The opponents squared each other up before leaping forward, swords drawn in front. They pushed against the other, trying to trip one of them up, until Ulrich gained the advantage and turned him around, kicking William in the shoulder.

If food were possible on Lyoko, Cassidy would be eating popcorn and enjoying the show. “Way to go, Ulrich.”

_“How can you even see them going at it?”_

“Psychic powers, remember?”

 _“Oh, right._ I still _hope you know what you are doing. After all, you did this without_ support _. And_ your plan _better have a back-up.”_

“Oh, my plan shan’t fail, _Jeremie_. After all, _you_ of all people should know how plans work. Plus, if something isn’t _agreed to_ for safety reasons, _it_ won’t go through.”

Yumi flew over Ulrich’s shoulder. “Go easy, Ulrich. Jeremie said we have to wait before we devirtualize William.”

“Sorry, but right now, it’s him or me.”

In the Siberian Lab, Aelita typed on the keys, listening carefully to Jeremie’s words.

Odd, meanwhile, kept firing his laser arrows at the robots. “LASER ARROW!” he cried. “Hey, uglies! You don’t look so stainless, now.” A fresh wave of robots crossed over into the hallway. His eyes widened. “Huh?! Hey, don’t go inviting all your pals. I can’t entertain everybody.”

The robots fired their lasers. Odd didn’t have enough time to react as they hit him, causing him to disappear from Siberia into the NavSkid.

In the Siberian Lab, Aelita pressed on the Enter key. “It’s entered, Jeremie.”

_“Alright, Aelita. Get ready to launch the program. Ulrich, Yumi, Cassidy, when I give you the signal, devirtualize William.”_

Ulrich shot forward, katanas raring to go. “Okay!” He brought it down, only for it to be blocked by William’s arm gauntlet.

_“Huh? What’s going on around here?!”_

The monster pressed its fist on the ice and strained its body. The ice around it cracked, causing it to disappear.

“Jeremie, the Kolossus is breaking free!” Yumi announced.

_“I know. The multi-agent system doesn’t have enough power.”_

The sword arm swung across and hit Yumi entirely, causing her to disappear in a cloud of digital dust.

In the scanner room, the doors opened, revealing the leaning girl. “Oh…that hurt.”

In Siberia, Aelita heard the metallic doors open and turned to defend herself. “Jeremie, the robots are here.” She unleashed her Energy Fields and threw them at the robots.

Back on the Replika, the Kolossus missed Cassidy completely, not even stepping on her.

William tried to sweep Ulrich with his zabanto, but he jumped to avoid it. Then the XANAfied minion bumped him, causing them to freefall. The two exchanged blows but landed on the virtual snow. “Cassidy, move it!”

Cassidy stood up and moved away to an ice formation that wasn’t there the mission before. She resumed sitting, smiling all the while.

 _Did she watch her favorite shows before coming here?_ It was possible.

Ulrich meanwhile, swiped blows at William, trying to make him lose his footing. Soon, the minion was on his back, zabanto a couple feet away. Katana at the ready, he aimed it at his chin.

Unsettled by the behemoth above him, Ulrich temporarily looked up to the sky. “Jeremie!”

_“Aelita! Right now!”_

After throwing several Energy Fields, Aelita paused and pressed the Enter key again.

Back in the Ice Sector Replika, William dissolved into purple-black smoke and glided away. Ulrich stood confused for a moment, then moved to run. “NO!” The foot came down upon him.

_“I don’t believe this! Ulrich!”_

In the scanner room, Ulrich collapsed.

In Siberia, the robot shot at Aelita three, causing her to disappear in a flash of light.

_“NO!”_

Aelita reappeared in the cockpit of the NavSkid.

It was then Cassidy stood, satisfied smirk dissipated into an angered frown. “HEY! William!”

William looked at her. **“Oh, someone finally used my name instead of Mr. Hated, huh?”**

“Only because I was afraid of you. What in the world is wrong with you?! You liked it when I was out of the game early!”

**“The feeling about ‘What in the world is wrong with you’ is mutual. Getting you out of the way later is just a bonus.”**

“Someone’s garrulous today.”

William walked closer. **“It seems your vocabulary’s improved since the last time we battled.”** Then he chuckled. **“But it seems that you were tight in a corner.”**

“Mostly because I feared you more than fear itself.” She circled him. “Maybe you should have given me advanced notice.”

He grabbed her arm, smirking. **“Where do you think you’re going?”**

She grinned. “Nowhere. Why? Do you have a prior commitment? I hear the proposal between you and your Schyphozoa swept the nation. XANA must be so proud.”

In the lab, Jeremie snickered, wondering where she got her material. He assumed it could have been from everyone.

Cassidy looked at her XANAfied ex-boyfriend. “You were absent a couple times. Did you have a fight with her and didn’t want to do your duty that you promised your master?”

William growled, clenching his zabanto.

“XANA must’ve been displeased, considering how punctual you usually are.”

 **“Shut up…** ” his jaw tightened.

“Maybe you should make a Blok your pet. You seemed to be contented with the one you pet as a wolf.”

_“Cassidy, are you sure you should be taunting him like this?”_

“I can’t tell you, Jeremie.” To William, she continued, “You know…I’m sure the wedding is everything you desired, right down to the Panic! At the Disco songs on the PA. Boys will be boys…”

He swiped across her middle. **“SHUT UP!”**

She disappeared in a cloud of pixilated squares.

He smiled, seeing his monster advance to the tower. **“Victory!”** Suddenly a pain burst into his shoulder, and he looked as he disappeared in a cloud of red and black smoke.

“Better luck next time, handsome,” Odd winked, standing feet away from the monster.

In the lab, a window popped up on Jeremie’s computer screen, and a card filled in full. William’s image popped up in the top blank part of it.

Jeremie’s jaw dropped as he let out a sound. Then he raised his fist, smiling. “YEAH!”

In the scanner room, a cabin opened, and a syrup brown boot stepped out.

Yumi and Ulrich looked up and gasped. Was he back for good, or did they land into more hot water. They stood up as the figure gave a cough. Their hearts pounded. _Did it work?_

Then William looked up, still wearing his black shirt over a red one and blue jeans, a smile on his face and a regular-sounding sigh.

Ulrich and Yumi ran over and hugged him. “William,” he smiled.

“Welcome home!” she rejoiced.

Back on Lyoko, Odd smiled at his work for a moment.

“Good job, Odd.”

His eyes widened as his “twin” popped out from an ice structure that wasn’t there the last mission. “Cassidy?! B-but I saw you get devirtualized.”

She smiled. “Merely a virtual flesh wound. I planned this all along.” Purple smoke emanated from her costume. “Aelita dropped me off, but helped me fine-tune my plans, with Jeremie helping as well. By the way, Oscar-winning performance, Einstein. Your scolding was spot-on.”

_“Thanks.”_

“I had to build myself a screensaver to keep myself from cramping up. But with a holographic projector and an invisibility cloak, my plan started to come into fruition. Being on academic leave helped me. All I did was lay in wait until Aelita gave me the signal to start up. And now you see the rest.”

He looked ahead. “Oh, no!”

“Aelita!” Cassidy yelled. “SUPER SPRINT!” She raced over to the tower, leaving a pink trail in her wake.

“The heap is already near the Skid! I can’t do anything from here!” Odd protested. “And Cassidy’s—I don’t know what to call it!”

 _“I programmed it,”_ Jeremie admitted. _“Cassidy asked for it two weeks in advance. Today is her first time using Super Sprint. But, yeah, I saw him! Aelita, get out of there, fast!”_

Aelita shook herself awake and saw the Kolossus coming near her. It raised its sword-arm.

_“NO!”_

Cassidy broke the sprint into a full gallop, getting closer to the tower, trying to make it to the Skid. “Aelita!” She scaled it when the monster smashed into the vehicle, cracking the windshield and sending Aelita and her into the ice, the cat-girl tumbling inside the cockpit and onto the elven warrior’s lap.

“Cassidy?!” Aelita exclaimed.

“Aelita?!”

The Skid dragged along the ice to the edge of the Replika, a NavSkid shooting into the Digital Sea, the cockpit settling.

“Aelita, whatever you do, do not move.” Cassidy whispered, her insides rattling. “Jeremie, are you going to devirtualize us?”

 _“I’m going to. Hang on, ladies,”_ Jeremie’s voice cracked in the effort to stay firm.

“Einstein, I know you’re scared. I am, too.” She gulped, frozen.

Aelita held still, despite the awkward position she had landed in.

“That’s good, Aelita. Just keep holding it,” Cassidy breathed encouragingly. She felt her system rattle erratically. “J-just don’t move…”

“Cassidy…?” Aelita blinked in concern. “I know you are scared. You’ve been brave long enough. You’re also exhausted.”

“B-but if I move, we are doomed to the drink! And XANA will—” She whimpered, trying to hold her position. “—he will—he will use me for evil! I can’t live with that. I don’t want—” Her heart hammered. “I can’t endure being booted out of the group because of what he did to me. I don’t have any other friends. And if anyone knew…I’d be ostracized!”

Aelita smiled a little. “Cassidy, no one will expel you from the group. You are safe. Now, I don’t know if we will make it, but you have to trust me.”

“Aelita…I trust you, but… Please…”

She readjusted her position in the cockpit, holding her head from being locked in position for too long, when the Skid pitched forward.

 _“Aelita! Cassidy! NO!”_ Jeremie yelled.

The Skid fell over the edge, both girls screaming as the cockpit burst into flames. Smoke billowed from the vehicle as it dropped and exploded inches from the Digital Sea. A stray NavSkid blasted away from the site and drowned. A cylinder of light blasted up.

In the lab, Jeremie was close to tears. His psychic friend and his girlfriend both just… “Oh, Aelita…Cassidy…”

Down into the scanner room, Yumi looked as a scanner door opened, then another. “It’s okay, Jeremie. Aelita and Cassidy are here with us!”

_“Cassidy…Aelita…I was never so scared in my life.”_

“Lucky for us, we were devirtualized before the Skid was totally destroyed,” Aelita smiled, opening her eyes.

“If you say so,” Cassidy blinked.

_“Yeah, and what’s more, we saved William!”_

William looked up, a drunk smile on his face. “I did a pretty good job, didn’t I?”

Yumi gasped, looking at Ulrich with a worried expression, who looked to Aelita.

“Yeah, you did good…” Cassidy grinned, wobbling out of the scanner.

Ulrich and Yumi backed away from him like scared rabbits. _This is it._

“…but you have a few questions to answer…”

_“Easy, Cassidy.”_

“I just want to go over specific protocols of Lyoko… It seems we forgot to go over the rules,” she smirked at him. “Hello, William. It’s great you devirtualized.”

“Cassidy, you’re tall,” William looked up at her. The last time she was next to him, he stood about a foot taller than her.

She pursed her lips. “The first time he sees me in months and the first thing he says is ‘I’m tall.’” She shook her head. _Focus on the task at hand._ “I’m so glad you noticed, but that’s not the point. Needless to say, I am so impressed. You defeated so many monsters in the first minutes of being virtualized, but the first rule is—to not get too cocky! I mean, what were you thinking?! Jeremie is our leader, and you brush him off because you wanted to go after a few more Creepers?”

“I was so excited to be going on a mission with you!” he spat.

“Okay. Being excited, I understand, but when he gives you an order, I expect you to honor it. Second of all, keep all personal initiatives and problems to the back burner! I think that Subsonics—now called the Subdigitals because of legal issues—song ‘Secret Life’ makes sense now. ‘Got no time for girls, they just clash.’ I disagree with the second part of it, but the first part is sweetly synonymous with ‘No time for romance.’ Heck, even _Odd_ , our lovable Casanova on campus, had no trouble shoving it wayside.”

“What are you getting at?” he rose to his feet.

“You kissed me on Lyoko, William. Sent me frozen. For months on end, I couldn’t figure it out—and even now, I can’t…” She looked into his confused gaze, an equality of height between them. “That’s why I wanna know…why? Was it the heat of the fight? Did I…excite you? I want to know.”

William blinked. Where did she get this feisty? “Because I was falling in love with you all over again…”

“And I swear if you have a k—what?! You were—” The words failed her, and she fell to the floor, eyes blurring to blackness.

He scratched the back of his head. “Was it something I said?”

“No, I think the trauma of the destruction is catching up to her,” Aelita whispered as Yumi and Ulrich walked forward to gather her in their arms. “She’s been exhausted lately.”

Back in the principal’s office, Sissi had entered after she ate her lunch. “Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar are right. There are some really weird things going on at this Academy. Hm!”

James pointed to her, turning to Mr. Delmas. “There, you see that? Even your own daughter agrees with me.”

“What are you talking about, Elizabeth, dear?”

Sissi leaned forward at first. “Well, at first, William was more or less normal, but ever since he started hanging out with Jeremie Belpois’s gang, he turned into a real space cowboy. I don’t know what exactly they have done to him…”

“What was that?” James asked. _Maybe her coming in was a mistake._

“…but if you ask me, Belpois is using him as some sort of mini-pig.”

“It’s _guinea pig_ , dear,” Mr. Delmas corrected quietly.

Sissi blinked. _Oops_.

“Are you sure about this?”

She placed her arms akimbo. “Of course I’m sure. After all, I _am_ your daughter, so I’m always right.”

James looked at him. “I would like to know more about this flu you said he had _and_ that imaginary trip. And the only way to find out is to talk to this…eh…Belpois.”

Later, Jim led the way to Jeremie’s dorm room. “This is it.” He knocked on his door with an open palm. Hearing no one coming to his door, he turned around. “No one is there.”

James pointed at the door. “Listen, this nonsense has gone on long enough. I’m going to call the authorities. We’ll run some tests to see if he’s my son or not.”

In another room, Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich waited for the right moment. She had her phone on. “Ready, Aelita? Now’s the time,” she whispered urgently.

In the Lab, Aelita held her phone up to her ear. “Okay.” She looked at him. “Right now!”

Jeremie typed on the keys and pressed enter.

In the Desert Sector, the green tower turned into a snowy white aura.

In the hallway, William’s clone disappeared.

“Please, try to calm down, sir!” Mr. Delmas tried to reason with James.

Jim screamed and pointed. “There! He—there! I—”

The principal looked at him as though he had lost his mind. “You calm down as well, Jim! What’s the matter with you?!”

Jim turned around. “He was here…a-and then he wasn’t here… He evaporated.” He put his hand to his mouth.

Mr. Delmas looked behind him. “But he’s still here! Look, Jim.” He gestured with his hand.

Indeed, William Dunbar, the one and true, stood with a confident and determined grin, causing the gym teacher to gape. “But I swear he was here, and then he wasn’t here… And now he’s here again.”

Mr. Delmas gave a groan of disbelief. “You could use a day or two off.”

Odd chuckled behind the door.

“As you can see, I’m here,” William smiled. “And yes, Dad, this nonsense has gone on long enough.”

James gaped at him. “W-William?”

“It’s true that I haven’t been quite myself lately, but I’m fine now, really. I’m sorry I worried you.”

Lily hugged her son in sweet relief. “Oh, darling.”

Jim scratched his head, wondering what the heck had happened.

Later, William stood in the courtyard with his parents with the gang standing not too far away. Cassidy had recovered quickly to join them. “Sorry for fainting on you,” she blushed.

“It’s okay. There was a lot going on,” Jeremie smiled.

“You think he can live a normal life after this?” Aelita asked them.

“I think so. He’s fuerte!” Cassidy smiled.

“He’s going to have to. Luckily, he can’t remember exactly what happened to him, although he does know that he was under XANA’s power,” Jeremie explained.

“For some reason, I thought he had amnesia from that, but I guess my powers are starting to fade,” Cassidy sighed.

“Well, if you ask me, I’m going to miss his clone. He was a lot more fun, at least,” Odd cracked.

“Don’t say that, Odd!” Jeremie chastised. “XANA’s just lost one of his most dangerous weapons—William!”

“And he lost his chance at getting me,” Cassidy agreed. “He wants to use me as a weapon, but I refuse to be involved with that.”

“In the meantime, we lost the Skid!” Yumi reminded. “It’ll take months to program another one.”

“Somehow, the Skid will soon be back to life, just not right now,” Cassidy’s eyes turned light brown.

Aelita lightly smacked her face. “You’ll exhaust yourself even more.”

Her eyes turned back to their chocolate brown hue. “Sorry.”

“I guess we can forget about wiping out other Replikas now,” Ulrich sighed.

Aelita leaned forward. “And what about those robots in Siberia? The army that XANA’s creating to take over the entire world?”

“That’s why the only hope of ever beating XANA is my multi-agent system,” Jeremie said. “I’ll get back on it tonight.”

Cassidy grimaced. “I don’t know about that. It sounds like it’ll take too much energy. Noble sacrifices will have to be made.”

“We might need to listen to Cassidy,” Odd said. “She has never been wrong before.”

Cassidy looked at William, feeling weak in the heart.

He looked back and waved at her, to which she waved back.

Ulrich groaned. _He’s going to cause Cassidy trouble._

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**The Mighty Fine Print hastens the trip to our Epilogue!**


	71. Cassidy deals in angst

“Thank goodness you two are still alive,” Jeremie proclaimed.

Cassidy nodded, a yawn escaping her mouth. “I’m sorry. I just haven’t been sleeping well since my nightmare returned.”

“I’m sorry the Dream Barrier Destroyer didn’t do much to help,” he sighed.

“It’s not your fault. You did your best anyway. It’s not as though it had failed in the first day,” she smiled.

“It actually made you more hyper than Odd on a high-caffeine energy drink,” he chuckled.

She giggled, sitting on his bed. “Kaitlyn and Patrick are happy to know the real William for a change of pace.”

“Yeah. Wasn’t there something you wished to talk to me about?”

Cassidy gasped. “Oh, yeah, that’s right!” She grabbed her vision journals of the next adventure and opened it to the exact page. “You know that multi-agent program that only froze the Kolossus this afternoon?”

“Yeah. I do have to admit that it needs more energy,” Jeremie mused.

“Well, in our next adventure, it’ll work—but with a price… I don’t want that to be paid in full, if you pardon the expression.”

He peered at the vision journal’s words, a brow cocked. “Someone will have to make a sacrifice?”

“Yes. I would like to tell you, but that will make Aelita cry. I don’t want her premonition to come true, Jeremie, but I don’t know what to do. If I take the place, she’ll still be in grief,” Cassidy gulped.

He patted her shoulder. “It’s okay, Cassidy.  You don’t have to tell me. I could hold off on the program and only use it as a last resort.”

“It’s not going to be easy as that, Einstein. XANA will take over William again. This time, he’ll be on Earth because everyone—excluding Aelita and me—thinks that he went under his control on purpose.” Her heart hammered.

“Okay, I could tell them to bring him along despite their protests.”

“Only as long as he isn’t cocky. My visions only show one path, but I try to take the ones less traveled. Sometimes I worry about what my actions might do to the future. I already failed to save William from XANA…”

Jeremie blinked at her. “There’s nothing you could have—”

“Yes, there was something I could have done! I should have handed myself over—suffered until you found the right program…risk being booted out of the group after XANA probed my visions and make machines the master race!” Tears welled up and poured over. “Maybe I made the wrong choice in my inactivity.”

He patted her shoulder. “Hey…I don’t think you made the wrong choice. We’re just hormonal, emotional kids dragged into a dangerous game…”

“And I let my own hormones and emotions confuse me.” Cassidy fought to keep her voice from breaking.

“Listen, today’s been an exciting, action-packed adventure, and your plan worked. William’s home, you and Aelita are still alive, and most of all, you got your answer. How about you go up to your room, say goodnight to Aelita and Kaitlyn, and get some much-needed rest,” he smiled reassuringly, grabbing a handkerchief and helping to wipe her eyes. “You’re going to need your strength for when we defeat XANA. Who knows? Maybe you can save her father.”

“B-but I—” her voice squeaked in the exact manner Jeremie’s used to.

“You implied it,” he winked.

She shrugged, a smirk rising on her lips. “They don’t call you Einstein for nothing.”

His cheeks reddened. “It’s okay.”

She rose to her feet and walked out the door. “Sorry for the slobber on your door the other day.”

“It’s fine.” He chuckled. “Good night.”

“Good night, Jeremie. And remember: Aelita loves you.”

Jeremie’s voice failed him as he turned to work on the programs for XANA’s defeat.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Cassidy's Brother](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10524810) by [LyokoFan (JanneKek)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanneKek/pseuds/LyokoFan), [TeenLyokoFan7777](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenLyokoFan7777/pseuds/TeenLyokoFan7777)
  * [Cassidy's first time flying](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549632) by [LyokoFan (JanneKek)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanneKek/pseuds/LyokoFan), [TeenLyokoFan7777](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeenLyokoFan7777/pseuds/TeenLyokoFan7777)




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